Fleur made a face. ‘What a horrible expression. He never came on to me, as you call it, until he discovered David was gay.’

‘How did he?’

‘He saw David talking to his Indian driver, a very beautiful youth. Something in his body language alerted Fergus and he asked me outright.’

‘Had he never suspected before?’

‘No one did, Nikki. Your father was not remotely camp. He hated that in gays, as a lot of his generation did in the days before they came out.’

‘So Fergus was shocked?’

‘He was shocked and immensely angry with David for marrying me. Nik, can you remember your father at all?’

‘A bit. I remember him being big and happy and he seemed to me to be always laughing, as if life was one big joke. He was always scooping Saffie and me up to take us somewhere…Life with him, as I remember it, was always exciting and fun.’

‘Well, that’s because it was! He had a gift for making an ordinary day special. Someone once said to me, “ When David leaves a party, the party leaves with him,” and it was true, darling. Fergus couldn’t remain angry with David for long.’

‘Did Dad know Fergus knew?’

‘I think he suspected, because it was obvious something had changed between them, but he didn’t associate it with me. I didn’t want to hurt David or cause gossip so I used to meet Fergus in the Botanical Gardens in Singapore. At first we just walked and talked, then…I was terribly attracted to him.’

‘Then you had a full-blown affair?’

‘No. But we would have done, Nikki, eventually.’ Fleur got out of bed. ‘I need a shower and a glass of wine. Ah Lin is going to put supper on the table any minute.’

Nikki also got heavily off the bed. ‘I’ve had a shower. I’ll go and ring Jack. Mum, we don’t have to talk about it any more tonight. It’s making you sad.’

‘Yes, of course it makes me sad, even after all these years. But now I have to think about what…what it all might have led to.’

Nikki said quickly, knowing she must deflect Fleur, at least for tonight, ‘Mum, I could never be a hundred per cent sure who I saw that afternoon with Dad. I was only five.’

Fleur turned on her way to the bathroom. ‘Something is niggling at me, something I should remember. I can pinpoint the moment David changed, was late home more often, seemed distracted, and sadder. There had been a big interservice exercise on in Malaya. As well as Fergus, who had been posted in, extra pilots had been sent out for a few weeks to back David up and cut down on his flying hours. He came back from that exercise pre-occupied and a little distant.’

‘You think he was involved with someone?’

‘I think it was more serious than that. I think he might, for the first time, have fallen for someone and shocked himself.’