She turned the corner and stopped in her tracks. There was a man up a ladder outside the bakery, a paintbrush in one hand, pot of paint in the other.

Anna ran down the street, pushing past the late-afternoon shoppers.

‘What are you doing?’ she called up to the workman.

‘What does it look like?’ he shouted back.

The words ‘Beck’s Bakery’ were already half obliterated under a thick coat of black paint. ‘Who told you to do it?’

He jerked his head towards the shop. ‘Better ask the boss.’

Anna stood her ground. ‘I want you to stop,’ she said.

‘Can’t do that, Missus. I’ve got my orders, y’see.’

Anna stormed into the shop. It was empty, except for Nellie half-heartedly organising jam tarts on a plate. She looked up as Anna came in, slamming the door behind her.

‘Afternoon,’ she said with that sly little smile of hers. Anna ignored her, lifting the flap in the counter to go through to the back.

‘Edward!’

He emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.

‘Hello, love,’ he said. He was all smiles, but for once that hardly mattered to Anna.

‘What are you playing at? You can’t paint over my father’s name.’

His face darkened, like clouds passing over the sun. ‘I can do what I like.’

‘But this has been Beck’s Bakery for the past twenty-five years!’

‘And now it’s mine.’ His chin lifted. ‘I can’t wait to see my name up over the door, where it belongs.’ He held up his hands, as if he was picturing it. ‘Stanning’s. It’s got a nice ring to it, don’t you think?’

Anna was half aware of Nellie, standing in the doorway, watching them with interest.

‘You must tell the signwriter to stop.’

Edward folded his arms across his chest. ‘Says who?’

‘Me.’

He smiled nastily. ‘Ah, but I don’t have to take orders from you anymore, do I? I ain’t the apprentice. I’m the boss now. And once my name’s over the door, everyone will know it.’

She looked at him and felt a searing rage that burned away her fear.

‘Do you really think you can take my father’s place just by painting out his name on a sign?’ She spat the words out scornfully. She saw Edward’s eyes narrow but she was too angry to stop. Seeing him trying to obliterate her father’s memory had unleashed a fury in her that she’d thought was long gone.

‘I know why you’re doing this,’ she said. ‘You’re jealous. That’s why you want to wipe out Papa’s name, because you know you’ll never be half the man he is.’

‘That’s enough!’ The stinging slap caught her off guard. Behind her, Anna heard Nellie hiss with shock.

She put her hand up to her cheek, feeling the jarred bones. Edward towered over her, tall and threatening.

‘I’m sick of listening to you going on about your father as if he was some kind of hero!’ He grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her like a rag doll. ‘When are you going to face the fact that he’s gone? He’s scuttled back to his little German rat hole, and good riddance to him.’ Edward’s mouth curled into a sneer. ‘Christ, all those years I had to kow-tow to that self-satisfied little German, not to mention your snobbish cow of a mother!’