And now I feel like our family has lost something, an heirloom of sorts. I know that he did this to take care of his family – to provide for Elle and me and now the new baby, but I can’t deny that I believe something terrible happened today. Something beautiful was sold for the sake of mere utility and practicality.

What’s worse is that when he came home this evening, I looked at my poor husband and I saw an expression on his face that I had never seen before – like a light had turned off inside him. It made my heart hurt. Something about his face had changed and it worries me – quite a lot, if I am being honest. A light, a passion almost, that I had been used to seeing in Ned’s eyes was no longer there. I hope it comes back.

The passage ended, just like that, and Penny put a hand to her face realising that she was crying.

‘Dad sold the albums for me. Sold them because of me,’ she whispered, swallowing hard as the reality of the situation hit her like a truck. ‘And something died in him. Something changed.’

Penny looked away from the diary and thought about the words that she had just read. The way he is . . . withdrawn and quiet, it was her fault, she realised. The collection, the songs, the family all knew that certain songs had always been Ned’s preferred way to communicate his feelings. But she’d had no idea that the music had truly meant that much to him.

No, her rational mind answered. It wasn’t your fault. The timing was just wrong. They’d just bought the hotel and there was no more money . . .

But nonetheless the incident had changed her father. The momentousness of the situation had changed him, made him retreat into himself somehow. He had given up something that meant so much to him, just to accommodate her arrival.

And Penny couldn’t deny that regardless of how illogical it sounded, she felt responsible.

Selling his Beatles collection had been a defining moment in Ned’s life. Penny guessed that a day didn’t pass that he didn’t think of it. She knew he regretted it – losing that collection, for Penny’s sake or indeed the sake of the hotel.

And not only had he since lost Anna, but now he was about to lose the hotel too. Straight off, she remembered his words when after the funeral she and Elle first discussed selling the hotel. ‘We already sacrificed enough to keep it.’

Then suddenly, Penny had a thought. She might not be able to save the hotel or bring back her mother, but there was nothing to stop her from getting her father’s collection back, was there?

And right then, with a renewed understanding and a fresh sense of purpose, Penny knew that she would move heaven and earth to do so.