‘I suppose so.’ He swallowed the last of the tea and put the cup down before saying, ‘I told her she’d become hard.’

Olive’s hands became still and she looked straight at him. ‘I don’t think that’s true. She had to find a way through what happened, that’s all, and make a new life for herself. Did she tell you Ellie’s dead?’

‘Ellie? No.’ He was shocked. ‘We didn’t talk as such, just exchanged a few words in the street as she had to catch a train. What happened to Ellie?’

Olive told him but made no mention of Daniel Bell or the fact that because Ruby had sent the police to his house he was now in the hands of the law. Ruby had asked her not to mention Daniel Bell to anyone, but it was less her promise to her sister and more the fact that she didn’t want Adam charging off to Newcastle like a white knight on a charger that caused her to hold her tongue about it. She finished by saying, ‘I think Ellie’s passing was what prompted Ruby to come and see our mam an’ da and make her peace with them.’

‘And you.’

‘Aye, and me.’ She had no idea how he felt about that.

As if he was reading her thoughts, he said, ‘Before she came back I would have imagined I’d feel angry if you two made up.’

‘Because it would mean she’d forgiven me for what I did.’

He nodded.

‘And do you? Feel angry?’

He didn’t answer this but said, ‘Do you hate me?’

Visibly shocked, she said, ‘Hate you? Of course I don’t hate you.’

‘I could understand why if you did.’

‘Well, I don’t.’ Terrified she would betray how she really felt about him, which would be the final humiliation, she added, ‘You’re Alice’s da and she loves you.’

A smile touched his mouth, which had settled into stern lines over the last four years. ‘Aye, she does. Funny that.’

‘I don’t think so. It’s natural for a bairn to love her da.’ She picked up her mending again to give her hands something to do and so she could look away from his face, which was paining her.