Milly felt her chin quiver as she battled her tears.

‘I’m taking you both for a stiff drink,’ he said, starting the engine.

Ten minutes later they were sitting in the Half Brick on the corner of Brighton Road and Ham Road. Under normal circumstances, Milly would have shared her knowledge of the public house, which dated back to the middle of the last century. It had been built to replace the original Half Brick, which had been washed out to sea in the days when it stood on an unstable salt-grass common, but what did she care for that now? She was far too upset about what was happening right now.

Seebold bought each of them a sherry (as strong a drink as Milly would allow, considering that Lena was under age) and half a pint of bitter for himself.

‘So what can I do to help?’ he said, looking directly at Milly.

She looked up at him, grateful for his genuine concern. ‘Nothing,’ she said sadly. ‘The sister said we can take him home, but my mother is adamant that he can’t be nursed in the house.’

‘Is there no one else?’

Milly shook her head.

‘No other relatives?’

Again Milly shook her head. ‘He has a sister but she lives too far away. She lives in a village called West Moors, which is on the Hampshire–Dorset border. The journey would be too much.’

‘Why can’t your mother have him home?’

Milly was beginning to feel embarrassed. All this was typical of her mother. Milly was used to her stubbornness, but for an outsider it was difficult to understand. ‘I’m not sure. She says she’s going to London later today and I know there’s to be a big party at the end of the week.’

Their angry and frustrated thoughts remained unspoken. Seebold sipped his beer. ‘What about that place where you used to live?’ he asked Lena.

‘Nan would have him like a shot,’ said Lena, ‘but,’ she glanced helplessly at Milly, ‘I don’t think . . .’

‘My mother would never allow it,’ Milly chipped in. ‘What would the neighbours say and all that.’

‘The man is dying,’ said Lena. ‘What event is so important that it can’t wait?’

Milly sighed. ‘It seems that my sister is getting engaged, once her future intended has proposed. Like I say, they’re all coming back to the house for a stupendous party.’

‘I can’t believe your mother would put a party before her husband’s last wishes,’ Lena spat.

Milly felt her face colour.

‘It’s not Milly’s fault,’ Seebold said.

Lena looked contrite. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

‘I hate it as much as you do,’ Milly said helplessly, ‘but my mother is totally focused on making a glittering marriage for Pearl.’

Desperate to help them find a solution, Seebold frowned thoughtfully. ‘Didn’t you say Angel was hidden away somewhere around here when she was ill?’

‘In a cottage in the grounds,’ Lena said dully.

‘Well . . .?’

There was a pregnant silence, then Milly said, ‘He’s right, you know. We could do it, Lena. You and I. Hide Father in the cottage. And even if my mother knows he’s there, she won’t come near the place.’

Lena looked up sharply.

‘It wouldn’t be quite the same as being at home,’ Milly went on, ‘but he’d be in the same place where Angel spent her last days, and we both know how much he loved your mother.’

‘Your mother will be very angry with you,’ Lena whispered cautiously.

Milly chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. ‘D’you know what?’ she said defiantly. ‘For the first time in my life, I don’t really care.’

The next two days were hectic. With her mother and Pearl in London, Milly had a free hand to make all the arrangements. Nan mustered a couple of women from the village to spring-clean the cottage and, of course, Milly and Lena were there to lend a hand too.

The girls had already boiled water and they’d come with plenty of buckets, bleach, carbolic soap and brushes from the house.

‘Thank you all for coming,’ said Milly, tying her apron at the back, ‘I think you all know my father.’

The women nodded.

‘I’m afraid he’s very ill and there is no hope . . .’ she took a breath, ‘but he doesn’t want to die in hospital. That’s why we’re here. The cottage hasn’t been used for some time, so everything will have to be cleaned to within an inch of its life.’

Everybody spread out and worked solidly all morning. Every cobweb, every patch of mildew and the dirty skirting boards were thoroughly scrubbed; before long, the cottage took on its bright atmosphere once more. There wasn’t time to wash and dry the curtains, but Elsie found some spare pairs in an old trunk and, after beating them on the washing line, they were deemed fit for the job. Mrs Cunningham, bless her heart, had already set about cooking nourishing food in the kitchen, even though she knew there was little chance of Mr Shepherd being able to eat any of it.

While Seebold took Lena back to the fairground to tell Rainbow George she would be taking time off, Milly went to see Dr Jennings to arrange for the hire of a nurse. She was hoping that she might get the same nurse who had looked after Lena’s mother, but sadly the woman had long-since retired to Eastbourne to live with her widowed sister.

‘Nurse Revell is highly respected,’ Dr Jennings assured her, ‘and I myself shall pop in every day.’

An ambulance brought Charles home in the afternoon. He looked frail but they could tell that he was pleased to be out of hospital.

Milly guessed it must have been hard for Lena to see him in the same bed her mother had lain in. It would have brought back some bitter-sweet memories, but the two sisters took comfort from each other. Charles was getting the best of care and, thank God, they had managed to give him what he’d wished for. It also reminded Milly that she really needed to come clean to Lena and her father about what she and Pearl had done all those years ago. Looking at the two people she loved most in the world, she wondered if she could she really tell them now.

Perhaps not.

Later that same day, Agatha and Pearl returned from London. When Elsie saw their car pulling up she hurried across the ha-ha to tell Milly they were back. Although Milly had known this time would come, it was still an anxious moment when she went back to the house to tell her mother what was happening.

‘You’ve done what?’ Agatha spat. ‘How dare you take it upon yourself to—’

‘Mother, he’s dying,’ Milly interrupted. ‘He wanted to come home, and it seemed only right that we should help him do that.’

‘We have half the county arriving on Saturday,’ Agatha began again. ‘They don’t want to see ambulances, and nurses running around the place. I won’t have—’

‘You won’t see a thing,’ Milly said firmly, as she mustered a courage she didn’t know she possessed. ‘The cottage is completely hidden from the house. We’ll come and tell you when it gets nearer the time.’

‘You needn’t bother,’ said Agatha turning to leave. ‘I’ll know soon enough.’

Milly blinked as she felt tears pricking the backs of her eyes at the depth of her mother’s anger. But she wasn’t going to argue. Not now.

‘Fine,’ she said quietly as she began to close the door behind them.

Her mother suddenly turned. ‘We,’ Agatha challenged. ‘You said “we”.’