Ted took a deep breath and held his hand towards the door. ‘After you.’

As she opened the door to her father’s room she peered cautiously around the edge. Her father was sitting up in bed, a plate of untouched toast on his lap. Seeing the door open, he grabbed a vase from beside his bed and threw it at the door where it smashed against the frame. ‘Sod off,’ he bellowed, ‘I’m not eating your poisonous crap!’

Olivia pursed her lips and strode into the room. ‘I’ll have none of that!’

Her father squinted at her, before reaching for his glasses and putting them on. ‘Oh,’ he said dismissively, ‘it’s you.’

‘It’s nice to see you too, Dad,’ said Olivia.

He peered at her as she walked towards him. ‘I thought you said you were never coming back. Never’s not as long as I remember it to be.’

‘Well, it’s a good job I did,’ said Olivia stoutly. ‘By all accounts, you’ve run yourself into the ground, and taken a few others along the way.’ She glanced over her shoulder to where Ted stood, half in, half out of the doorway. ‘I’ve brought Ted with me.’

William’s jaw flinched as he eyed Ted with disapproval. ‘So I see,’ he said in withering tones. His eyes flicked towards Olivia. ‘What the hell did you bring him for?’

Olivia placed her hand in Ted’s as he arrived by her side. ‘We’ve decided to give things a go, and we’ve been courting for well over …’ Breaking off, she swiftly removed the plate of toast from her father’s lap before he sent it hurtling in Ted’s direction. ‘That’s enough, Dad!’ she snapped. ‘I’m not Annie. You can’t boss me around and have a hissy fit just to get your own way.’

‘Boss her around?’ scoffed William. ‘Is that what she’s been telling you? Because if it is, she’s a liar! She’s trying to bump me off, and I can prove it.’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous, she’s not trying to do anything of the sort.’

‘Really?’ he demanded. ‘Then how come I found her hiding drugs in my food? Bet she never told you about that, did she?’ he finished with an air of triumph.

Olivia sighed heavily. ‘She told us you’ve been refusing to take your medication, so she tried to hide it in your food, yes, but that was for your own good.’

‘Poppycock!’ snapped William. ‘There was nothing wrong with me until they started giving me those damned pills.’ He glared at Ted. ‘It’s the likes of him that have put her up to it, feeble-minded woman that she is.’

‘For goodness’ sake, Dad, you carry on making statements like that and people are going to think you’ve gone barmy.’

Her father smiled gleefully. ‘And that’s part of their plan. If the poison doesn’t work they’ll have me sectioned, but I’m not falling for that one.’

‘You’re an idiot,’ Olivia mumbled under her breath.

‘What?’ said William sharply.