Flynn shook his head in a disbelieving way. “She soon realised that if she did that, the mystique around me would vanish and so would the value of my work.”

The breeze sifted through his generous flop of silvery hair. “So, she did the complete opposite and said nobody was to ever find out Chandler was me. It could ruin everything if they did.”

Flynn senior shot me an ironic smile. “Astrid saw me as a cash cow. Up until then, she always looked down on me as her struggling artist of a husband.”

He eyed Lily. “That was until her modelling work started to dry up and she realised that my alter ego could keep her in the manner to which she had become accustomed.”

His smile widened at her. “Haven’t you realised why I chose the name Chandler as my artist persona?”

Lily blushed, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. “I do now.”

“It’s also how I was able to afford to keep Merry Wood all these years,” explained Flynn senior. “If Chandler hadn’t taken off as he did, I don’t know what would have happened. My work has been selling so, so well. All that was missing from my life was you.”

The charged events unfolding around us meant I almost missed my phone ringing in my bag.

I reluctantly let go of Flynn’s hand to answer it. Part of me didn’t want to, I was so wrapped up in what was happening in front of us, revealing the truth and banishing the tangle of lies.

My face must have registered surprise when Athena’s name and number materialised on the screen.

“Who is it?” asked Flynn.

“My editor. I won’t be a second. Sorry about this.”

I wandered a few feet away while Flynn carried on observing the exchanges between his grandfather and Lily.

I was still trying to clear my head and unscramble all the painful secrets and revelations that Flynn senior was disclosing, when my editor’s voice came screeching down the phone at me at ninety miles per hour.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” gushed Athena into my ear, not giving me a chance to speak. “This is such wonderful news! The exclusive of the decade. My goodness, I can scarcely believe it! Well done you!”

I frowned down the line. What was she going on about? I had never heard her so animated. “Sorry? What wonderful news and what exclusive? I don’t understand.”

“We need to run with this as soon as possible,” she breathed, not pausing for air. “I’ll make sure we clear a couple of the other features to make way for it. I can stick the piece on female rally drivers and the article about Manuka honey in the next edition.”