Soon after she arrived, Elise noticed a car arrive at Number 2. She kept an eye on the other house as her things were brought inside and shortly afterwards another removal van arrived and parked close by.

Stacy came to the door, waved to her, then turned to speak to the two removers. She didn’t come out again.

Later, as Elise got ready for bed she looked out of her bedroom window and saw the bedroom light from the upper storey next door shining down on the front pathway that ran along the whole row.

It was a relief not to be living on her own here. That prospect of being so vulnerable, since the phone hadn’t been installed yet, had been worrying her more than a little. She’d tried not to let it show because this was such a good opportunity for her, and anyway, she had nowhere else to go. But still, a neighbour was a good thing to have.

‘Goodnight, Stacy,’ she murmured. ‘Sleep well.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hope rang her counsellor and explained what was going on with Adam. Nina suggested that she should tell her daughter at once about the sudden arrival of the father Janey had only found out about last year and had never met.

‘It wouldn’t be good for her to find out he’s here from someone else. Or even for him just to turn up on her doorstep. Don’t you agree?’

‘I suppose so. It’ll be a big shock, however she finds out.’ But telling Janey about Adam meant Hope had to risk upsetting her daughter and that possibility worried her too.

She was facing one difficult task after another as she built her new life and she was coming to the conclusion that it was better to get them over and done with than to mope around for days worrying about what might happen if she changed something. After some more thought, she decided to tell her daughter about Adam that very evening.

She rang Janey and asked if she could come round after tea. ‘There’s something I need to tell you, um, about your birth father.’

‘Oh. Right. Of course you can drop round.’

As usual when something was very important the people at the refuge arranged a lift for Hope to and from Janey’s, because it grew dark early at this time of year and she still felt terrified when she had to go out after dark on her own.

After that had been sorted out there was no going back and she spent the rest of the day alternating between fear of how Janey would react and relief that the secret she’d been holding inside herself with difficulty would be coming out into the open.

She had to gather all her courage together, though, when it came time to walk out to the car that was taking her to Peppercorn Street.

The woman driving it was a stranger, but she had a kind face and she gave the correct password.