‘Yes,’ answered Martha. ‘Eventually Rick would have driven a wedge between Willow and the rest of us so he’d have her completely to himself and would then be free to do exactly what he wanted.’

Willow frowned. ‘That sounds a bit over the top.’

‘And it’s not over the top that the father of the child you’re expecting has hit you so hard you have a blackened eye and a split lip?’

When Willow didn’t answer her sister, but reached for another tissue and blew her nose, Ellis said, ‘We need to accept that in all likelihood Rick will come down here begging forgiveness and swearing he’ll never do it again.’

‘That’s precisely what he’ll do,’ said Naomi with a steely tone. ‘But Willow, I’m afraid it will be over my dead body if that man crosses the threshold of Anchor House ever again. I simply will not allow it, even if he is the father of your child. Trust me when I say he will never change.’

‘Your mother’s right,’ said Geraldine. ‘You must believe her. She knows what she’s talking about.’

Not wanting her friend to elaborate any further, Naomi cleared her throat warningly and Geraldine fell silent.

‘As usual, I haven’t really thought things through,’ said Willow miserably. ‘I have no idea what I’m going to do next.’

‘For now, you don’t have to think about that,’ said Naomi. ‘All that matters is that you’re safe here with us. So drink your tea and let me cut you a slice of cake.’

‘Thanks, Mum.’

Trying to conceal the absolute fury she felt towards Rick, that he could harm her precious daughter, Naomi took the knife and plate that Ellis had produced. She had to grip the knife hard to stop her hands from shaking. If Rick were in the room now it would take every scrap of her willpower not to plunge it deep into his chest, to avenge the wanton violence he had carried out on poor Willow, a defenceless young woman carrying his child.

The more she thought of what Willow had gone through, the more Naomi felt as though a lifetime of suppressed anger was about to unleash itself. All those years of self-deception she’d put herself through and which, in so many ways, had caused more harm to her than the actual physical blows. She was reminded of that day in the garden following Geraldine’s last visit, when she had learned that Colin had not been held in the high regard she’d always believed, that maybe her oldest friends were not the only ones to have seen through the flimsy artifice of their marriage. Seated on the wooden bench overlooking the beach that day she had been consumed with regret and a sense of worthlessness, and the belief that everything she had done for the sake of her family had been for no real reason. But then Ellis had appeared and suddenly none of that had mattered. The past was the past, it was the future that counted.