She nodded. ‘I’ll go make it and bring it back up.’ It felt like the least she could do after her sister’s wonderful support the previous evening.

‘Well, I don’t feel so bad about still having to share a room with you if this is the service I can now expect.’

Merrin, still in her jeans and t-shirt, pulled her hair into a ponytail and rubbed her eyes before slowly treading the stairs. Pausing in the little hallway, where the front door was, as ever, thrown wide, she looked through the crack in the parlour door, steeling herself to face her parents, who were no doubt still wanting to ask questions and offer solutions, neither of which she felt strong enough to address. Merrin laid the flat of her palm on the cool, wide stone wall and couldn’t help but think of this time yesterday – the air of excitement, the anticipation of a new life about to begin – and yet here she was, back to square one, but with her heart and faith bruised. Once again this fact hit her squarely in her chest like a flying object.

Her dad was, she noticed, sitting on the battered narrow sofa in front of the fireplace.

‘Come here, my beauty.’ He patted the space next to him and her mother rushed over and dropped next to him on the floor, her head resting on his legs. It felt invasive to watch the moment of intimacy, but what came next caught her attention.

‘What we going to do, Ben?’

‘What can we do? Be there for her, put our arms around her. It was all anyone could talk about in the pub last night. I left early, sick of hearing the guesswork, I was. Everyone has an opinion on it! We need to try and keep the gossip from our door. It’ll do her no good to hear it.’

Merrin’s heart boomed in her chest and again she felt sick. Her dad was right, it did her no good to hear it . . .

‘Easier said than done in Port Charles,’ her mum confirmed, and again Merrin’s nerve faltered.

‘She ain’t as strong as Ruby. I worry it’ll bring her right down.’ Her dad sighed and Merrin’s thoughts swam; this was hard to hear.

‘All she wanted was to be wed. But I had a bad feeling about it.’

‘We both did, but what could we do? We told her what we thought, but when the heart’s leading, it’s hard to navigate any other course.’

She remembered their somewhat subdued reaction to the news of her engagement. What was it they had seen that she had missed? Had everyone in the village seen it? She felt so foolish, so embarrassed.