There was silence, then he folded the letter, put it back into the envelope and slipped it into his inner pocket. ‘I need time to think about this. Please, Gemma, don’t tell anyone else.’

‘As if I would. I’m not proud of what Mum did.’

The question he couldn’t possibly answer was: if he pursued this now, after all these years, would he make things worse for Dorothy? Would he even be able to find her again? A lot could have happened in eighteen years. She might not even be alive.

Had she had the baby – his baby – or had she lost it? There wasn’t a second letter from her in the package.

‘What are you going to do about it, Dad?’

‘I’m not sure. Make enquiries, at least. Perhaps go to England. If Dorothy did have my child, I’d want to meet it.’

‘Can I come too? The child would be my brother or sister.’

He took a sudden decision. ‘We could go during the Christmas holidays, perhaps? Most schools and universities are closed for the whole of January.’

‘I don’t want to celebrate Christmas this year.’

‘We won’t decide anything yet. It’s been a big shock – I can’t see my way clearly. But I won’t do anything without discussing it with you, working it out together. Will that be all right?’ And it wouldn’t hurt her to have a gap year.

She nodded, but she didn’t meet his eyes and she’d hunched her shoulders again, as if trying to keep the whole world at a distance.

Well, both of them had had a bad shock today, hadn’t they? It would take some getting used to.

And what the hell was he going to do about this new problem? Hadn’t he enough to deal with?

Only … what if he did have another daughter or a son? Adam had to find out. He couldn’t live with uncertainty about something so important.

Part Two

Chapter Eight

After a few weeks of living with Victor and recovering some of her old energy, Elise confided in him, ‘Mary and Kerry are my closest relatives now, Victor. I don’t like to be estranged from them and I think they’ve learnt their lesson about interfering in my life.’

‘You’re more forgiving than I would be.’

She gave him a wry smile. ‘I’m no saint and I do have an ulterior motive. If I cut all connections with them, I’ll be cutting ties with Mary’s daughter, Harriet, who has always been a favourite of mine. I used to look after her in the school holidays. I’d like to invite them to tea here, if you don’t mind.’

‘I don’t mind, but will they come, do you think?’

‘Who knows? Probably they will, if only out of sheer curiosity. I also want Mary and Kerry to learn that older people can still have a life. We don’t all get dementia like Mary’s poor mother-in-law did. They had a terrible time with her and I’m sure it coloured the way she dealt with me.’ She waited a moment then added, ‘Well? Would you mind?’