‘She probably didn’t want you to feel bad for your father or guilty or anything like that, I’m guessing,’ Colin offered. ‘Anyway, I am sure there’s always lots going on in any marriage that just isn’t always meant for kids to know. I’ve been there myself in a way. My sister and I.’

‘How so?’ Penny enquired, truly curious.

Colin cleared his throat and locked eyes with Penny – feeling a little put on the spot.

‘Well, it was when I was about sixteen I think. My sister, Tricia, she’s three years older, was poking around in the attic of our house in Sussex and came across some old photo albums. Pictures taken before either of us were born, pictures from early on in my parents’ marriage. In any case, she was looking around and found some pictures and what not of my mother, and she was pregnant. But interestingly, the picture was dated three years before she was born. It seems that my mother had fallen pregnant shortly after she and my dad were married, and they were delighted. Even more so when they found out they were having twins.’ He looked unusually pensive. ‘But when she was about five months or thereabouts, from what she told us later, she miscarried and lost the babies.’

Penny drew in her breath. ‘Oh no.’

‘She’d never told us up to then. I suppose she thought that if we’d known about that pregnancy, these siblings that we had never known about, that we might think or believe that we were a backup or some kind of consolation prize. She didn’t want us to feel second-best. So she and my father never told us about it. It was their secret.’

Penny looked at him. ‘And did you? Feel like a plan B of sorts?’

Colin shook his head. ‘Absolutely not. Of course it’s a little odd to think about the possibility of my having other older brothers or sisters, but it’s not something I dwell on.’ He looked at Penny. ‘Just as you shouldn’t dwell on your father’s kind sacrifice.’

‘I know. But I really would like to try and get them back for him; it feels right, especially now, when it seems we’re going to lose the hotel after all. But I wonder now if it might be a huge undertaking . . .’

‘Never fear, Penny, I will help you,’ Colin assured her, looking considerably more enthused than she felt. ‘A project like this is exactly the kind of thing I’ve been wanting to get my teeth into.’

Chapter 20

Elle had been home over a week and hadn’t heard a word from her family. She wasn’t too surprised. Penny was obviously still angry with her, perhaps not without reason, and her father had more or less said straight out that her own coldness had brought about the failure with the townspeople.