Tim is the closest to the door when Lottie bangs the knocker. He sweeps her into his arms and swings her round, even though she’s getting too big for such treatment, and frankly our hall isn’t wide enough to accommodate her gangly legs any more. She adores the attention but for the first time I feel a twinge of unease. I have to stop myself from ordering him to put her down. There is nothing wrong with their relationship. What happened with Anna was different. If he had malicious intentions, I would have felt it.

The furrows between Douglas’s brows deepen. I wish I hadn’t told him now. I can feel his resentment building. I know him well enough to understand something of what he’s feeling. He puts up with enough from Nick, but this other man’s familiarity with his daughter is rubbing his nose in it, and now he knows what Tim did, he can’t bear it.

My ex’s mood isn’t without justification; Tim is deliberately baiting him. The atmosphere is thick with testosterone and suppressed anger, but Tim ignores the signs, treating Douglas like a rival for Lottie’s affections, punishing him for provoking Cora. What angers me is that Lottie is being used as a pawn. I’m about to intervene, but Douglas gets there first, snapping abruptly, his voice like the crack of a whip,

‘Lottie. Go up to your room.’

Lottie glances at me. ‘What’s happening, Mum?’

‘Nothing.’ I glare at Douglas. ‘Sweetie, go upstairs, just for ten minutes. Dad and I need to have a private chat with your grandparents.’

‘We’re not …’ Cora starts, but Tim shushes her.

Lottie makes a face. I raise my eyebrows, forcing a smile. She wrinkles her nose and slouches out of the room with a teenage pout.

‘You shouldn’t have spoken to her like that,’ I say. ‘None of this is her fault.’

‘You should go, Douglas,’ Cora says. ‘You’re making everyone uncomfortable.’

When Douglas speaks his voice is dangerously soft. ‘I’m so sorry if my presence is upsetting, but I’m protecting the most important person in my life. I need to know that my daughter is safe in this house.’

‘Oh for goodness’ sake,’ Cora snaps. ‘Of course she is. What on earth do you think is going to happen to her?’

He ignores the question and turns his attention to Tim. ‘I’ve been having a look at you. You have quite a history, don’t you? Bankruptcy, screwing your friends out of their savings. And the rest.’

Tim’s jaw tightens. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Even I’m shocked. How the hell does Douglas know this? I didn’t tell him. He works in tech security, so I presume he has ways and means; it’s the only thing that makes sense.

Douglas says something under his breath. The effect is immediate. Tim pales.