Stung that her sister was taking out her frustration on her, Willow said, ‘Please don’t start all that again. He was merely trying to add some objectivity to the discussion.’

‘I’d feel better if it was someone we knew that Mum has fallen for,’ said Martha, ignoring Willow’s defence of Rick, ‘like one of Dad’s old friends who we’ve known for years. At least then we’d trust him, wouldn’t we?’

Chapter Twelve

‘What I find so extraordinary,’ said Naomi as she stared disconsolately out of the kitchen window, ‘is that I don’t think it ever crossed their minds that I might meet somebody. Or that I might have a life of my own.’

Standing behind her, Ellis’s hands gently massaged her shoulders. ‘That’s because they see you through a very narrow lens,’ he said. ‘You’re their mother, therefore you have only the one dimension as far as they’re concerned.’

She turned around to face him. ‘I know that. I just didn’t expect Martha’s censure to be so wounding. It was perhaps foolish of me, but I had harboured a fragment of hope that they might be pleased for me, and to have that hope so thoroughly dashed makes me fear the worst.’

‘Don’t think of it as dashed, merely a little bruised. They need time to come to terms with your news, that’s all.’

‘You’re right, of course, but what I can’t get out of my head is that look of horror followed by utter disgust on Martha’s face. It was as if I’d just confessed to being a child-killer, or something equally heinous. And now this text from her demanding that she and Willow meet you.’

‘Is it a demand?’ queried Ellis. ‘Or have you turned her request into something more unfriendly? And isn’t it better that they want to meet me? We always knew this moment would come.’

She gave his chest a small playful thump. ‘Do you have to be so reasonable?’

He smiled. ‘Would it help if I wasn’t?’

‘Enormously so. It would make me feel I have every right to be thrumming with an excess of righteous indignation!’

Laughing, he kissed her. ‘How about we put all that thrumming energy to better use and go for a walk, followed by an early supper at the pub?’

‘Is this us going public?’ she asked.

‘Why not? You said that once the girls knew about us, then we could tell people here in the village.’

‘Are you sure it’s what you really want?’

‘I’m one hundred per cent sure. And just to allay your fears, I’m not going to behave like a lovestruck teenager intent on snogging you in front of everyone.’

She shuddered. ‘What an appalling thought.’

‘I wouldn’t say it’s that appalling,’ he said, ‘me wanting to kiss you.’

‘Sorry, that wasn’t quite what I meant.’

‘I know. I also know how to behave as a gentleman. So how about it? Shall we give the village something to talk about?’

‘First things first, I need to reply to Martha, and that means finding a day when we’re both free and then we have to decide where to meet.’