Interestingly, this aspect of Rick’s character, that he had been physically abusive to his pregnant fiancée the night before he was attacked, was never mentioned in any of the newspaper reports. After all, it would have ruined the heroic image they had created of him. Willow had said the omission didn’t bother her, that in fact she preferred that nobody ever knew about that darker side to Rick’s personality. What purpose did it serve to make it known? she’d asked them all. More importantly, there was the baby to consider. She was adamant that under no circumstances did she want her daughter ever to know something so awful about her father. It was to remain a secret between them.

As if there hadn’t been enough of those in the family, Naomi thought now with a heartfelt sigh.

But perhaps it was simply a fact of life, that every family had its secrets. Her own last remaining secret, that she had cheated on Colin with Ellis in the early years of her marriage, had played on her mind, given that she had vowed to start her life afresh with a thoroughly clean slate. Ellis was firmly of the opinion that it was an unnecessary confession. ‘If you tell your daughters about that,’ he’d said, ‘then by rights you would have to tell them about Colin’s adultery as well. Haven’t they had enough to contend with?’

She could see the sense in what he said, so she had kept quiet, deciding that burdening Martha and Willow with yet another layer of shock and betrayal was best avoided. More than ever, it was essential that they looked to the future, not the past. And that future now contained Naomi’s first grandchild, a precious baby girl who’d had to fight for her survival in the days following her unexpectedly early arrival into the world.

She was a darling little girl who looked just like Willow when she’d been a baby. The resemblance was uncanny and when Naomi had at last been allowed to hold her, it had been like being transported back in time to when she first held Martha and Willow and had experienced that exquisite sensation of falling in love.

She had been with Willow throughout the birth at the hospital, holding her hand and helping her as much as she could, veering from abject terror that something might go horribly wrong, to utter joy when it was all over and they saw the baby for the first time, if only briefly before she’d been whisked off to the Special Care Baby Unit.

Born at thirty-three weeks and classed as a moderate to late preterm baby had meant an initial period of specialised care was needed in the neonatal ward, but Willow’s daughter proved to be a tough little fighter, and after ten days was able to breathe and feed without assistance. That had been a truly momentous moment.

During the weeks of special care, Willow could barely be parted from her baby and did as much as she could to look after her daughter. The rest of them were allowed to visit, taking it in turns to be with Willow and offer support. The nursing staff at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester could not have been more helpful or understanding and went a long way towards building Willow’s confidence as a new mother.