Jack does not answer him. He looks up at the house and sees Gwen appear on the top step, her arms crossing her front. She raises a hand in greeting and begins her descent.

‘I’d better get in.’ Jack starts towards her, but Ted calls after him.

‘If I’d have known what was going on back then, I’d have happily stepped in.’ Jack turns back, but Ted won’t look at him. ‘But I didn’t know,’ he admits. ‘I just wish …’ He starts to cough. He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his mouth as the fit subsides. ‘I just wish I had,’ he concludes quietly.

Unable to find words of solace for the farmer, Jack continues up the yard. Gwen comes to meet him.

‘He knows … everything,’ he says as he passes her.

Gwen watches him stride on towards the house, her jaw slack. Thoughts racing, she forces herself to join Ted hovering awkwardly at the gate. He starts coughing again, but this time he resorts to another cigarette to stifle the attack.

‘Have you seen anyone about that yet?’ she asks.

He continues to cough as he lights up. He waits, letting the smoke settle in his lungs before he responds. ‘Dr Penny’s arranged for me to see someone at the hospital next week, but he’s not too concerned.’

She nods. She feels a spit of rain on the wind. ‘So, Jack told you, did he?’

‘Not Jack, Gwen. Your dad. He told me all of it a few days before …’

‘Oh.’ She studies the horizon, then looks away. ‘You never said anything,’ she says, her voice little more than a whisper.

‘I was waiting. I think … I was hoping that you might confide in me.’

They stand, abashed in each other’s company. It is Ted who speaks first.

‘If you need anything—’

‘I know.’

‘I meant what I said before, Gwen. I’ll always be here for you, for you and Tom.’

‘I know.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘But right now, I need Jack. I need everyone to see Jack here, taking care of us.’

He averts his face so she cannot read his expression. ‘I understand,’ he says gruffly. ‘But he won’t stay forever, will he?’

Remembering Jack’s crimes, Gwen shakes her head. ‘No, he won’t. He can’t.’ But she offers no further explanation. Jack’s secret is his own and she suddenly realises the risk he is taking now, staying on at her request, and she wonders anew why he has chanced a return in the first place. Still, she has no intention of betraying him to Ted.

Satisfied with her answer, the farmer nods.

‘Well … when he’s gone, I’ll still be here. For you. Always.’

He does not stay to hear her response.

Chapter Forty-Six