Another sign of what a small world it could be, Adam decided. What did they call it: seven degrees of separation? No, it was six degrees, he amended mentally. He liked the thought that you were only five acquaintances away from anyone on the planet, though he wasn’t quite sure whether that could really apply to everyone in the world.

He drove carefully through the centre of town, where some shops were still brightly lit, and turned into Peppercorn Street.

When they got near the top, Hope pointed. ‘That’s it, the three-storey house with the light on over the front door.’

So they parked the car and as they got out, he admitted to himself that he was still extremely nervous about the coming meeting. He wasn’t usually a worrier, but he wanted so much to make a good impression on his other daughter.

‘We’d better let you go in first, Hope,’ he said after he’d locked the car.

As they walked along the path to the front door, Gemma squeezed his hand and whispered, ‘It’ll be all right, Dad. Stop worrying.’

Her touch was comforting but he couldn’t relax, just couldn’t.

Janey had been peering out of the front room window without putting the light on, hoping she couldn’t be seen by the visitors. She wanted to catch a glimpse of her biological father before he came inside because she didn’t even have a photo of him.

As the visitors walked down the path the man turned to the young woman walking beside him, smiling as he said something. Wow! Her birth father was really good-looking. Janey felt surprised. Somehow she hadn’t expected that. Lovely warm smile too, she decided.

Would he ever smile at her like that?

‘They’re here!’ she called, hurrying into the hall as the doorbell sounded.

Winifred came out from the kitchen to give her a quick hug. ‘Chin up, dear. You wanted to find your real father and now you have.’

But did he truly want another daughter? Janey wondered as she went to open the front door. She wished Auntie Winifred was staying with her for this important meeting, but she’d refused, saying it wouldn’t be right for a stranger to intrude.

Janey’s mother was standing at the front of the trio. Next to her father was a young woman who had dark, slightly wavy hair very like her own. She was even wearing it in a similar style too, long and tied back.

‘Janey, these are Adam and Gemma,’ her mother said in a voice that wobbled slightly.

‘Nice to meet you. Oh, thank you! The flowers are lovely. Um, come in and let me take your coats. I’ve got a nice fire in my sitting room.’ She didn’t let herself babble on, but waited in silence to hang their coats on the hallstand then led the way into the nearby room. They didn’t say anything, either.

Millie was sitting in the playpen, fiddling with her plastic bricks. She was rosy from her bath and ready for bed, wearing her teddy bear pyjamas.