‘You must go now, Rudi, and never come back.’

Then he whispered in her ear, ‘Thank you for letting me see my son.’

He climbed back in his car and wound down the window.

‘Goodbye, Lily.’

‘Goodbye, Rudi.’

‘Look after our boy.’

‘I will.’

Tom watched the two people in front of him. He stared in shocked silence as the tall, faired-haired man pushed a lock of hair behind Lily’s ear. It was an act of intimacy and in that moment he knew they were lovers.

Also, he could not help but see the similarity between the boy and the man: the same high cheekbones, long limbs and blond hair. Surely it can’t be, he thought.

Anger surged through his body and he reversed the car, turned and drove away.

He had seen enough.

That night Tom lay in his bed while lightning flashes were followed by the roar of thunder. He could not sleep, tormented by a need he could not fulfil. The heat was unbearable, close and oppressive.

Thoughts of Lily raced through his mind.

A great deception had come between them.

It had come at a cost.

He had lost the woman he loved.

In Laurel Cottage Lily heard the rain beginning to beat against her bedroom window. Heaven’s giant army was on the move. The storm was close now, a great storm, and she was in its path. For a moment she felt the echo of a life that had once filled her waking dreams. That life had gone now. It was a passing memory, frozen in time.

When her baby was born she had wept until there were no more tears left inside her. She remembered that young woman for whom love was intoxicating, an adventure under the stars. Now she had to live with the inner truths that filled her waking dreams. Tom’s love was different, steadfast and true, unwavering in a sea of secrets … but it too was over.

There was a force in Tom that echoed in her sleeping thoughts. A giant wave had crashed over her and shattered her dreams. Only scattered pieces remained, shifting pebbles on silent sands. Deep down, Lily knew that life at Ragley School was transient. It would pass by like a summer breeze and one day she would move on.

However, secrets had a habit of being discovered – often at the most unlikely moment.

Chapter Eighteen

White Lies and Wishes

It was Wednesday, 22 July and the first soft kiss of sunlight brushed Lily’s bedroom window. Beyond the Hambleton hills a golden glow shimmered on the horizon where the earth met the cloudless sky.