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Lottie truly didn’t believe Mia had the courage to do it.

Mia wasn’t so sure either.

However, when it came right down to it, all things considered and all responsibilities weighed, they’d lost their hearts to Sadie so the next steps had to be taken. The child had brought them more joy than they could ever have imagined a few short weeks ago, had opened up all kinds of possibilities that Lottie had hardly even dared consider before, and had given Mia in particular a sense of purpose that she hadn’t even realized had been missing until now. They’d also been trusted with her safekeeping until her mother could return. Presuming it was her mother who’d left her. If not, it was surely someone who cared for her considering what had been in the envelope that had arrived a few days ago.

At first it had shocked and even scared them. They simply hadn’t been able to work out what it meant. Why would someone hand-deliver a set of photographs featuring a young man and a young woman with a little girl who was clearly Sadie?

‘It must be her parents,’ Mia had whispered as they’d stared down at the clear, colourful images that must have been taken fairly recently given Sadie’s age.

The first was of Sadie and the young woman lying on some grass, holding hands and gazing up at the sky. Then there was Sadie and the young woman making funny faces at the camera. One of Sadie asleep in a man’s arms. Another of her hoisted onto the young man’s shoulders looking on top of the world. His face was shadowed by a hat, but it was clear he was laughing and so was she.

‘She looks happy,’ Lottie murmured, worried and jealous and glad to think their sweet little girl hadn’t been badly treated before coming here. At least not during these moments anyway.

‘I don’t understand what’s happening,’ Mia said wretchedly. ‘What are we supposed to do with them?’

Lottie had no idea. There was no note to explain them, nothing to tell them anything at all. Their names weren’t even on the front of the envelope, although they could hardly have been for anyone else given they’d come through their door.

Should they show them to Sadie? How upsetting was it going to be for her to see her parents – presuming it was her parents – after being apart from them for over three weeks? She’d want to see them, naturally. And what were they going to say then? They had no idea who these people were, much less where they could be found. And Sadie was settling in so well; she seemed to be flourishing at the centre of their world. All these photographs would do was confuse and distress her.

‘What if they’re some sort of message?’ Lottie said quietly.

Mia’s eyes showed confusion as she turned to her sister. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

Lottie didn’t know exactly, not yet, anyway.

Steeling herself for an answer she didn’t want, Mia said, ‘Do you think we should go to the authorities?’

‘You mean, for her to be taken into care?’ Lottie snapped. ‘Because that’s what will happen if we do, and I say she’s happier and safer with us.’

Mia nodded, then nodded again. ‘The note she came with asked us to take care of her, so that’s what we’re doing,’ she said, as if repeating it gave even more weight to the note and thereby justified their actions. Then bracing herself again, ‘Does she need protection because she’s in some sort of danger? And if she is, does that mean we are now, too?’

Lottie went to sit on a bottom stair, photos still in hand. ‘I think,’ she said carefully, ‘that this could be the beginning of a very clever blackmail attempt. In fact, I’m sure it is, and we have played straight into their hands by keeping the child and telling no one. So, before anyone starts making demands, I say we protect ourselves and Sadie from all nefarious intentions by making plans to leave.’

‘To go where?’

‘We’ll work it out. For now, we need to hide these photographs, along with the note we found in her pocket, and you have to prepare yourself to deal with Edwin. He’ll be here in a couple of hours, if he bothers to turn up. Let’s hope he doesn’t and you can just instruct our solicitor to send him a letter citing his adultery as grounds for divorce.’

Mia looked as though she’d been struck. This was moving too fast, she was struggling to follow Lottie’s thinking, only knew she’d just been thrown into a whole other sort of chaos.

‘Pull yourself together,’ Lottie hissed impatiently. ‘You’re getting precisely nothing out of your marriage, apart from a whole lot of humiliation and grief.’

‘That’s easy for you to say …’

‘For God’s sake, the man’s not even smart enough to treat you well so you’ll carry on letting him live the life that should never have been his in the first place. You need to get him out of our London house …’

‘Are you planning to take Sadie there?’

‘I’m not sure yet, but it can’t be an option with him in it, so he needs to go.’

‘But where?’

‘What the hell do I care, and you shouldn’t either. Sadie has to be our priority. If he sees her he’ll start asking awkward questions and the next thing we know he’ll have blabbed about her all over the place and she’ll end up being taken from us, whether we like it or not. What will we tell her parents then, if they come back? More than that, what do you think will happen to us? We’ll be seen as child abductors …’

‘All right, all right,’ Mia cried, hands clasped to her cheeks. ‘I hear what you’re saying and I know you’re right. Sadie has to come first – but someone could be on their way to get her right now …’

‘Then what are the photographs about? I tell you, no one’s coming for her until they’ve managed to squeeze us dry, and do we really want to give her up to someone who’d use her like that?’

‘No, of course not. I just … Edwin is …’

‘Let him go!’ Lottie growled. ‘Do it today, for your own sake as much as Sadie’s.’

Mia was nodding in spite of the ache in her heart. He really hadn’t ever loved her, and in truth she’d never been sure about her feelings for him. She’d just wanted to be the married sister, the one who had that sort of respectability and status, the one who’d been chosen, and he’d been so charming and funny and attentive to her rather than to Lottie … ‘Let’s hope he doesn’t come today,’ she said hoarsely. ‘It’ll be easier to do by letter. But if he does come, what are we going to tell him about Sadie?’

‘We’ll get Gita to take her onto the moor to see the ponies. She keeps saying she’d like to do that …’

‘And if someone recognizes her?’

Lottie threw out her hands in despair. ‘I don’t know, Mia! I don’t have all the answers. I wish I did. I just have a very strong feeling that we need to leave here sooner, rather than later, and we can’t go back to London if Edwin’s still in the house.’

‘I don’t see how we can go back anyway. Everyone knows we don’t have a niece …’

‘We can say she’s the daughter of a cousin and calling her a niece is simpler. For heaven’s sake, use your imagination, or at least try to be helpful. You want to keep her, don’t you?’

Mia stared at her, wide-eyed. They both knew it was what Mia wanted, she just didn’t have the courage to say it out loud.

It was what Lottie wanted too, maybe for different reasons, but God knew she’d come to love that girl every bit as much as Mia did.

‘OK,’ Lottie said, ‘let’s focus on how we can go forward in a way that will make sure Sadie is safe and that doesn’t end up costing us half – even all – our fortune.’

There were no more arguments. Lottie knew Mia couldn’t fight back when her heart wasn’t even trying to hold onto Edwin, was only recognizing the need to protect Sadie and if they could keep her, make her theirs … Lottie had a way of making things happen, and Mia had learned over the years that it was usually better to go along with her sister rather than to try to stand up against her. And, when it came to something as important as this, why would she even want to?

*

Edwin arrived earlier than expected. Gita hadn’t turned up yet and Sadie was in the kitchen when the odious little man drove up to the house, tooting his car horn like Mr Toad and clearly expecting his adoring wife to rush out and greet him.

Lottie could see that part of Mia wanted to, but she blocked the way. ‘Get rid of him,’ she said through her teeth.

‘But where do I tell him to go?’

‘To hell would be a start.’

Mia glared at her.

‘Get him to take you for a drive so you can talk.’

‘He’s just come from London …’

‘For God’s sake, stop finding excuses. Come up with solutions. We can’t let him see Sadie when we haven’t worked out …’

Mia swung round as Edwin pushed open the door and waltzed into the hall as if he came every day and was welcome. ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’ he sang out as he spotted them. ‘And here I find my two favourite ladies all in rush to see me. How blessed I am.’

‘Jesus, Edwin,’ Lottie snorted, ‘try reading the room for once.’

His laugh was more of a bray, at least to Lottie’s ears. ‘Mia, my angel, I’ve missed you terribly and you’ve hardly been returning my calls. It’s why I had to come. Slumming it for the summer was already a step too far for me, but now I’m worried you’re keeping a secret love from me. Please say it’s not true.’

‘Excuse me while I go and throw up,’ Lottie sneered, and turning away she almost collided with Sadie coming out of the kitchen.

‘Well, well, well,’ Edwin drawled in amazement, ‘and who do we have here?’

Mia and Lottie exchanged frantic glances.

‘You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?’ he said to Sadie. ‘Where did you come from, eh?’

Sadie regarded him with wide, wary eyes, thumb in mouth, teddy under arm.

‘Will you tell me your name?’ he asked gently.

She hung back, pressing herself into Lottie’s legs.

Scooping her up, Lottie said to Mia, ‘You know what you have to do,’ and folding Sadie in tightly she carried her into the sitting room.

As the door closed behind them, Mia turned to Edwin, nervous, appalled, and trying to summon the determination to prove to herself, and to Lottie, that she could do this.

‘So who is she?’ Edwin wanted to know, closing the front door and leaning his back against it. His tone, his whole attitude, exuded more derision and scepticism than she could stand.

Blurting the first words that came into her head, Mia said, ‘We’re taking care of her, for some friends. She’s very young and you bursting in here like this … You’ve scared her and I … I think you should leave before you do any more damage.’

His eyebrows rose in disdainful surprise. ‘Which friends?’ he challenged. ‘You don’t know anyone with a child that age …’

‘You’ve got no idea who we do and don’t know. Just as I have no idea which of your girlfriends you’ve currently got living in my house. Well, it has to stop, Edwin. You need to find a place of your own and I have decided I want … I want to be free of you.’

He treated her to such an incredulous up and down sweep of his eyes that she almost withered. ‘Have you now?’ he responded smoothly.

‘Please go,’ she said through her teeth. ‘You’ll hear from my solicitor …’

‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve got to the bottom of what you girls are up to here. And there’s something, I can tell that just by looking at you.’

‘You don’t know anything. You’re just …’

‘Who’s the child, Mia? Where did you get her?’

Shocked, Mia cried, ‘We didn’t get her anywhere. She was brought to us, by her parents, who’ve asked us to take care of her while they travel … overseas.’

Clearly not believing a word, he said, ‘What are their names? These parents.’

‘It’s none of your business,’ Lottie snapped, coming back into the hall and closing the sitting room door against the noise of the TV. ‘Now, do as Mia says and leave. You are not welcome here, and we’ve already had as much as we’re prepared to take of you …’

‘And I’ve already told you – or her – that I’m not leaving until I find out who that child is.’

Lottie’s lip curled. As if Edwin even cared, he was only ever all about himself. ‘I don’t know what vile thoughts you’ve got going on in that loathsome head of yours …’ she said.

‘She’s not safe!’ Mia suddenly broke in. ‘So we’re keeping her here until the coast is clear.’

He blinked in astonishment.

‘And for the time being,’ she pressed on, ‘we’re telling people she’s our niece …’

‘Enough,’ Lottie barked, cutting her off.

‘But everyone knows you don’t have a brother or sister,’ he cried incredulously.

‘It’s what we’re saying for ease,’ Mia explained, ‘and no one knows what cousins we have, distant or otherwise. Anyway, getting into the detail of reality would be complicated and lengthy and is entirely unnecessary.’

Impressed by her sister’s surge of mettle, if not by her failure to rein herself in, Lottie stared at Edwin, waiting for whatever little nugget he now had stored up behind those foul lips of his to issue forth.

‘You’re insane, the pair of you,’ he declared, looking from one to other. ‘I don’t know what’s really going on here, but I do know you think rules don’t apply to you. You tell yourselves that just because you’re loaded you can do whatever you like and to hell with the rest of the world, along with anyone who might get in your way. Well, I’m not someone who’s going to be pushed around by you the way so many others have. I want answers, first of all to why you, Mia, have suddenly decided we shouldn’t be married any more, apart from her taking the decision for you …’

‘It has nothing to do with Lottie,’ Mia cried hotly. ‘It’s about your cheating and lying, the way you humiliate me and behave as though I’m not good enough for someone like you …’

‘She’s worth so much more than you,’ Lottie cut in, fiercely, ‘and finally she’s seeing it. So, once again, feel free to leave. There are some cafés in town if you require refreshment before your drive back …’

‘What have you done with the child?’ he asked darkly. ‘Where is she now?’

Mia swept forward, shoved him aside and tore open the front door.

He stared at her, as if not quite recognizing her.

Suddenly realizing they couldn’t let him go like this, that they had to seize full control of the situation first, Lottie said, ‘The offer you receive as a divorce settlement will enable you to greatly expand the meagre wine-import business you came into the marriage with. It will also allow you to purchase a central London property the like of which you’d never be able to afford otherwise. In short, you’ll be a wealthy man with the kind of freedom and standing you are currently enjoying, just without Mia as your wife.’

He regarded her curiously, almost as though she was speaking another language, although the flinty look in his eyes made it clear that he understood well enough what was happening.

‘You will never speak of the child to anyone,’ Lottie told him, laying out the conditions he must have known were coming. ‘As far as you’re concerned she doesn’t exist.’

He cocked an eyebrow, suggesting he needed to hear more.

‘I think you know me well enough,’ she said, ‘to understand that it wouldn’t be wise to cross me.’

He smirked, apparently enjoying himself now.

‘We will tell the world about the child when we’re ready, and not before,’ she pressed on. ‘As yet we can’t say when it will be, but what is certain is that you will not want to jeopardize her safety, or your extremely valuable severance package, by doing or saying anything, to anyone, concerning matters you know nothing about.’

He wrinkled his nose. ‘Severance package?’ His tone was mocking.

‘Everything you have, Edwin, everything you are, is in our control. Never forget that. We could, if necessary, discredit you to a point where you’d make yourself disappear without a trace to save us the trouble. What we’re doing now is offering you the chance to safeguard yourself and your future in exchange for very little on your part. Accept our generosity, forget you’ve seen the child, and never try to contact either of us again, unless through a lawyer.’

Mia said, ‘And be out of the London house by the end of the week.’

As Edwin’s eyes moved back and forth between them, Lottie could tell he was trying to calculate what more he might get out of this before yielding.

‘The door is right there,’ she told him. ‘Go through, get into your car and drive away. If you don’t, I will call the police to ask someone to come and remove an intruder.’

His expression turned from surprise to scorn, a mask to cover the humiliation of his defeat. He’d be treading into seriously treacherous waters if he tried to take them on, and he knew it. However, leaving without a last word … He clearly couldn’t bring himself to sink that low.

‘Make sure that offer’s with me by the end of the week,’ he growled. ‘Any later and I’m the one who’ll be calling the police.’

As Edwin left Lottie and Mia stayed where they were, listening to him getting into his car and starting the engine. They flinched at the sound of him driving into something before he reversed out of the gate and sped away.

‘Are you OK?’ Lottie asked, as silence descended.

Mia nodded. ‘I think so. Clever of you to threaten him with the police.’

‘He might have seen through it, but at least he’s gone.’

‘Where’s Sadie?’

‘In front of the TV. Gita’s in the kitchen.’

Mia turned round. ‘Did she hear anything?’

‘I think she’s just arrived, but I can’t be certain.’

‘She’ll wonder who he is.’

‘We can tell her. She doesn’t need the details of why he took off in a fury, but there’s no harm in saying he’s your husband. Oh my goodness,’ she murmured, spotting the sitting room door handle juddering up and down and realizing Sadie was trying to get out. ‘It’s OK, sweetheart,’ she called. ‘We’re right here, the nasty man has gone now.’

As Sadie stumbled into the hall, eyes full of frightened tears, she spotted Gita coming out of the kitchen and ran to her.

Mia and Lottie looked on, both wishing she’d chosen one of them to go to, but never mind. What mattered was that Edwin had gone, Sadie was being comforted and they had just dug themselves even deeper into a situation they had no understanding of at all.

‘We have to talk,’ Lottie whispered, as Gita carried Sadie into the kitchen. She was chewing a nail, was about to draw blood. ‘I’ve had an idea that I think will work.’

‘What is it?’ Mia asked. ‘Does it involve Sadie?’

‘Of course. Everything involves her now. Unless you want to sit around here waiting for her mother, or whoever the hell sent those photos, to get started on their despicable plans to bleed us dry.’

‘OK, let me have a word with Gita first, make sure she didn’t misunderstand anything – I mean, if she did overhear what was said.’