‘I—’ Kate hesitated. ‘I’m not sure. Me mam’s mad as hell. I’ve got a seventy-two-hour pass this weekend. I’m going home to see – well – how the land lies.’

And, she thought to herself, this time I’ll have to tell Rosie and Danny’s mam.

Kate entered through the back door and put her bag down in the scullery. As she stepped into the kitchen, her mother looked up from where she was rolling out pastry on the kitchen table. Lilian sat at one end, her school books open on the scrubbed surface.

‘Oh, it’s you, is it?’ Esther said, and banged the rolling pin down hard upon the pastry.

Lilian’s glance went immediately to Kate’s stomach. With a mumbled ‘Hello’, the girl lowered her eyes, her face red with embarrassment, and concentrated on the exercise book lying open in front of her. Her pen moved swiftly across the page as she wrote.

‘Hello, Mam – Lilian,’ Kate said brightly and moved round the table to kiss her mother’s cheek.

But Esther leaned away. ‘Dun’t you “mam” me, me girl, coming in here all brazen and bold as ya like. You’re no daughter of mine. Thought I made that clear last time you come.’

Kate gasped. She had known her mother was furious but she hadn’t realized just how deep her outrage was. Like Jonathan, Kate had believed that given time her mother would at least stand by her.

She made to move towards the door leading into the hall and to her grandfather’s room.

‘And dun’t go whining to him. I’ve telled ’em both, I ain’t having you back home. Ya’ve made ya bed, ya can lie on it!’

Kate swung round. ‘Is that what you’d have wanted folks to say to your mother – if she’d lived?’

Esther’s mouth pursed and she rolled the pastry viciously until it was too thin and tore. She gave a click of exasperation and bundled it up into a ball again to begin rolling it out once more. ‘So I was right. That’s where he took you that last time, did he? Meant you knowing all about my shame. As if that excuses you.’

More gently now, Kate said, shaking her head in disbelief, ‘I’d have thought you’d be more understanding, that’s all.’

‘Understanding? Expect me to understand when me mother died and left me to the mercy of me Aunt Hannah all me young life till I was old enough to get out and come here? Aye, an’ me troubles didn’t end there, did they? I got mesen a whole lot more with Matthew Hilton and Beth – and Danny.’

‘Your mother couldn’t help dying, Mam,’ Kate said quietly. ‘She’d have loved you and looked after you if she’d lived.’