He sighed heavily. ‘Poor little lass. She was brought up by Connie’s older sister, Hannah. She was married to George. A nice chap, but slow. They had seven bairns of their own. But she was a shrew of a woman and only took Esther in out of duty to her dead sister. She never showed young Esther a shred of affection and never let her forget the facts of her birth. So ya see, ya mam does understand, knows only too well, but from the other side, lass, from the other side of things. She knows what it’s like to be the bastard. That’s why she fought like a she-cat for her own place, that’s why she married Matthew Hilton when he offered. And he did ask her, Kate.’ Will’s voice was firm now. ‘Whatever anyone tries to tell you different, Matthew did want to marry her. He was mad to have her, ’cos she wouldn’t give hersen to him without a wedding band, see? It was only when he found out afterwards that he’d left Beth Hanley pregnant with Danny that he was resentful towards ya mam and tried to put the blame on her. And her only fault was that she wanted to be respectable and have a home she could call her own. That was her only fault, Kate, her only fault.’

‘And that’s why she’s so mad at me,’ Kate murmured, her gaze still on her grandmother’s headstone, ‘for bringing another bastard into the world.’

They were silent, then Kate put her hand through the crook of his arm again. Hugging him to her, she said, ‘I’m so glad you’ve told me everything, Grandad. It helps me understand things a lot better. And why my mother’s – well, like she is.’

‘We don’t realize,’ he murmured, ‘when we’re young and foolish how the mistakes we make are going to affect those who come after us . . .’

‘But you don’t regret having loved Connie, do you?’

He pursed his frail mouth and shook his head. ‘Never, I’ll never regret that.’

‘Or having Esther?’ she asked, suddenly feeling the wiser one of the two.

Again he shook his head. ‘I’m proud to be her father.’

‘Well, then,’ Kate said rationally. ‘I’m going to be proud to have my child. I’ll look after it, love it and never regret having it.’

‘What about the father, lass, can he really not marry you?’

Kate looked down again at Connie’s grave, sharing for a moment the same feelings she must have known so long ago. ‘No, Grandad, he can’t,’ she told Will simply. ‘There are other – complications.’

‘Does he know about . . .?’

‘I can’t tell him, Grandad. It – wouldn’t be fair.’