Liam Quinn had been almost thirteen years old when his mother disappeared.

Although Von Quinn was a self-absorbed woman and even at a young age he had picked up on vibes that she found him an inconvenience, it still came as a shock.

He had thought his parents were happy. They lived in a nice house, close to the coast in South Devon, and okay, so his dad worked away a lot and his mum mostly left him to his own devices, but as a family unit, he had believed they were okay.

She vanished one day while Liam was at school and his father was on a business trip. Liam had returned to an empty house and a brief note telling him and his father that she couldn’t do this any more and to take care of each other. Knowing Liam would be home alone for a few days, she had left a ten-pound note and made sure there was food in the fridge. Something she no doubt thought was considerate.

His first reactions had been confusion and panic, and when he was unable to get in touch with her, he called his father.

Over the next few months, his life was upended. James Quinn did his best at single parenting, taking time off from work to look after Liam, but he was reeling too. Like Liam, he hadn’t suspected anything was wrong, so he was shocked by Von’s actions and had his own emotions to deal with when divorce papers arrived.

It was through a friend that they learned Von had met someone else. A widower with two young children. He was a doctor at a private hospital in Plymouth where she had gone for treatment. She remarried almost immediately after her divorce came through.

Yet, it wasn’t just James she wanted to sever ties with; it was Liam too. She had a new ready-made family and wanted to move on.

How could she abandon her own child?

Liam heard those words many times in the period after his mother left and for a long while it messed with his head. Was there something wrong with him? Was he not worthy of a mother’s love?

Learning his mother had moved to Plymouth, he wrote letter after letter, begging her to come home. Wanting to know what he had done wrong and promising he would be the perfect son if she gave him another chance.

They all went unanswered.

Desperation turned into obsession. He tried to find out everything he could about her new family, wanting to know what was so much better about them. Needing to know why she loved them more.

They were American, her new family, and Liam found out that Von no longer liked to go by her shortened name. To her new friends, she was the much posher sounding Veronica. Wife of Doctor Grant Goldberg.

Her new children were Jill and Miles.