An hour later, Angus escorted the two women home and waited till they’d locked the front door before strolling back to the big house.

Winifred looked at Janey as they hung up their outdoor clothes. ‘I heard you talking to Nell about your mother. You haven’t really forgiven her for not standing up for you when he used to hit you, have you?’

‘I’ve tried.’

‘She must have had a hard life with him too. It doesn’t do to hold on to a grievance, dear. I think the current generation dwells on their grievances far too much. Better to move on and focus on making the future better than live unhappily in the past.’

Janey flung her arms round Winifred. ‘My future is already better. I’m so glad I met you and came to live here.’

Winifred hugged her back, thinking that sometimes Janey acted like the child she hadn’t been for a long time, which was good to see. The dear girl had such heavy responsibilities as the sole parent of that lively little darling. ‘We both benefit from sharing the house, dear. And from each other’s company.’

‘Yes, very much. Now, I must get this young lady to bed. How she can sleep in that pushchair, I don’t know.’

‘Children can sleep anywhere. I envy them that.’

Later, when she went to bed herself, Janey lay for a while staring into the darkness. Her mother was desperate for the two of them to grow closer but although she did her best, she hadn’t yet been able to forgive her for letting her father bully her for years.

She was the one who’d kept her distance. She said it was to stop her father from being jealous and treating her even more unkindly, but Janey wasn’t sure she bought that.

And if she and her mother had been closer, maybe her father’s best friend wouldn’t have dared rape Janey and expect to get away with it.

She didn’t think she’d ever be able to let go of this grievance, whatever Winifred said, even though it had brought her a darling little daughter.

She intended to be in a very safe place when the man who’d raped her came out of prison.

He’d once threatened to claim his daughter if she didn’t do as he told her, but then he’d been caught and put into jail for another crime. He was never getting near Millie, no way!

Chapter Fourteen

The following morning Adam and his daughter took a taxi from the hotel to the office of the security company that was holding the information Topham had garnered.

Adam was shown into a small interview room to one side of the reception area and Gemma was asked to wait for him. She rolled her eyes at this but didn’t protest, thank goodness, just pulled out her smartphone and started fiddling around with it.

An elderly man joined him in the small inner room, carrying a large envelope. ‘Mr Torrington?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m the manager of this document transfer business and I take the security aspects very seriously, so I’ll need to see some reliable identification before I can hand over the papers that have been left here for you.’