Now, as he poured himself a generous measure of brandy, he reflected on how neatly the rest of it had fallen into place. When he had returned to Aigburth Drive he had been toying with the idea of showing Olivia the two signatures but was wary of raising her suspicions. When Catherine had made the suggestion for him, he could have kissed her! He knew Olivia trusted her mother more than anyone, so for the idea to come from her lips gave validity to the suggestion. Once Olivia had seen the signatures with her own eyes he knew that as far as Edward was concerned, Olivia would want to have nothing more to do with him.

On reflection everything had worked out beautifully. All he had to do now, was think of a way to make sure that once the baby was born it would be out of their lives forever, because if there was one thing that could put a halt to his plans, it was word getting back to the Hewitts that they were now a father and grandfather, and that would never do.

Olivia was sitting up in bed hugging her knees. After she’d given birth four days earlier, her father had brought her to recuperate in the private cottage which he had rented for the duration of their stay. The nursing staff had tried to insist on Olivia staying in hospital until she had fully recovered from the difficult birth, but her father had been adamant that he wanted her out of hospital as soon as possible, stating that whilst he was happy for the private nurse he had paid to come and check on Olivia, he didn’t want her staying on the ward to be gawped at by the other mothers. The matron, a cheery woman with kind eyes, had tried to speak to Olivia on her own to see if she might be able to make him see sense, but with William refusing to leave her side, this had proved impossible.

A solitary tear ran silently down her cheek as she looked out of the deep-set window to the beautiful loch which sparkled in the winter sun. With hindsight, Olivia now realised that she had been incredibly naive when it came to childbirth, thinking that once the baby was born that would be the end of the matter, and she and her father could return home. What she hadn’t counted on was the yearning ache she would feel for the baby which had been whisked away before she had a chance to catch a glimpse of it, or the effort which her body would endure in order to expel the afterbirth, something which she’d found nearly as strenuous as having the baby itself. She winced as her arm brushed against her tender breasts. Shame filled her as she recalled the embarrassing moment when the private nurse had bound her breasts tightly in order to stop the milk coming through, telling Olivia it would be much easier, although painful, for her to cope with the loss that way.