Her father gave her a grunt of recognition, before indicating she go ahead of him into the living room.

She waited for him to sit down before taking the seat opposite. She smiled fleetingly at him. ‘How are you?’

He shrugged in a petulant manner. ‘As well as can be expected when living on my own.’ His eyes met hers. ‘You?’

She nodded. ‘I’m doing well,’ quickly adding, before she could chicken out, ‘I saw Ted earlier.’

Her father bristled. ‘Did you now? By God, has that man no shame? Anyone else would’ve left well alone – just goes to show how desperate he is to get his foot through the door.’

Olivia waited patiently for her father to finish. Her face impassive, she asked him outright, ‘Why did you tell him I’d had an abortion?’ She watched his face carefully. He didn’t look shocked, and his eyes weren’t darting around his head as he tried to seek an excuse. For once, it looked as if she was going to get the truth.

‘You’re better off without him,’ he said simply.

‘And is that why you accused him of stealing your koi? Because you needed to get rid of him before he found out I was pregnant?’

William gave his daughter a calculating stare before answering. ‘I did what I thought was best at the time.’

She nodded. ‘So you kept telling me. I remember you saying it was better for me not to know anything about my baby, not even the sex, and maybe you were right at the time, but a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, and I’m no longer the naive chit of a girl I once was, which is why I’ve come to see you. In short, I want to know more.’

Her father shot her a glance. ‘Funny how you’re only asking now he’s turned up on the scene.’

Olivia eyed him levelly. ‘I always wanted to know, I just didn’t have the courage to ask, and yes, that’s down to Ted, but it was always there. Olivia knew her father was trying to deflect the conversation, something she wouldn’t allow. Where did you bury our baby, your grandchild?’

William stared at her. Out of all the questions he expected her to ask, this obviously had not been one of them, and for the first time in her life, Olivia found her father was almost lost for words. ‘I – I can’t remember,’ he said lamely.

Olivia felt her temper beginning to rise. If Ted hadn’t turned up on the scene she very much suspected her father would not have had an issue with answering her question; he was only pretending not to remember to spite Ted. ‘What do you mean, you can’t remember? How many babies have you buried, Dad?’

He shot her a reproving glance. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Liv. It was a long time ago, I can’t remember everything that happened around that time. You weren’t the only one who was distraught.’