‘On the contrary, you’ll have half of what this house brings when we sell it. Anyway, this trip would be on me, spending money for you included. I’m not short of money, love. I’ve earned well and had a bit of luck with one or two investments. I could even pick up a few short-term jobs while we’re there, get some up-to-date experience in the field.’

‘Can I think about it?’

‘Of course.’

But he could see that she looked excited under that calm, unemotional reaction she often tried to assume.

He didn’t push for an answer, just waited her out.

Two days later Gemma said abruptly, ‘I think it’d be a good idea to go to England and then maybe we could see some of the rest of the world. My friend did a round-the-world tour and she said it was awesome.’

‘Went round the world with her parents, you mean?’

She wriggled uncomfortably and avoided his eyes at first. ‘Yes. I know why you’re offering it and – and I’d like to get to know you better again because, well, I think Mum prejudiced me a bit.’

More than a bit, he thought, but managed not to say so. He tried not to let out his breath in a whoosh of relief, but failed miserably with that. ‘All right. It’s agreed. We’ll go to England first and see what we can find out about Dorothy, then we’ll decide what to do next. I’d rather leave my travel options open for the moment.’

But Gemma was looking so miserable, he found himself defending his ex. ‘Remember your mother really did love you. It was me she fell out with.’

‘But she shouldn’t have told me such lies.’

Oh, the pain in the poor girl’s voice. It hurt him to hear it.

Gemma gulped audibly and went to switch the kettle on to hide how close she was to tears.

Adam let her make the conversational pace after that, talking about where they might go in Britain and Europe. Which didn’t mean she’d stopped being reasonable one day, unreasonable the next. But he felt they were starting to mend the breach Judith had deliberately created between them, for which he’d never, ever forgive his ex.

Nor would he forgive her for keeping that letter from Dorothy from him, either. He kept wondering whether he had another child, and didn’t know whether he hoped to find one or not.

The child might hate him. If he or she knew he existed, that was.

Maybe he or she loved another man as her father and wouldn’t want to meet him even.

His world seemed full of maybes at the moment. Gemma wasn’t the only one whose emotions were up one minute, down the next, but he thought he was handling it all right, as well as could be expected, anyway.

Adam was a little delayed in setting off by one of his postgraduate students running into major snags in an important project. Since he was seriously considering taking a year’s sabbatical, he wanted to leave everything running smoothly. Besides, he’d guided Mark from a first-year student through to doing useful research for his master’s degree. He cared about the guy’s progress.