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Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Anita Frank
  4. Note to Readers
  5. Dedication
  6. Part One
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Part Two
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Chapter Fifty
  58. Chapter Fifty-One
  59. Chapter Fifty-Two
  60. Chapter Fifty-Three
  61. Chapter Fifty-Four
  62. Chapter Fifty-Five
  63. Chapter Fifty-Six
  64. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  65. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  66. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  67. Chapter Sixty
  68. Acknowledgements
  69. Extract
  70. Chapter One
  71. Chapter Two
  72. Chapter Three
  73. About the Publisher

‘It’s not yours, is it?’ She looks directly at him. Jack holds her gaze and says nothing. ‘Oh, I’m no fool, Jack, she doesn’t see you that way, even though I think you wish she did. Your eyes linger on her long enough, but hers skid off you like skates on ice.’ He tries not to flinch; her blunt words wound deep. ‘I found a note, doing the washing. She must have forgotten to empty her pockets. Full of daft lines it was, silly frivolous things, things that would soon turn a foolish girl’s head. I always warned Jim he was sheltering her too much. Signed with a G, it was. I wonder who that could be?’ But her tone tells him she already knows. ‘So, you see, I know it’s not yours.’

‘It’s my bairn now and that’s all that matters.’

Tears fill her eyes like a flash flood, but she rapidly blinks them away. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing. Now you’d best get back out to those apples, they’re not going to pick themselves.’ She pushes herself away from the dresser and crosses to the table. Snatching up a sheet of newspaper, she whips it around a piece of fruit, the paper crackling with every fold.

Jack glances up at the silent floorboards above them, then lifts the latch of the door and is gone.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Gwen

August 1945

Gwen rises the next morning with the feeling of dread weighing heavily in the pit of her stomach. As she splashes her face with water, she tries to console herself that Gordon is now merely aware she has a child. He has no reason to think Tom is the same child she warned him she was carrying – the child he instructed her to get rid of.

And yet …

She forces her fears from her mind. She hears Nora moving about in the room next door, yawning loudly, cussing when she bangs into something as she leaves to bring in the cattle. There is milking to be done. Gwen chides herself for her distraction. She is worrying about nothing. The façade she has crafted all these years with the help of Jack’s selfless gift is faultless. Let Gordon have his suspicions, there is enough evidence on show to create reasonable doubt. Even so, as she lifts the latch on her door, she cannot help wondering what Gordon looked like as child and whether there are photographs of him at Tom’s age, displayed in silver frames around the Hall. She wonders what similarities there might be.