Warning: Episode may contain strong language, violence and sexual content. Reader discretion is advised.

PREVIOUSLY…

• Nick was shattered to learn that Julia and James weren’t his biological parents and that his actual parents were Julia’s late brother, Michael, and the new village doctor, Emma. He was later involved in a car accident that left him fighting for life.
• Jack and Lee’s marriage collapsed after Jack discovered that Lee was using Grindr for casual hookups as well as conducting an affair with someone called T. Jack was unaware that T was Lee’s lover, the married and seemingly straight Tom.
• Having taken an accidental overdose at his sister’s engagement party, Lee survived, but when he came to in hospital, he mistakenly called his husband Tom, unintentionally revealing to Jack the name of his secret lover.
• Natalie blackmailed Julia for £100,000 in order to keep about Nick’s biological parents. However, Julia’s mother, Judith, eventually paid the demand without Julia knowing.
• Judith revealed to Mark that his daughter, Natalie, had been blackmailing Julia.
• Natalie, having discovered a handwritten note from her late mother, Jennifer, tucked in the back of her favourite book, vowed revenge on Julia after reading its contents. She later declared to Judith that Julia was responsible for Jennifer’s death – a claim Judith flatly denied.
• Having given an interview to The Kent Gazette, Charlotte began receiving unwanted and sinister messages from an anonymous Instagram account. Despite her attempts to block them, the new accounts and messages kept coming, and it soon became clear Charlotte was dealing with a stalker.
• A drunken Neha slapped six-year-old Poppy. She was later suspended from her job as a teacher while she underwent an investigation.
• At Kate’s birthday party, Neha and James had a drunken one-night-stand in a toilet cubicle.
• Having seen Tom lock something away in a newly installed key box, Kate tried to open it but was unable to crack the combination to see what secrets her husband stored inside.

Room 5, General Intensive Care Ward,
St. George’s Hospital, London

In a small room on the intensive care ward of St. George’s Hospital, Jasmine Atkins sat in a rather uncomfortable chair beside the bed, her fingers interlaced with the limp hand of her fiancé, Nick Harrington-Jones. The soft rhythmic beeps of the heart monitor and the regular hissing compressions of the medical ventilator were the only indications that he was actually alive.

Jasmine fought off a yawn as her eyes, tired and bloodshot, remained firmly fixed on Nick’s pale face. She had refused to leave the hospital, instead keeping a constant vigil at his bedside. As the clock ticked past thirty-six hours since the car accident that almost claimed her fiancé’s life, she silently urged him to wake up by squeezing his hand.

Behind Jasmine, Julia Harrington-Jones – Nick’s adoptive mother – hovered at the door carrying a small grey teddy bear that had “GET WELL SOON” embroidered across its tummy. Usually confident and self-assured, she now hesitated and mirrored someone who had lost their way. September 2nd was a grey day for her family, but now, facing a double tragedy on the same date, it seemed cataclysmic and cruel beyond words.

Julia looked through the small pane of glass in the middle of the door at her son lying comatose in his hospital bed and couldn’t help but feel responsible. Her heart ached, and she wished she had done things differently – told Nick the truth to begin with and been more welcoming with Emma Blake. With a nervousness that she wasn’t used to, Julia gripped the door handle, opened the door, and stepped inside the room.

Jasmine instinctively turned her head towards the doorway, and as she saw Julia enter the room, her mood soured. “What the hell are you doing here?”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Room 11, Ward 5D,
Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent

Marion Atkins sat by her son’s hospital bed, resting a hand lightly on his arm as he slept. Following Lee‘s overdose at Nick and Jasmine’s engagement party, he suffered a seizure that left him with a nasty laceration to the back of his head and left Marion with no illusions as to just how close they came to losing him forever.

Lee stirred, and as his eyes fluttered open, Marion forced the concerns from her mind and painted on a warm smile.

“Ah, there’s my beautiful boy,” she said and tenderly stroked his hair.

As his eyes adjusted to the harsh fluorescent lighting, Lee gathered his bearings. He soon remembered where he was and the events that had brought him there. He glanced around the room, hoping to see more well-wishers, but his heart sank when he realised it was only his mother keeping vigil. “Where’s Jack?”

“He hasn’t been in today. He said he had things to do.”

A memory flashed in Lee’s mind. He remembered waking up in the early hours of yesterday morning and mistaking Jack, his husband, for Tom, his lover. The twisted tendrils of guilt pierced Lee’s heart as he realised the monumental mistake he had made.

“I don’t think he’s coming back, Mum,” he said with a resigned sigh. “In fact, I know he’s not.”

“Why? What makes you say that, sweetheart?”

“Because our marriage is over, Mum, and it is all my fault.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Room 5, General Intensive Care Ward,
St. George’s Hospital, London

Just inside the room, Julia hovered, filled with uncertainty and doubt. “I’m here to see my son,” she said, her voice trembling in a way that was out of character before taking a step toward the bed.

Rising to her feet to meet Julia head on, Jasmine’s eyes narrowed, and her lips formed a tight line. “But he’s not though, is he?” She snarled with a ruthlessness that Julia had never seen nor expected from someone who was normally so friendly, kind, and caring. “Nick isn’t your son, Julia, especially not after everything that’s happened. You don’t get to waltz in here and pretend like you care.”

Julia placed the small teddy bear down on the foot of the bed and looked at Nick. Her son, her little boy, lay unmoving in the bed, connected to a number of machines by what appeared to be several dozen wires. The sight made Julia’s breath catch in her throat. “I know I’ve made a mess of everything.”

“You don’t say,” Jasmine huffed in astonishment.

“But I am still his mother, and I will love Nicky until the very last breath leaves my body. You can’t take that away from me, Jasmine, no matter how hard you try.”

Jasmine watched in silence as Julia moved slowly around the bed, her fingertips dancing across the rough sheet that covered Nick’s comatose body. When she reached the top, Julia leaned forward and ever so softly kissed her son’s forehead. She cupped his cheek in her hand and rubbed it with her thumb. “My little boy,” she whispered so softly it was almost drowned out by the heart monitor. “My sweet little boy.”

Like her heart, Jasmine’s face hardened. “You’ve had your moment with him; now you can leave.”

“Jasmine, please, I—”

“I said you can leave.” Jasmine’s voice was razor sharp. “Now.”

Without another word of defiance, Julia accepted her punishment. She inhaled a long, steady breath before calmly exhaling. She kissed Nick goodbye and moved back across the room to the door, all the while feeling Jasmine’s hate-filled glare upon her. With her hand resting on the door handle, Julia turned her head and looked back at her son’s fiancé.

“Believe me when I say that no one hates me more than I hate myself,” she began with a tone as cold as ice. “But let’s not forget who set this tragedy in motion, Jasmine. It was your idea to do the DNA tests, so don’t think you’re any better than me. You have blood on your hands, just like we all do. You’d do well to remember that before you go and do something that you’ll come to regret.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Room 11, Ward 5D,
Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent

A heavy frown crumpled Marion’s brow, and she leaned forward in her seat, cocooning Lee’s hand in hers. Concern consumed her. She was well aware of the problems in Lee and Jack’s marriage, but after seeing how worried Jack was as Lee fought for his life, Marion assumed they were on the path to mending the cracks in their foundations. “What’s happened, Lee? Tell me.”

Lee’s eyes pooled with tears, and his mouth puckered and twitched while he chewed at his cheeks, trying desperately to suppress the emotions that were rapidly bubbling to the surface. “I’ve been cheating on him,” he said, unable to meet his mother’s shocked gaze as guilt and shame filled him. “I’ve been sleeping with random guys from Grindr, and I caught chlamydia off one of them.”

Marion subconsciously let go of Lee’s hands and looked at her lap. The room quickly filled with an awkward tension, and Marion’s face twitched and contorted as she processed Lee’s revelation.

“Okay,” she said so breathlessly that it was almost a whisper. “And I’m guessing Jack knows because of your treatment. That’s why you’ve been having problems.”

Lee side-eyed his mother briefly. “I didn’t tell him I had an STI.”

“Lee!” The gasped words flew out of Marion’s mouth before she had a chance to think. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? How wrong that is?” Although she wouldn’t say it, in that moment, Marion felt sickened and ashamed by her son’s reckless behaviour. She struggled to piece together the puzzle. “I… I don’t understand. How does Jack know?”

“He saw the messages on my phone the other day. But there’s more.”

Marion felt her shoulders slump. How could there possibly be more?

“I’ve been having an affair with Tom Spencer, and when I woke up yesterday morning, I said Tom’s name instead of Jack’s. That would be why he left and hasn’t come back.”

Marion sat staring at her son, slack-jawed. Her ears pinged with a continuous, high-pitched noise that seemed to penetrate her brain as she struggled to comprehend what Lee was telling her. Her world suddenly seemed to shift on its axis as her thoughts turned to Kate and the children. “What?”

Lee’s tears suddenly disappeared as if a switch flicked in his brain. “We’ve been seeing each other for a few months now, and, well, I love him, Mum. I’m in love with Tom, and I want to be with him.”

Marion rose to her feet. There was a coldness to the way Lee was talking that deeply troubled her. Everything was so factual and so emotionless that she found it alarming and hard to process. “What the hell are you talking about? Tom is married. What about Kate and the kids? How did this happen? What do you mean you want to be with Tom? What about Jack? How could you have done this? I don’t understand all this. What the hell is going on, Lee?”

Marion’s questions peppered Lee like bullets from a machine gun as she struggled with her confusion at the situation. She rubbed her temples, suddenly feeling a headache coming on.

“I can’t explain it, Mum,” Lee said as he finally met his mother’s gaze. “But I love Tom, and I want to find a way for us to be together.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Principal Brennan’s Office,
Glendale Primary School, Glendale

It was the first day of the new school year, and Neha Patel sat in a chair facing Principal Brennan’s desk, her hands nervously clasped in her lap, as she anxiously glanced about the room. The office, which looked out over the playing field, was bright from the sunlight streaming in through the open window.

Principal Brennan, an ageing man with thinning silvery hair, pushed his reading glasses further up his nose as he shuffled through a stack of papers. Beside him sat a rather rotund woman with a mess of curly red hair, flecked with grey, and a crumpled face that Neha couldn’t help but think looked like that of a bulldog. The shining name badge that was pinned to her polyester blouse stated that she was:

Harriet Rushmore
Senior Human Resources Business Partner

Neha couldn’t help but think that the job title was as overinflated as her jowly cheeks and wondered how many cats she had at home – she’d put money on more than four.

“Neha,” Principal Brennan began with a tone that caused her heart to pound in her chest. “As you know, we’ve completed our investigation into the incident involving Poppy Granger. I want you to know that we have given this a great deal of consideration, and whatever course of action is imposed today is one that isn’t taken lightly.”

Neha swallowed hard. Her throat was dry. “I understand.” She had rehearsed her apology countless times over the last few weeks, but now, faced with the reality of her situation, the words evaporated.

Principal Brennan continued. “While your previous record here has been commendable, the nature of this incident – your physical interaction with Poppy – and the circumstances by which it came about involving your drinking is in violation of our policies and the standards we uphold. While it happened off of school grounds and out of school hours, we cannot ignore the severity of this matter. Especially as criminal charges are pending.”

Neha’s eyes filled with tears as she tried to hold her composure. What she would give for a drink.

“We have decided to terminate your employment effective immediately. You are dismissed from your position here.”

The words hit Neha with the force of a lorry. Her breath caught in her throat, and she struggled to process the finality of the decision. While she had always considered termination a highly likely outcome, to actually hear the words tumble from Principal Brennan’s mouth was a shock she almost couldn’t bear.

“Is there any chance that you’ll reconsider or that I can appeal?” Neha asked, her voice cracking with emotion. “I deeply regret what happened with Poppy. Please. I’ve always been committed to my students, and I just—”

“This decision is final,” Harriet piped up with what appeared to be a joyous glint in her eyes. “You are terminated effective immediately.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

The Oak & Vine,
Glendale

At a large oak table by a bow window that looked out across the village green, Pamela Granger enjoyed a lunch date with her sister, Hilda Hollingsworth. The two women were accompanied by their husbands – Arthur Hollingsworth, who was enjoying a larger, and Brian Granger, who was suffering in silence.

Hilda, as usual, was the focal point of conversation. All of five feet if she stretched, she was dressed in a floral-print cotton summer dress with a mustard yellow cardigan, and her long chestnut hair – her crowning glory – was styled into large, soft curls that were piled on top of her head in the same updo she had sported since the early 1970s. As Glendale’s local busybody, she had a knack for uncovering everybody’s business and was always happy to share the piping hot tea over a Harvey’s Bristol Cream or two.

“Here, Pom Pom,” Hilda said in her usual voice that was so piercing it could shatter glass as she referenced Pamela by the nickname that she had called her their whole lives. As a young girl, Hilda couldn’t pronounce “Pamela,” so instead, she called her “Pom Pom,” a name that had stuck and remained to this day. “Did ya see her this mornin’? Bold as brass, kissin’ some fella goodbye in nothin’ but a robe. Disgustin’.”

“Who?” Pamela frowned with an instinctive response as she cut off another portion of her roast lamb. An immediate sense of regret settled over her. She genuinely didn’t care who her sister was gossiping about, but the words had automatically slipped out of her mouth.

Hilda rolled her eyes at the thought of having to explain. “D’ya even need to ask? Tilly Wainwright. Who else?”

Hilda Hollingsworth and Matilda Wainwright – or “Tilly” to the villagers – were enemies at best. A Christian woman, Hilda was never one to shy away from expressing her displeasure at Tilly’s very modern and morally loose way of living. In 2022, their rivalry had come to a head when Tilly was awarded “best floral exhibit” at the village fete, beating Hilda and ending her 38-year reign as “Glendale’s flower queen”.

“Oh.” Pamela caught her brother-in-law’s eye across the table, and they shared a long, knowing look. Poor, long-suffering Arthur had endured just shy of 50 years with Hilda, and, although she loved her sister dearly, Pamela didn’t know how he did it. The man deserved to be canonised.

“I mean, the woman has no shame! What if our Andy or Fraser had seen?”

“Bit ‘ard when they both live in Lond’n,” Arthur replied in his native Yorkshire tongue as an amused smirk curled the corners of his mouth.

Born and raised in the Yorkshire Dales, Arthur had moved south in his late teens, seeking out employment opportunities. After landing a job at Laffan’s Flour Mill on the outskirts of Glendale, he met Hilda at a dance in the village hall, and the rest was history.

“Two red-blooded men like your Andy and Fraser? I’d have thought they would’ve rather enjoyed it!” Brian teased in his usual loud tone as he stifled a smile and jammed a whole gravy-covered Yorkshire pudding into his mouth.

Affronted, Hilda’s eyes widened with indignation at the suggestion and the smug look of enjoyment on her brother-in-law’s face. “They’d never!” she cried in that usual shrill tone that had terrorised the villagers for years. “Not my boys! Not my Andy and Fraser!”

A perplexed frown burrowed deeply across Pamela’s face as her sister’s words rang in her ears. “How did you even see her? You live on opposite sides of the village.”

“Well …” Hilda shifted in her seat, uncomfortable at her sister’s questioning. She knew she was rumbled. “I didn’t,” she conceded sheepishly. “But Betty Worchester did, and she told me all about it. Those eyes of hers never see wrong!”

“Unlike yours,” Brian mumbled to himself.

Pamela arched an eyebrow. “So, you don’t actually know if this story about Tilly and this mystery fellow is true?”

“Well, no,” Hilda shifted again and ran her tongue over her dry lips. “But I don’t need to! I know all about Tilly Wainwright. Common as a threepenny bit, that one, and just as brassy as one too!”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

All Saints Church,
Glendale

In the early afternoon, as August gave way to September, Julia stood in the churchyard of All Saints, having driven there straight from the hospital. The sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tree branches overhead while birdsong filled the air. It had been seventeen years to the day that her brother, Michael Bancroft, had been killed in a car accident, and, with Nick in the hospital fighting for his life, Julia felt Michael’s death as keenly today as she did all those years earlier.

She lowered herself and knelt beside the grave, running her fingertips over the cool granite headstone and tracing the heartfelt words that marked his final resting place.

IN MEMORY OF
MICHAEL EDWARD BANCROFT
23 SEPTEMBER 1981 – 2 SEPTEMBER 2007
ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS

While she visited regularly, on the anniversary of his death, it felt different, and Julia struggled to hold herself together. With her tense exchange with Jasmine from earlier in the day still fresh in her mind, and as the guilt over Nick’s accident overwhelmed her, tears filled Julia’s eyes and her chin quivered. The mask that she kept so firmly in place slipped as the enormity of current events finally caught up with her.

“I’m sorry, Mikie,” she whispered through her heavy sobs and sat back on her heels. “I should’ve been a better sister. I should’ve told Nicky the truth. I’m so sorry. I’ve failed you.”

“That’s not true.”

Judith Bancroft’s resonant voice startled her. Julia hadn’t heard her mother’s approaching footfall, and as she quickly rose to her feet and turned around to face her, she couldn’t hide the look of surprise on her face.

Judith, carrying a large mixed bunch of freshly cut flowers from the gardens of Glendale Hall, offered a sympathetic smile. “You haven’t failed him, Julia. I have.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

The Oak & Vine,
Glendale

Hilda leaned back in her chair with a contented sigh, her floral print dress slightly stretched from the generous portion of shepherd’s pie she had devoured for lunch. Her hands rested on her rounded belly. “Well,” she said in her usual shrill tone, “that was splendid. Carol clearly used Bisto gravy granules instead of makin’ it from scratch, but I ain’t one to judge. We can’t all be as talented and gorgeous as Nigella and me.”

Brian’s mouth puckered tighter than a cat’s backside as he fought the urge to make a comment at the comparisons between his sister-in-law and Nigella Lawson.

“I dare say she’s too busy making sure everything out here runs like clockwork to make her own gravy from scratch, Hilly.” Pamela placed her knife and fork down in the middle of her plate as she finished her lunch before letting out a contented sigh. “I know she’s been run off her feet since the cleaner left.”

Hilda’s eyes sparkled with the beginnings of a great idea. She sat bolt upright and shifted in her seat so her whole body was turned and facing back towards the bar. “Oi! Carol!”

With a friendly smile, Carol placed a pint of larger down on the bar for an elderly gentleman before turning her head in Hilda’s direction. “Yes, sweets.”

“Come ‘ere,” Hilda said, beckoning her over with a flappy hand. “I hear you’re lookin’ for a charwoman for this place.”

Carol slung a red gingham tea towel over her shoulder and moved from behind the bar towards their table. “That’s right. We’ve been caught short since Lena went home to Poland after the Brexit deal.”

“Best thing this country ever did!” Brian muttered. “Finally get all our British jobs back!”

Pamela fired a disapproving glare in her husband’s direction.

“Why?” Carol asked, purposefully ignoring her brother’s rather racist commentary. “You know someone?”

Hilda sat up straight, pulled her shoulders back, tilted her nose into the air, and gave a little shimmy as she peacocked. “You’re lookin’ at her.”

“You want to be a cleaner?”

“God no! Who wants to be a cleaner?” Hilda replied with her usual shrill squawk of a laugh and slapped a hand against the table in amusement. “Our Arthur here’s just been made redundant from the flour mill, and, well, times are tough. We need to keep the pennies and pounds comin’ in.”

Carol’s heart broke for Arthur. He had worked at the mill for five decades, and to be so unceremoniously dumped after so many years of loyal service must’ve hurt. “I’m sorry, Arthur.”

Not one to dwell on things or to be pitied, Arthur shrugged. “It happens.”

Hilda whipped her head around and glanced back over her shoulder at her husband. “But it shouldn’t do, not to folk like us,” she said in her nasally tone, speaking at a lick and stubbing the tip of her index finger against the tabletop. “Good, decent folk that get up, do our jobs, keep our houses neat and tidy, and obey the laws. We’re not the ones that should be getting screwed over, but here we are.”

“Hear, hear!” Brian agreed and raised his pint in the air.

Pamela groaned and pulled her lips into a tight line. She wished she had more wine.

“Well, if you’re needing the work, I’m needing the help,” Carol said and silently wondered if she’d come to regret her decision.

Hilda beamed and clapped her hands together in a series of fast, short slaps. “Fab!”

“When can ya start?”

“Three weeks.”

“What?” Carol frowned. “Three weeks?”

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?”

“You start tomorrow, or I’ll find someone else.”

“Fine,” Hilda replied with a sigh, and her shoulders slumped. “Now about me terms and conditions?”

“Terms and conditions?”

“Yes,” Hilda nodded. “Me terms and conditions. Part of me collector’s bargain aggrievance.”

“Collective bargaining agreement,” Arthur said. Correcting Hilda’s malapropisms was his life’s work.

Carol pursed her lips together. “Right, and what conditions might they be?”

“Ya pay me in cash so it doesn’t affect me pension and I can’t be cleanin’ the lavvies. Got a sensitive gag reflex, I do.” Hilda retched in a hammy performance that was worthy of an Oscar.

“Does she Arthur?” Brian asked with a mischievous glint in his eye and a raised eyebrow.

The joke was lost on Arthur, and he took a sip of lager. “Oh, aye.”

Hilda’s lips curled with indignation as she fired a look of disapproval in Brian’s direction. While her husband had missed the crude comment, she had caught it and knew exactly what her brother-in-law meant. “Common as muck you are, Brian Granger.” Hilda pressed a hand to her throat and batted her eyelids in Carol’s direction to illicit sympathy. “I’ve had a sensitive gag reflex all me life, haven’t I, Pom Pom?”

Pamela swirled the remnants of her red wine at the bottom of her glass, barely paying attention to the ridiculous scene playing out before her. “Apparently.”

Hilda returned her attention to Carol. “Well, you see, I can’t be doin’ with the bits and bobs that people deposit in the porcelain.” She feigned another retch, and Carol felt she should applaud such a performance. “Couldn’t even with me own littlies, could I, Arthur?”

“Aye, she couldn’t.”

Hilda shuddered. “I mean, really, what with revolution—”

“Evolution.”

“Evolution, you’d think we wouldn’t need to take care of that side of business anymore. I mean, explain that to me, Davey Attenborough!”

Carol shifted her weight to her left hip and crossed her arms. “I hate to burst your bubble, Hilda, but cleaning the toilets is one of the core duties of cleaning the pub. So, if you won’t do it then—”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Hilda interrupted before Carol could utter another word. “Tell ya what, we’ll make a deal. I’ll clean the lavvies in exchange for a small Harvey’s Bristol Cream afterwards. Settles the stomach, ya see. That’s what mother always said, didn’t she, Pom Pom?”

“Apparently so.” Pamela was disinterested.

“So, I’ll clean the lavvies once a week, and you’ll give me a sherry after.”

“Twice a day. Every day. No exceptions.”

Hilda clamped her lips tightly together as she pondered Carol’s conditions. “You ride a hard bargain, Carol Kennedy, but ya got yaself a deal! And you’d better make it a large sherry if I’m gonna be puttin’ me poor gag reflex through that much strain!”

-:-

Across the pub, Kate Spencer and her husband, Tom, sat at a small table tucked away in the far corner beside the hearth. With summer out the way, it wouldn’t be long until the currently disused fireplace would be lit once more as the days and nights began to cool.

Kate took a sip of her Moscato as she listened to Tom finish some rather mundane story about a lamb, or a donkey, or a tractor. She wasn’t quite sure because, to be honest, she wasn’t paying attention. Instead, her mind remained firmly focused on the newly installed key box in the barn and what secrets her husband kept locked away inside.

Tom finished his tale, and when Kate didn’t respond, he knew she wasn’t listening. His mind swirled with fear and worry. Did Kate know? Had she spoken to Jack? Although Lee promised to keep the identity of his lover a secret for as long as possible, Tom knew it was only a matter of time before everyone found out about their affair and his life was blown apart. The thought terrified him, and the guilt consumed him. He took a long sip of his ale and tried to calm himself. But his anxiety continued to rise, and he let his mind wander to Lee and the events that had seen him end up in the hospital. When Tom had heard about the overdose from Hilda, his world had stopped. The thought of losing Lee terrified him. He suddenly felt sweaty and like he was on the verge of a panic attack, while simultaneously wanting to cry and just disappear into the shadows.

The heavy doors of The Oak & Vine opened as Ben Granger entered. He made his way to the bar, ordered a pint – a cheeky moment of respite before having to head back to the farm after spending the morning checking in on his girlfriend, Emma – and then spotted the Spencers sitting silently in the corner enjoying a child-free lunch.

“Tom!” Ben said as he ambled over to them with a very important cricketing update. “Did you hear about the bowler from Ightham? Five for eighty-eight he got. Still not a patch on your record though, eh, Tommy!”

Tom feigned a smile and forced himself to be interested. “Seven for twenty-two. Best day of my life.” He quickly realised the error of his ways and looked at his wife with wide eyes. “I mean, apart from meeting you… and marryin’ ya… and the kids, of course, luv.”

Kate arched an eyebrow and took another gulp of wine. “Of course.”

“Nothing will ever beat that day. I should have that number tattooed on me somewhere so when I’m old and grey I can look at it and remember my glory days!”

The significance of the number stuck Kate like a lightning bolt, and she leapt out of her seat, knocking the table with her knees as she did and spilling the drinks. “Omigod!”

“Christ, Kate!” Tom tried to wipe the spilt beer from his jeans while Carol hurried over with a rag.

“Sorry! I’ve just suddenly realised I’ve forgotten to do something at work!” She said in her thick Welsh accent as she panicked and struggled to concoct a believable lie.

“What?”

“I’ve gotta go.”

“But… lunch?”

“I’m sorry,” Kate replied as she hooked her handbag over her shoulder and snatched her denim jacket from the back of the chair. “I’ll make it up to ya, I promise. With Marion and Emma MIA, it’s all been a bit much, and it just completely slipped my mind. You stay and have a drink with Benny. You’ll keep him entertained for a bit, won’t ya?” She looked to Ben with pleading eyes, hoping he would buy her some time.

“Of course,” Ben smiled. “What are cousins for?”

“Great!” Kate kissed Tom’s cheek, her lips barely brushing against his skin, and she turned to hurry out of the bar. “I’ll see you at home. Love you. Bye!”

As Kate practically sprinted out of the pub as fast as her legs could carry her, Tom watched with a confused frown.

Kate’s reddish-brown curls bounced and bobbed as she burst through the doors of The Oak & Vine and ran straight into Jack Campbell, their bodies colliding with a heavy smack as he stumbled, and she spun out of control. “Oh geez! Sorry, Jack.”

At hearing Kate’s distinctive Welsh accent, the colour immediately drained from Jack’s face. He helped steady her, and his pulse quickened. Ever since he had realised Tom was the one Lee was having an affair with, Jack had tried to find a way to tell Kate the truth about her husband’s infidelity. It suddenly felt like fate had stepped in and brought them together – literally. “Kate, I was wanting to talk to you actually about—”

“Sorry, luv, I’m in a rush,” Kate interrupted, not giving Jack a moment more than a heartbeat as she quickly checked herself over and fumbled in her handbag for her car keys. “Catch me up some other time, yeah?”

“But it’s about To—”

“Sorry, I’ve really gotta run!” Kate’s voice carried on the breeze as she yelled back at Jack over her shoulder and hurried towards her black Land Rover.

As Kate disappeared from sight, Jack let an aggravated sigh escape his body. He needed to tell Kate the truth before Lee and Tom had a chance to cover their tracks. Frustrated, he turned and pushed open the doors to The Oak & Vine. As he crossed the threshold and looked forward to a soothing beer, he caught sight of Tom sitting in the far corner with Ben. Anger consumed him, and as his eyes flared with fury the likes of which he had never felt before, Jack decided it was time for the world to know the truth.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

All Saints Church,
Glendale

“Seventeen years, and it just feels like yesterday, doesn’t it?” Judith said with a heavy sadness as she gently placed the bouquet of flowers at the base of Michael’s headstone and began to tidy around it, clearing away twigs and fallen leaves, before giving the cool granite a quick dusting with her handkerchief.

Julia rose to her feet and took a step back, allowing her mother the space and freedom to tend to her son in the only way she could now.

Judith sniffed, and Julia knew she was holding back tears. “To this day, I still get a shiver when I go down that road. And now with Nick…” Judith’s voice trailed off as her thoughts turned to her critically injured grandson. “How is he?”

“Stable. Jasmine won’t let me see him, though. She blames me and says I’m not his mother.”

Judith quickly turned her head in Julia’s direction and rose to her feet. The deep frown that was affixed to her forehead and the tight puckering of her mouth left no doubt about the anger that burned inside. “You are his mother, Julia,” she stressed. “Yes, okay, not biologically, but you have loved and nurtured and raised that boy into the amazing man he is today. She should be kissing your feet for what you’ve done for that lad.”

Julia waved away her mother’s ridiculousness. “She’s angry and hurt. I understand. I would blame me too if I was her.”

“This isn’t on you, Julia. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me. I’m big enough to admit that.”

Julia watched on silently as her mother returned her attention to Michael’s headstone.

“I only ever did what I thought was best. What I thought was right. I hope he understood that at the end. I hope he forgave me.” Judith’s heart ached, and she felt Julia wrap a supportive arm around her shoulder and give it a loving squeeze. “There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about him, Julia,” she said as her eyes began to glisten with the unfamiliar sensation of tears. “And the pain… for it all to end the way it did, well, that’s very hard to live with. To think of him lying there on that roadside in the rain, my precious boy, just lying there alone in the cold. I… I hope he knew how much I loved him.”

Julia, unaccustomed to seeing such an emotional display from her mother, couldn’t help but feel a little awkward. “He did,” she said, rubbing her mother’s arm before kissing the top of her head tenderly. “He always knew.”

Judith wiped away a tear before it had a chance to form. “I know I haven’t always been the best mother, Julia, but I’ve only ever done what I thought was best for you and your brother. What was best for this family.”

Julia pulled a face that Judith didn’t see and rolled her eyes.

“I need to tell you something, Julia.”

Julia removed herself from her mother’s person and took a step back, allowing enough distance between them so they could comfortably look at each other.

Judith slowly turned her body in Julia’s direction but was unable to meet her gaze for some time. “I paid Natalie’s blackmail demand on your behalf.”

Julia’s face crumpled. “Sorry? You what?”

“I paid her the hundred thousand pounds.”

Julia recoiled as if she had been struck in the face, and a frisson of tension formed between mother and daughter.

Judith cleared her throat, sensing the fury that was building inside Julia as the revelation slowly sank in. “I was worried that she was going to tell everyone the truth at the village fete. She’s unhinged, Julia. There was no telling what she was going to do.”

“You went behind my back and paid her the money?”

“I did what I thought was best.”

“So you keep saying, but here we are yet again, with your good intentions making everything worse.” Julia seethed with a head full of steam. “Are you touched in the head or something? You never pay a blackmail demand!”

“It doesn’t matter now. The truth is out, and I’m a hundred grand down. I only did—“

“What you thought was best! Yes, I get it!” Julia reached the precipice and could feel that she was about to explode. “But you don’t seem to! Your best is never good enough, mother! Your best ruins people and destroys lives!”

Judith looked wounded. “Julia, that’s not fair.”

Julia reached the point of no return. “Isn’t it?” she barked. Her voice seemed to echo around the churchyard and silence the birds. “My entire life you have meddled and manipulated and done what you thought was best, but all it ever ended up achieving was making everything worse! You put dad in an early grave! You destroyed Michael! You’ve made my life a misery, and your actions twenty-five years ago played a part in almost killing your own grandson!”

Judith’s eyes widened with each hurtful bomb lobbed in her direction. She told herself that Julia didn’t mean the things she was saying, that she was tired and emotional and was just lashing out. “How can you say such horrible things?”

“Because they’re true, mother! They’re all true!”

“You’re in shock after everything that’s happened, and I—“

“No, I’m not. I just finally see things for how they really are.”

Judith frowned. “I don’t understand why you’re being so cruel. Julia, I love you and—“

“You’re incapable of love,” Julia replied as a chuckle blended with her admonishing tone. She began to pace back and forth as her body tried to expel some of the energy that coursed through her veins and fired her nerve endings. “To you, love is manipulating someone. To you, love is throwing money around and hoping that pennies and pounds make up for a lack of affection. To you, love is simply a tool to be used and exploited. You don’t know what love is, mother. You never have.”

Judith watched her daughter in a state of shock as decades worth of pent-up anger, frustration, and hurt spewed out of her like lava.

Julia ran a hand over her mouth, almost smearing her perfect lipstick. “You know, all these years I’ve convinced myself that what we did – taking Nicky from Mikie and Emily – was for the best. That we were saving him. That we were providing him a good life. That we were protecting him from harm,” she said as she began to shake her head. “But I see now that we weren’t. We were the ones harming him. We were the ones he needed protecting from.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because it is the truth!” Julia’s voice broke as she yelled the words with such ferocity that it made several starlings burst out of the nearby tree and fly away. She stepped towards her mother, and her face soured. “Look around you, mother! Look around at the smouldering ruins of our lives and smell the smoke!” She said, gesturing around with open arms. “What we did destroyed Mikie and Emily. It ruined their lives. Emily, sorry, Emma, has struggled her entire life with addiction and mental health problems because of what we did. Mikie died because of what we did. I will forever feel guilty about that.”

“Michael’s death was a tragic accident!”

“That we played a part in. You must see that.”

Judith’s glare turned cold. She set her jaw and prepared for battle. She wasn’t about to take such accusations lying down, nor was she prepared to be spoken to like this for a moment longer. “If anyone is to blame for Michael’s death, Julia, it’s you.”

The words, said with a cruel hiss, hung in the air and pierced Julia’s heart like a dagger. Julia took a step back, as if wounded by the accusation, and her eyes instantly began to burn with tears. “How dare you?” she whispered breathlessly.

Judith was prepared to go in for the kill. “The horrible things you said to him that day are what drove him to do what he did. You know, now I come to think of it, Natalie was right.”

“About what?” Julia asked somewhat confused.

“You did kill her mother.” Judith tried to hide the smirk from her face as she dealt the fatal blow and watched her daughter’s eyes widen in horror. “Your actions are what caused Michael to deliberately drive his car into Jennifer that day, Julia,” she sneered with a tone as caustic as battery acid. “So, yes, I think Natalie is right. You did kill her mother. And you killed my Mikie too!”

Horrified and infuriated, Julia stepped forward and clamped a hand around her mother’s jaw. Her blue eyes flared, her lips curled – showing her gritted teeth – and her fingers dug into Judith’s skin, pressing down on her jawbone like a vice. “You’re a horrible, nasty troll of a woman!” She snarled as spittle formed in the corners of her mouth. “Don’t you ever come near me or my family again; do you understand me? I may be a lot of things, mother, but at least I’m nothing like you, and when the time comes, I hope you rot in hell for the wicked things you’ve said and done.”

As Julia released her grip, Judith stumbled backward and instinctively covered her mouth. The blonde woman took one last look at her mother, eyeing her up and down, before she turned on her heel and stomped out of the churchyard.

“Julia!” Judith yelled after her daughter as she passed through the lychgate and marched out of sight. “Julia!”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Pineview House,
Glendale

With two oversized mugs of freshly brewed tea in hand, Charlotte Sinclair entered the inviting living room of Pineview House and cautiously moved across the space, careful not to spill anything on the plush wool pile carpet that was soft under her bare feet. Following the events at Nick and Jasmine’s engagement party, Charlotte and her husband, Mark, had both taken the day off work and planned to confront Mark’s daughter, Natalie, about her blackmailing Julia.

“So, how do you plan to do this?” Charlotte asked, passing her husband a mug before joining him on the sofa and tucking her feet underneath her.

Mark accepted the cup of tea as anxiety began to get the better of him. He hadn’t believed Judith when she had told him a few days earlier that Natalie had been blackmailing Julia for £100,000. While she wouldn’t disclose the reason why, what she had told him was that in order to shut Natalie up, Judith had paid the sum without Julia knowing. Following a brief discussion with Julia at Nick and Jasmine’s engagement party and the tragic events that transpired soon after, Mark realised that Judith was telling the truth and Natalie had somehow known about Nick’s biological parents. “What other way is there than to confront it head-on?”

Charlotte took a sip of the steaming tea, allowing the scent of Earl Grey that infused with the steam to dance around her nose. She pulled her mouth tight as she swallowed. “I still can’t believe it. I mean, the audacity! And then the fact that Judith paid. What was she thinking?”

“Well, for starters, Natalie can transfer the money straight back.”

The front door unlocked with a clunk. Mark’s eyes widened slightly in anticipation while Charlotte reached across and squeezed her husband’s hand in support.

“Here’s your moment,” she said.

Natalie – her arms laden with shopping bags from Harrods, Liberty, Louis Vuitton, and Fortnum and Mason – breezed in through the front door, her quick pace dragging a jet stream of warm autumnal air sweetened with the fragrance of flowers and perfume along with her.

“I’m back,” she called out as she removed the oversized sunglasses from her face and kicked the front door closed with one seamless motion as she moved to head straight upstairs.

Charlotte’s phone pinged with a notification.

Mark barely caught sight of his nineteen-year-old daughter as she powered past the doorway in a blur. “Nat, can you come here for a minute?”

Natalie paused and threw her head back. With an irritated grunt, she dropped her arms to her side and allowed the bags filled with luxury goods to fall to the floor with a thud.

“Well, this is weird,” she commented as she entered the lounge room to find her father and stepmother sitting in silence.

Mark watched her with a slightly narrowed glare while Charlotte was distracted as she grabbed her phone from the coffee table.

“Take a seat.”

Natalie eyed her father suspiciously and refused to move. “Why? Who died?”

Before Mark could reply, Charlotte gasped, and all colour drained from her face as her eyes scanned the message on her phone. “Oh my God.”

Alarm bells sounded in Mark’s head. “What’s wrong?”

With her hands visibly shaking, Charlotte turned her phone to show Mark the screen. As his eyes scanned the text and image, his mouth slowly widened.

It was a message from yet another newly created Instagram account that had clearly been opened by Charlotte’s stalker. But this time, there was a malevolence to their message that made Mark’s blood run cold. There, on the screen, was a photo of their house with three simple words:

home sweet home

“What the fuck?!” Mark leapt to his feet, dropping his mug of tea onto the ground, and sprinted through the living room and out into the entry hall towards the front door.

Charlotte’s whole body trembled as fear and terror consumed her.

Natalie was confused and followed closely behind her father. “What’s happening?”

“Did you see anyone outside when you came in?”

“What? No, why?”

“They know where we live!”

Without hesitation, Mark ripped open the front door – practically pulling it from its hinges – and ran out into the warm afternoon. As he approached the end of the driveway, his heavy steps slowed, and he spun around in unhurried circles, frantically scanning the street and surrounds for any signs of Charlotte’s tormentor.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Thyme Cottage,
Glendale

Neha sat slumped and crying on the cold bathroom floor, clutching a half-empty bottle of gin. Her cheeks were stained with mascara, and her shoulders shook with each sob. Following the meeting with Principal Brennan, where she had been fired, Neha saw no other option than to drown her sorrows and seek out solutions at the bottom of a bottle. But there was another layer of misery and misfortune that clung to her like a wet blanket. As she took another swig of gin, welcoming the familiar burn of alcohol as it slid down her throat, her eyes glanced down to the floor beside her, where there lay a pregnancy test. It’s two pink lines delivered the news that she had waited her whole life to hear and simultaneously confirmed her worst fears – she was pregnant to a man that wasn’t her husband.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Greystone Downs Farm,
Glendale

In the barn of Greystone Downs, Kate stood in front of the newly installed key box that was attached to the wall nearby. Despite numerous attempts to unlock it, including several combinations of birthdays, anniversaries, and pin numbers, so far it had refused to open and reveal the secret that Tom kept hidden inside.

With a steadying exhale of breath and determined to find out what her husband was keeping from her, Kate entered a combination that had come to her earlier in the pub when Tom was talking about his cricketing success.

0
7
2
2

After a beat, the lock mechanism whirred and clicked as the metal door unlocked and opened.

NEXT TIME…

• Will Kate discover the truth?
• Jack drops a bomb that leaves the village stunned.
• Mark and Charlotte are left shocked.
• Neha’s actions have tragic consequences.