Eileen sighed, and her lips trembled. ‘I reckon that was why Sean never brought her home to meet me, ’cos she was half-caste and he knew I wouldn’t approve. I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t know!’ Her voice rose. ‘We weren’t very close during that period. I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend, that they’d moved in together. Next thing she’s pregnant, and they run off and get married. I was so upset and furious.’

‘What year was that, Eileen, when Sean and Penny got married?’

She thought a moment, tears now rolling unsteadily down her face. ‘How old is Alice . . . almost sixteen . . . so that must have been 1997. But I didn’t actually meet Alice till a few years later.’

‘How soon did you realize who Penny was?’

Eileen took a deep breath. ‘I finally went round to see him, fed up of getting the silent treatment. And there she was. She was as shocked to see me as I was to see her.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’d seen her before. She came to find me, see, her birth mother. Turned up out of the blue one day after tracking me down. And . . . I sent her packing. I didn’t want to see her, didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to be reminded of my mistakes. You can’t blame me.’

Patrick said nothing.

‘She must have met Sean after she left my house. Apparently, after I’d sent her away she went to the pub round the corner because she needed a drink, and Sean was in there. She swore afterwards that she had no idea who he was but . . . I don’t know. I read in one of my magazines that people are often attracted to other people who look like them, or who are similar. Maybe she, what’s the word, subconsciously recognized something in him. Was drawn to her own blood.’

‘So what did you do when you realized they were together?’ Patrick felt so sorry for her. So sorry for all of them. Eileen put her head in her hands and shuddered at the memory.

‘I screamed at them. I was so angry. If only Sean had brought her home sooner, if he was the kind of boy who kept pictures of his mum around, none of this would ever have happened. I could’ve warned them then that it was incest, that it mustn’t go any further.’

‘But he hadn’t done, because he knew you’d be upset that she was mixed-race,’ Patrick said, understanding. ‘What a mess.’

‘Yeah. A mess is about right. I told them they were half-brother and sister.’

‘How did they take it?’