It mattered to Martha though. She knew in her bones that Rick had orchestrated this whole thing and she hated the thought that he had used her sister the way he had.

‘Willow,’ she said, ‘there’s something I have to say to you. Something which is long overdue. I haven’t always been a good sister to you, and I’m really sorry for that. Rick accused me of bullying and patronising you and I hate to admit it, but in many ways he was right. Actually, I’d go further and say that there have been times when I’ve been nothing but a cold-hearted bitch towards you.’

‘Oh, that’s nonsense!’ said Willow. ‘You’ve never bullied me. You’re just naturally bossy, you’re the big sister, that’s all.’

Martha shook her head. ‘No, Willow, I can’t go along with that. And I can’t help but think that had I been a better sister you might have told me what happened to you that night at the party. I would have been able to help you. Was I really so unapproachable that you couldn’t tell me?’

‘I couldn’t tell you, in case you let on to Dad. I couldn’t face him ever knowing. He would have said I had only myself to blame, and maybe I did. I shouldn’t have drunk so much. I shouldn’t have gone out that night, I should have been sensible and stayed in to finish that essay. That’s what you would have done. And Dad did always compare us. I could never live up to the high standard you’d set so effortlessly, and this would have been the final straw when it came to his already low opinion of me. I could never please him in the way you did. I was a continual disappointment to him. I suppose I was always a bit scared of him, and his disapproval.’

‘That’s hardly surprising, given what you’d witnessed as a child. You might not have fully understood what you’d seen, but some kind of self-preservation instinct would have kicked in and made you wary of him. It might even have been that he sensed that in you, and that could explain why he gave you a hard time.’

‘I’d never thought of that. But please don’t think I ever minded that he favoured you over me. I didn’t. I was immensely proud of you, but I never envied you. In fact, I felt sorry for you at times, that Dad expected so much of you and that you expected so much of yourself.’

Martha could have wept at her sister’s generosity and at the injustice of their father having defined them from so young an age. ‘Oh Willow,’ she said, ‘you have such a sweet and forgiving nature, and perhaps deep down, I’ve always been envious of that. I’m headstrong and opinionated and sometimes that gets in the way of my judgement, and my ability to be nice. Just ask Tom! But you could surely have confided in Mum about the assault on you and then being pregnant? She has always been your greatest cheerleader. There’s nothing she wouldn’t have done for you.’