‘Aye, well, mebbe so . . .’ for a moment there was a fleeting uncertainty about Esther, as if she would dearly like to believe what Kate was saying, and yet the resentment surrounding the circumstances of her own birth was too deep-rooted to forgive the years of hardship it had caused.

‘And him,’ she flung out her hand towards the direction of Will Benson’s room, ‘even he didn’t acknowledge me as his daughter till after his wife ’ad died.’

‘Well, he couldn’t really, could he? But he’s always cared about you, always been on your side. He explained more about – well, how things happened here. It made me see things . . .’

‘I dun’t need no one to mek excuses for me. I dun’t need no one on my side, ’cept p’raps yar dad . . .’ She paused and then added pointedly, ‘Yar stepdad.’

Kate came back and stood on the opposite side of the table, leaning across it. ‘Mam, why are you still so bitter?’

‘I wasn’t – at least, I thought I wasn’t. But you – this—’ She jabbed a floury finger towards Kate’s stomach. ‘It’s brought it all back. Everything I’ve tried to live down, everything I’ve tried to do to make sure you never made the same mistake. All for nothing! It’s in the blood. It must be.’ She nodded her head towards Lilian. ‘’Spect she’ll do the same, an’ all.’

Lilian’s head snapped up, goaded at last. ‘Oh no, I won’t, Mam. I’ve got more sense than that. Besides, I’m staying on at school, going to better myself and get an education. Go to university, if I can. I’m not going to wreck my life . . .’ She stopped short of actually voicing the words, but they hung in the air between them, ‘ . . . like Kate!’

‘There you are, see?’ Esther said triumphantly. ‘At least one of me daughters ‘as got a bit of sense, a bit of my ambition.’

Kate looked at Lilian; at the short-cropped mousy hair, the owlish spectacles she wore, the smug expression on her plain face. Rather than feeling resentful towards her younger sister, Kate pitied her. She could visualize Lilian, with that attitude, being lonely all her life.

Kate sighed and turned away. There was no point in continuing to argue. She walked out of the house and stood in the yard. She pulled her coat closely around her and her collar up against the blustery wind which swept in from the sea, even today when it was supposed to be summer. She looked around, but could not see her stepfather. She pushed her hands deep into her pockets and felt the whelk shell. Since the night Danny had gone missing, she had carried it everywhere with her.

She sighed again. She’d better get it over; she would go and see Beth – and Rosie.

‘Why, lovey, how grand it is to see you.’