‘No, you take the seat, young lady,’ he told Wendy. ‘You kids come first in this town-Jason here just hasn’t realized it.’

They were helped every step of the way, and when she and the beautiful new Wendy-a Wendy dressed in a tiny, bouncy skirt and crop top, gorgeous bright red sandals, and with curls that gleamed-purchased double flavoured ice-creams and sat on the wharf waiting for Pierce, Shanni thought every person in town was finding a reason to peek.

She felt proud. This was a fantastic community, she thought. Surely the community round Two Creek Farm could be the same?

And then Pierce was pulling up nearby and she found she was holding her breath. Wendy had stilled. Her ice cream was held out so she wasn’t dripping on her new clothes, but she was no longer licking.

What Pierce thought mattered to Wendy, Shanni thought, and she watched Pierce stride towards them and decided, yep, it mattered to her, too. Once the shadows were dispelled, Wendy would love this man.

Shanni could, too.

Wrong. Shanni already did.

Dumb. She was an irresponsible pest. She had no part in this embryonic family. What she was feeling was a romantic yearning started at ten and never squashed. It had to be squashed now.

Meanwhile, she watched Pierce come towards them and she found she wasn’t breathing.

Pierce stopped dead. Thirty feet away, he put his hand to his eyes as if shading them from the sun. As if unsure what he was seeing.

‘It’s Shanni,’ he said, sounding awed. ‘But…is that Wendy?’

Wendy giggled. It was a tiny, really nervous giggle, but it was a giggle for all that.

‘You’re beautiful,’ Pierce said and it was exactly right. Not an overblown exclamation. Just a simple stating of facts.

Wendy smiled. She did a coy eyelash flutter. Her smile turned to a beam.

‘I’m so proud of you,’ Pierce said, and he walked the final few steps and looked down at her. He didn’t even glance at Shanni. Which was great. There was no conspiratorial look saying ‘haven’t we done the right thing!’. It was purely between Wendy and Pierce.

‘Can I hold your ice-cream?’ Shanni said, guessing what was coming, and then as Wendy didn’t answer she took it anyway.

And she was right. Pierce was lifting Wendy high and swinging her round in his arms, so fast that Wendy squealed, a delighted kid’s squeal, and everyone watching beamed and beamed.

Shanni blinked.

This was nothing to do with her, she thought frantically. She was out of here.

‘Lunch,’ Pierce said, setting Wendy down but tucking her against him. ‘Unless you’re full of ice-cream.’

‘My ice-cream’s melted,’ Wendy said.

Shanni looked down at her hand. She’d forgotten the ice-cream. Yes, it had melted. A blue-heaven-and-raspberry ice-cream was oozing down her hand.

‘Oh, yum.’

‘Somewhere special for lunch,’ Pierce said.

‘Fish and chips on the beach?’

‘Not today,’ Pierce told them. ‘There’s a great little restaurant up near the lighthouse. We took Ruby there the day of the castle opening. They have champagne.’

‘Champagne,’ Wendy said cautiously.

‘We need to toast a new start,’ Pierce said, smiling lazily at her. ‘Starting today. But first we need to find Shanni a tap. She appears to be more than a little bit sticky.’

So they found a tap, and then they walked along the cliff path to the lighthouse, Wendy in the middle, one hand holding Shanni’s, the other holding Pierce’s. It felt…weird.

Pierce had booked. It was a Saturday so the small café was filled with tourists but they were shown to the best table in the house. It had a view seemingly all the way to America. Bench seats were piled high with overstuffed cushions, and bright-striped curtains and wind chimes were everywhere. The place looked like some sort of Middle Eastern harem. Wendy’s jaw was down round her ankles, and when the waiter poured champagne into gorgeous crystal flutes she was almost pop-eyed.

‘You’re too young for champagne,’ Pierce told her. ‘And you probably won’t like it anyway. But it’s an important drink for an important toast.’ He stood up, raising his glass. ‘Here’s to a job well done,’ he told Wendy. ‘You’ve kept your brothers and sisters safe. You’ve taken care of your mum. You’ve fought off your shadows. This toast is to safety. It’s to say you can relax now; you can go back to being a kid. Because I’m doing the caring and I won’t let you down. I promise.’

‘I’ll drink to that,’ Shanni said, and stood up and beamed down at Wendy. She felt surreal, like things were moving without her. ‘Our brave Wendy.’

‘Our beautiful Wendy,’ Pierce said, and clinked his glass. Then, as Wendy bravely clinked and sipped and wrinkled her nose, he grinned. ‘Before we let you at the lemonade, here’s another toast, our Wendy,’ he said. ‘Here’s to Shanni as well, for she braved the bull and more. She braved the ladies of the Craggyburn supermarket. Well done, Shanni.’

It sounded like a conclusion. Now I can bow out, Shanni thought.

But she smiled and clinked her glass. The waiters came and replaced Wendy’s champagne with red lemonade. ‘How can you like champagne better than this?’ Wendy demanded incredulously, and Pierce smiled, and so did Shanni, but Shanni was having trouble making her smile work.

The meal was fantastic. They perused the amazing menu and then somewhat shamefacedly admitted to each other that really they wouldn’t mind the fish and chips. So out came the restaurant’s version of the humble fish and chips. It was a seafood feast, a vast platter of tiny flathead tails in crispy batter, fresh prawns, juicy scallops under a bed of curling twists of lemon, oysters opened in front of their eyes, mountains of crunchy French fries.

They ate until they thought they might burst, and then they sat back contentedly and watched the coming and going of boats from the harbour, and Shanni thought, this is paradise.

‘I think it’s time for a swim,’ Pierce said at last as stillness descended on them and drowsiness took over. ‘That is, if we’re not so heavy we sink to the bottom with no trace.’

Now. She had to do it now.

‘I’m leaving this afternoon,’ Shanni said.

There was a stunned silence.

‘Leaving,’ Pierce said cautiously.

‘You can’t leave,’ Wendy said. ‘Where…where are you going?’

‘I’m going to visit my friend in Sydney.’

‘Who?’ Pierce said.

‘Jules.’

‘I didn’t think you had any friends.’

‘Hey, I was brought up in this country,’ she said with as much dignity as she could manage. ‘Just because I’ve been away for the last few years…’

‘You don’t have any money.’

‘I have enough.’

‘What’s enough?’

‘That’s none of your business.’ She swallowed. ‘Though if you’d like to pay me for the last four days that’d be very welcome.’

‘Of course I’ll pay, but-’

‘You can’t go,’ Wendy said, horrified. ‘We want you to stay.’

‘I know,’ Shanni said ruefully. She hated doing this; she just hated it. But, sitting between them, she knew she must. For Wendy was already looking at her with trust-and with something deeper. She didn’t want to hurt Wendy for the world. To stay here for any longer, to start a relationship she couldn’t continue…She couldn’t. To leave fast, when the glories of the castle were still before them, was possible. To stay any longer would be selfish.

And there was Pierce. She was falling deeper and deeper in love with them all, she thought desperately, but especially she was falling in love with Pierce, and there was no way Pierce would let that lead to any soppy happy-ever-after ending. She was a nuisance. She had to get out of here.

‘You heard that phone call last night,’ Pierce said, his eyes not leaving her face.

‘Yes,’ she said, and jutted her chin.

‘Shanni, I didn’t mean it.’

‘No, but it’s true. I’m superfluous.’ She took a deep breath. She had to do this. She had to be the strong one. ‘Pierce, I want to tell Ruby about these kids.’

‘You can’t.’

‘I can.’ In truth she was in territory she didn’t understand, but more and more she didn’t have a choice. ‘I know you don’t want to bother her, but believe me the longer you keep this from her the more she’ll be hurt. She’s already unbelievably hurt that you married and had Bessy without telling her. You’re not going to be able to keep things from her any longer.’

She fought for another breath and then turned her attention to Wendy. ‘You know, you guys need a proper housekeeper. Not someone like me who doesn’t know the first thing about what kids need. Someone who’ll love you to bits. Pierce has a lovely old foster mother called Ruby who needs to meet you all. Ruby’s like any other grandma-she’d be caring for you in a minute-but I agree, she’s too old now to take you on. But if there’s one thing Ruby’s good at it’s networking. She’ll find you a housekeeper. She’ll be vetted from every angle possible, like you should have vetted me, and you’ll be able to get on with your lives.’

‘Shanni, you can’t.’ Pierce sounded horrified.

‘I can tell her. Tell your brothers I did it,’ she said. ‘Sorry, Pierce, but I’m Ruby’s niece. Some secrets can’t be kept in families and this is one of them.’

‘You have no right…’

‘Maybe I don’t, but I’m doing it anyway.’ She rose, feeling shaky. She knew she had to do this because, even though it was tearing her in two now, how much harder would it be if she left it longer?

‘Wendy, I’m your friend,’ she said, looking down at the stricken little face and flinching. How could she do this? How could she not do this? If she was hurting Wendy now, how much more so if she wasn’t honest? ‘When you leave the castle I’ll come to the farm and see you all. I promise. I’ll do the housekeeper thing-I’ll fill the house with food and make sure things are okay. I’ll see you that day, and I’ll see you any time I can find the opportunity. And I’ll write to you, Wendy.’