‘Did she mention my father, you mean? No. But if it’s not too much trouble, I wouldn’t mind knowing who he was. After all, he is my dad! My father. The man who made me, if you like.’

Kerry’s face blanched a sickly white. Liselle tried again, calmer this time.

‘I have a right to know, Mum. I’m nearly twenty-two and no one seems to tell me anything. I don’t know his name, nothing about him. I wonder, you know. I always have.’

Kerry licked her lips and stared at the beautiful girl in front of her. The girl she loved but who was a permanent reminder of what she had done, what she had been too cowardly to do. How many times over the years had she wished she had got on a boat and gone to find him? As she had wanted to. But she was a coward. It was easier to rely on the strength of Briony, to stay with her family, than to trek thousands of miles to a man who might reject her, who might have told her the truth about their relationship. Who had been beaten over her. Who must hate her for her part in his eventual downfall. That’s why she refused down and out to sing in the States, or even to go there. It was still an open wound.

Now here was her child, the result of her union with Evander Dorsey, asking her for the truth. Could she say to her: ‘I spoke to him yesterday, he rang me up. Your father’s near, only I feel inside he’s here to harm us. Not here to be welcomed with open arms by his old lover and his daughter.’ No, she couldn’t ever tell her that.

Instead she said, ‘Why don’t you let me worry about things, love? Your father was a nice kind man who left us. He didn’t want to but he had to. Now leave it at that, and go and make me a nice strong pot of coffee. There’s a good girl.’

Kerry’s voice brooked no argument, Liselle had heard that tone many times over the years. Especially when she had asked about her father. Seething inside with anger, she flounced from the room, banging the door behind her. Kerry got up and lit herself a cigarette. Going to the window, she looked out at the white expanse of roofs and road. Blinking back tears, she smoked her cigarette in silence.

Out there somewhere was Evander Dorsey. It had been him yesterday, she would know that rich dark velvet voice anywhere. He was out there somewhere waiting for her and their child.