‘He’s okay, I only met him for a couple of minutes,’ Katie replied with a shrug. ‘He’s good-looking,’ she added grudgingly.

‘That doesn’t surprise me one bit, knowing the gene pool that he came from.’

‘What was his dad like?’

‘Jack? Cocky, immature, a total flirt, but all talk and no trousers really.’ Sophie chuckled to herself. ‘Funny that he was the loyal one out of the two of them in the end.’

‘Dad told me to stay away from Freddy.’

‘Do you have plans not to stay away from him?’

‘I don’t know, Mum! I literally bumped into the boy in the coffee shop yesterday.’

‘Dad’s upset because it’s opened up a whole can of worms after we put it all behind us. But he has no right to order you to stay away from anyone. Only you can make that decision.’

‘I doubt I’ll see him again anyway,’ Katie said. ‘I don’t think he’s in my college.’

‘Listen, Dad’s really upset about all of this. You know he loves you so much. Perhaps you could give him a call? Just to clear the air?’

Katie thought about it. ‘Maybe, but not just yet. I need some time to get my head around it all. I feel like he’s not the man I thought he was anymore.’

‘Oh, but he is Katie, he is, trust me. He is exactly that man.’

‘Not to me, Mum.’ Tears pricked at her eyes and she tried to wipe them away.

‘Oh, Katie.’

‘Sorry, Mum, I’m just a bit shocked that’s all.’

‘I understand, love, but please remember what I said. Your father and I love each other very much and we love you even more. This all happened so very long ago. It’s ancient history.’

Katie nodded through her tears. ‘I will call him, Mum; I just need some time.’

‘Take as much as you need.’

After her mum had left, Katie wandered around the city on her own for a while, watching all the other students around her, walking in groups or riding their bikes through the narrow side streets. Her brain was spinning at a thousand miles per hour as she digested everything she had just learned. She couldn’t help but feel resentful that her blot-free memories of her childhood had been irrevocably spoiled. She was angry with her dad and also, probably unfairly, with Freddy and her mum too. They were all part of the deception to some degree. She had been left completely in the dark for all these years, unaware of this momentous thing that had happened.

She was desperate to talk to someone about it but she felt so far away from her friends, who were scattered all over the place, settling in at different universities, embarking on gap years, interning or starting new jobs. Apart from the few people she’d met over the last few days, she didn’t know anyone in Oxford and she felt horribly alone. If it was any other type of problem she’d probably have got the first train back home to her parents for some comfort but given that they were the problem, that wasn’t an option.