She closed her eyes and recalled how horrible he’d been. He’d said her mother had just died and all she cared about was having a good time. He’d said she was a disgrace to her mother’s memory. She’d cried herself to sleep every night with no notion of how badly her father was hurting, or how badly he needed a pair of arms around him, especially from his sixteen-year-old daughter.

‘Anyway, you kindly came up with the hundred pounds and I went to Greece with David.’ Silence fell over the cottage, each of them lost in their heartbreak.

‘I borrowed it off Bill,’ her father said quietly, breaking the hush with his hurt. ‘I’d just been laid off because of me lungs, but the pension wasn’t enough for all the extras of yer mum’s funeral. They just about cleared me out.’ He sighed as his shoulders slumped. ‘Someone must have informed social services that I was finding it hard, cos they came a-knockin’, wantin’ to come in and see how we lived.’ He swiped his hand across his face and stood straighter, proud, his voice harder. ‘I didn’t want their charity! I wasn’t going to be beholden to anyone so I told them to piss right off. Then Father O’Donnell came to visit so I told him he could piss right off too. They didn’t bother me after that.’

Shelly stared at him. Her father never swore. She had no idea he’d struggled with his finances until he told her about her mum asking for the taxi money on Christmas Eve. It simply never crossed her mind. Knowing how proud her dad was, she could just imagine the scene at the door. Poor social workers. Poor priest. Poor Dad.

‘Anyway, to shorten the story, everything went wrong on that holiday, didn’t it? What a tragedy. Then, nine months later I had a baby boy, DJ, who went straight to his adoptive parents. Broke my heart. I never forgot him, my baby, my child, but I never saw him again – until today.’

Gordon turned from the window and stared at her but she couldn’t read his expression, and she desperately hoped she wasn’t making another mistake.

‘He’s nineteen, of course, studying marine biology at Cambridge. It’s got nothing to do with me, but I can tell you, I’m so proud, Dad. Do you think I could invite him here for Sunday lunch?’

Gordon made a short gurgling noise, a hiccough of sorrow that drew her attention. His hands came up to cover his face, and his shoulders shook.

‘Dad, oh, Dad!’ Shelly jumped up and went to place an arm around his shoulders. ‘I’m so sorry, honestly, I didn’t mean to upset you.’