Feeling positively faint, Edith clutched the letter in her trembling hands, tense and barely able to breathe. ‘He misses me, he actually misses me!’

I am amply paid and have a set of fine rooms in the nursing home. I think you would be impressed by the modern operating theatre where I perform my surgery. What I don’t have is you, Edith. You are unquestionably the best and most competent theatre sister I have ever worked alongside – calm, controlled and thoroughly professional.

Edith’s pulse raced as she reread the sentence out loud. ‘Calm, controlled and always professional. Oh, Charles …’ she almost swooned.

I am looking to appoint an experienced theatre sister and I wondered if you might consider the position?

Shocked rigid, Edith smothered a loud cry. ‘Oh, my God!’

There is an added perk to the post. The position comes along with its own private accommodation in the lovely hospital grounds. A small bungalow within easy walking distance of the nursing home. I’m sure you can understand how keen I am to see you installed in a place convenient to us both, where we can pick up where we left off. Please, Edith, do not presume that I expect you to fall in with my plans, though it would make me a very happy man if you were to do so. Quite simply, I would never forgive myself if I did not at least try to reinstate our tender relationship, as I have missed you enormously these last months. If you agree to my proposal, I shall discreetly take over the lease on the bungalow, which I am certain we shall both derive great pleasure from.

At this point Edith began to shake all over – his offer was all her dreams come true. To be close to Charles once more was more than she could ever have asked for, and to have her own home, shared by him on occasions (Beryl allowing, of course), was beyond all her wildest hopes.

I shall close now but hope sincerely that you will accept my offer. I impatiently await your answer, dearest Edith.

Yours ever,

Charles

Pacing her small office, Edith had gone around and around in ever decreasing circles, too restless and overwhelmed to sit down.

‘Finally,’ she thought. ‘This is my chance to be free.’

With Charles forging a new life for her, Edith could throw off the shackles of the past, abandon the mother she hated and walk away from her family forever. Just thinking of her loathsome mother brought Edith out in a hot sweat of anger. The woman had bullied and beaten her since she was a child. If she did as Charles suggested this time, she would make absolutely sure that she disappeared altogether. She would take on a new name, a new identity, get rid of her car – do anything that allowed her to disappear into the blue, expunging her past like a bad dream.