‘That sounds like a very happy memory,’ Dolly smiled.

She was feeling a little brighter now the painkillers had worked their magic and she’d had something to eat.

‘It is,’ I smiled. ‘And I’ve realised in the last few days, that I have lots of them. Ever since I had that first email from Mum they’ve been crowding in thick and fast.’

‘I’m sure they’ve always been there.’

‘I’m sure they have too,’ I agreed, stirring faster, ‘but all the time we were divided after Jonathan’s meddling, I never allowed myself to think about them. I put both my parents and the happiest memories of my childhood out of my mind and never let them in.’

I would never be able to forgive Jonathan for that. When he came on the scene things between me and my parents were already fragile but he made sure he smashed the relationship we had left to smithereens and if he’d had his way, we never would have found a way to repair it.

‘Just think if that card hadn’t been sent,’ I said, feeling a shudder run through me as I imagined myself accepting Jonathan’s proposal and moving abroad.

‘Best not to,’ said Dolly, patting my hand and leaning closer in to check we were doing everything in the right order. ‘Now come on, concentrate on the job in hand.’

I did my best, but it was hard work trying to banish thoughts of my deceitful other half, and I wasn’t the only one struggling to shove him out of the spotlight.

‘You know,’ Dolly said bitterly, as we carefully slid the tins into the oven, ‘I can’t help thinking he’s made a fool out of both of us. He knew I had misgivings about him after he decked that poor chap, and he also knew I’d never voice them for fear of losing you. That said,’ she added with a frown, ‘I never would have suspected him of orchestrating you cutting your parents out of your life. Granted, some things might not have added up, but that was too extreme to be plausible. Or so I thought.’

‘That’s because you see the good in everyone, Dolly,’ I told her. ‘You’re the sort of person who always hopes for the best in others as well as in life. I used to be like you.’

Her expression changed as she turned to face me.

‘Don’t you let what that man’s done change that, Hattie.’ She said sternly. ‘There are still folk in the world with pure goodness running through their veins.’

‘Oh, really?’

‘Yes, she said, ‘Beamish for a start. There’s a man with not an ounce of malice in him.’

‘All right,’ I conceded. ‘I’ll let you have Beamish, but he’s the exception, not the rule.’