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boyfriend had abandoned them. I’d abandoned them too. I was working on the other side of the country and I was so caught up in my own life I hardly ever contacted them, so it was hours before anyone could track me down.”
    “By the time I reached the hospital Izzie was a complete basket case.  She wouldn’t speak or eat. She fought the nurses and doctors every time they touched her, so they had to sedate her most of the time. It was terrible. Fortunately she doesn’t remember much about it but it doesn’t mean it’s gone away. She’s nervy, and she’s highly-strung. She doesn’t sleep well.  She can’t sleep at all unless I’m close by. I’m already worried about how she’ll cope when she goes away to university, so you see there’s no way she’ll ever be able to lead the life of a professional singer, however much she thinks she wants to.”
    She stopped suddenly, as if she had run out of steam.  He could see from the turmoil in her eyes she had given him an edited version of something she rarely spoke about.
    “You must have been very young when all this happened,” he said gently.
    She gave a tired smile.  “I was the same age Izzie is now. It’s something she keeps bringing up every time I ask her to concentrate on her schoolwork and forget about her singing.”
    “That must have been tough.  Was there no one else?”
    “Nobody. But we got by. We’re still getting by despite the teenage hormones because underneath it all she’s a good kid.”
    He frowned. Although there was probably not much more than ten years between them, she seemed decades older than her sister.  He wondered what she’d had to give up to come home. He wanted to ask her but he sensed the subject was closed.  She’d told him what she thought he needed to know and now she wanted to talk about something else. He couldn’t resist a final comment though. It was the same one he’d made to Izzie.
    “You don’t look much alike.“
    “Different fathers is all,” she shrugged as she repeated word for word what her sister had already told him. “Izzie’s Dad, my stepfather, had Swedish ancestry from way back, so he was tall with blue eyes and fair hair. My father was short and dark apparently, not that I ever saw him.”
    “What happened?”
    “He died before I was born.” 
    He stirred his coffee thoughtfully.  “Why didn’t you tell the newspapers about Luke?”
    She stared at him, thrown by the change of subject.  “Why would I?”
    “Because I won’t open up the bridleway. It wasn’t until after I told you about him that it occurred to me you might use it to get your own back.”
    “Not when you told me in confidence, I wouldn’t. Anyway it’s not Luke’s battle is it, even though the newspapers would try to pretend it is? If they ever got hold of the story they’d hang around all the time trying to get pictures of him and that wouldn’t help anyone, least of all me.” 
    He took a long drink of coffee as he struggled to come to terms with the sudden rush of gratitude that washed over him.  He wasn’t used to people being discreet or worrying about what was right or wrong. In his experience people usually just wanted to make money out of him.
    “Thanks Jodie. I owe you.”
    “You really don’t; but if you want to make Izzie happy, then listen to her sing.”
    “I will if that’s what you want,” he said. “But I don’t want it to cause grief between the two of you.”
    “It won’t do that. Refusing to let her do it would be what would destroy us. So against my better judgment, I’m saying yes.”
    “Do you want to come too? As chaperone.”
    She laughed and shook her head as she stood up. “I’ll just make sure she wears suitable clothes and you can leave the door open to protect your reputation. Remember what I’ve told you about her problems though and don’t raise her hopes too high. I don’t want her to abandon her plans for university. If you really want to do me a favor then