Carl snapped his head to look at Diana beside him. She gave him a soft smile.

“And that was why you couldn’t bring yourself to sell it?” surmised Diana, her voice hushed.

“I know it all sounds crazy now, but we were so in love,” interrupted Lily. “I lived with my late husband, Bernard, in the cottage opposite Merry Wood and when I thought Flynn had decided not to come back and to try to make his marriage work instead… Well, even though the memories of him hurt so much, it was almost a comfort to still have the house to look at every day.”

She let out a dry laugh as we all hung on to every word she was saying. “I had no idea what was happening with Merry Wood but a tiny part of me, even years later, hoped I might see Flynn again and that he would come back.”

From around the dining table there hung a heavy, emotional silence.

“Flynn gave me a spare a key that first Christmas, and we would slip out to meet one another.” Her eyes clouded over with the memories. “He painted me in his studio a couple of times. He thought that if I had a key, then it would be easier for us to arrange our meetings, if we both had access to the house when Astrid and Bernard weren’t around.”

I recalled Lily propelling herself out of the back door when Harley and I entered the rear gardens of Merry Wood. “And that’s why you could still gain access to the house.”

Lily reddened and nodded.

Carl toyed with the cut-crystal wine glass in front of him, not looking at his father. He gathered himself. “Why didn’t you go to the police about Mum at the time?”

“Like I said before, I know I should have, but my bloody stupid male pride wouldn’t allow it.” Flynn senior turned to me. “Back then, I had a fear of what people might think and it was such different times.”

“And the fact that Grandma was the doyenne of the fashion and charity circuit?” asked Flynn from beside me.

Flynn senior nodded. “I wondered if anyone would believe me. What? Astrid Talbot? The Scottish Twiggy? Who was raising huge amounts of money for the hungry, needy, and underprivileged? Physically abusing her husband?”

Diana took a gulp of her white wine. “So, what are you going to do now, Flynn? About Astrid, I mean?” She turned to Carl. “I know she’s your mother, but she shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”

“I agree,” murmured Flynn to his mother.