Of course, she’d told him no. It was then that Jake revealed he’d been in almost daily phone contact with his father for nearly two years. How had she not noticed? How had Jake been able to lie to her all that time? He said he was sorry, that he hadn’t wanted to hide it from her, but he knew she’d go crazy and try to put a stop to it. And how could Grace argue with that? He was right.

Grace had always tried to prevent Jake from discovering the full extent of Nathan’s violent temper. He’d been so young when Nathan had been sent to prison and, given Nathan’s propensity to remain on the missing list for a lot of the time, the two of them had never developed a close bond.

After Nathan had been sent to prison, Grace had never told Jake much about him. She thought the less he knew, the better. She certainly didn’t want him to know what a monster his father truly was. In hindsight, she realized that pretending Nathan never existed was a huge mistake. With no other information to go on, Nathan became some enigmatic, mythical figure in Jake’s mind. By the time Grace learned of their contact, Nathan had cemented himself in Jake’s life as the most incredible father in the world; a legend, who was only doing time because he was trying to provide for his family.

Despite having to endure a year of Jake’s moody teenage stroppiness and his constant declarations that his father was a changed man, Grace would never agree to let him visit Nathan in prison. She confiscated his mobile phone, but Nathan procured him another one and then another. Jake told her there was nothing she could do to prevent him from contacting his dad, and as much as that aggravated and, if she was honest, scared the hell out of her, she knew he was right. So, in the end she’d relented. She realized that he’d only keep speaking with Nathan in secret and if she at least pretended to accept their communication he could be open with her about it. She thought that would allow her at least some insight into their relationship, and thereby give her some modicum of control.

For Nathan’s part, he seemed to adore Jake and appeared to have accepted that he and Grace were long over. According to Jake, he only ever asked if Grace was doing okay and nothing more.