‘Maybe not exactly that, but maybe something along those lines. War changes people. Or maybe he suffered PTSD or other mental health issues that led him to make certain decisions. Maybe he became someone else because it was the only way to escape pain. We can’t ever completely understand what’s going on in someone else’s head.’ Adrian had certainly taught me that. ‘You’ll probably never know for certain Bill’s reasons for what he did, but do you really want to let that ruin the good memories you have of him? Of the times you spent together?’

Dan took his time replying but then solemnly shook his head. ‘No.’

‘Then focus on what you’ve found,’ I’d encouraged. ‘A sister who sounds like a great person and is very keen to get to know you better.’

Despite his misgivings, Dan couldn’t help wanting to hear about the man Bill was before arriving in Ragged Point and Stacy was curious to hear more about her long-lost father’s ‘life after death’. As she had never known her father, I think she felt less betrayed than Dan—you don’t miss what you don’t know—but she told him that her family and Bill’s friends had described him as a happy-go-lucky kinda guy, hugely resistant to the idea of fighting in a war. When he was drafted, he said he’d rather be thrown into jail than go, but Stacy’s mother came from a renowned military family and it became a point of contention between them and his in-laws.

In the end, he’d done his duty and gone, and William’s wife, Adele, had never got over the guilt of what she saw as her role in his death. Although still alive, she lived in residential care due to advanced Alzheimer’s. Stacy had decided it best not to burden her mother with their discovery—she likely wouldn’t understand anyway.

However, she and Dan were now in discussions about meeting and I couldn’t have been more excited on his behalf.

Chapter 54

54

‘What do you think, Charlie? Time for a break?’

He lifted his head from where he’d been supervising—read slumbering—on the floor, while I was tiling the new splashback in the kitchen. Although only half finished, it looked amazing, even if I did say so myself. Grinning, I downed tools and went to fill the kettle.