Brad was just pulling out when he reached over to squeeze Maddy’s hand. “Somebody up there must be watching over you,” he said warmly.

Maddy was certain of it. “I know that.” She leaned over to kiss him. “Because we found each other again.” She loved him so much it frightened her.

When they reached the address on Ellen’s letter, they found a tidy little bungalow with a garden full of flowers. Shaking like a leaf, Maddy knocked at the door, but there was no reply.

The lady next door was busy clipping her front hedge. She gestured to Maddy, who went over to her, and saw that her garden was overflowing with gnomes.

“Is it Mrs. Drew you want, love? You’ll not find her in at this time o’ day. She’s at work.”

She told Maddy exactly where to find Ellen. “Down on the esplanade, there’s a café called The Beach Place. You’ll find her there most days. She works from seven of a morning right through till six at night, sometimes. It’s no wonder she had a bad spell in hospital a few months back – run right down, she was. But she was soon up and on her feet, and now that the boss is retiring, she’s made him an offer.”

She rolled her eyes to heaven. “God knows what makes her want to be in debt like that. But in a few years, she’ll be able to sit back and let others do the hard graft.”

A born gossip, the neighbor gave Maddy a true picture of what life was like for Ellen, and Maddy could not help but feel compassionate. “She came here long ago, as a divorcée, she told me, and she doesn’t appear to be interested in meeting anyone else. Her only real joy in life is that lad of hers. She worships the ground he walks on! As for young Michael, he would do anything for his mum. Every day after sixth-form college, he’s down there, helping her out, and in the morning he does a paper round to earn his pocket money. Ah, but there’ll come a day when his mother’s debt is paid and he’ll be looking to build up a business of his own. The lad is ambitious enough, that’s for sure.”

Having thanked her, Maddy and Brad strolled down the steep road toward the café. Maddy felt as though her heart would burst with the tension.

Staying far enough away to get the lie of the land, she soon spotted her old friend Ellen. She was thinner than Maddy remembered, and slightly stooped from all the bending and carrying. She seemed well enough though, tanned and pretty, chatting to the customers and taking their orders. But there was a terrible fatigue about her.

Suddenly, a tall young man appeared. He was wearing a school blazer and carrying a bag full of books.

“Look, Brad!” Breathless with emotion, she drew his attention to the young man. “My head tells me not to leap to conclusions, but my heart tells me this is my son, lost to me all those years ago.” There was an odd mingling of pride and awe in her voice which now shook with emotion.

Brad could make no response. He felt like an intruder, at the scene of this drama, yet unable to tear himself away. With his immediate concern for Maddy, he gazed down on Ellen and the teenager, and he was deeply touched by the affection that flowed between them; just like the bond between a mother and her son.

Maddy saw it too. She saw how Ellen’s face lit up at the sight of this young man; the coveted baby who had been stolen all those years ago. Her heart was sore when she saw how he hugged his “mother” and chatted to her, each of them so content in the other’s company. There was no denying it. Ellen had seemed like a woman at the end of a long road, tired and weary, going about her work like a robot. Yet, when the boy appeared, it was as though she had suddenly come alive.

A great feeling of longing came over Maddy. She wanted to run and hold her son, and tell him who she was, and how desperately she had missed him. But then she watched them a while longer, these two; Ellen, who had no other love than that for the boy she had cared for from the beginning as if he was her own. And the young man, so easy in Ellen’s company; to all intents and purposes, she was his mother. It was painfully obvious to Maddy that he loved her deeply, in that very special way that a boy can love his mother.

The one thing that stood out in Maddy’s mind, more than anything else, was how very much like his father he looked. She prayed it was only in appearance and not in nature.

Suddenly, all the pent-up emotions broke loose and, turning away, she began to cry. When Brad’s comforting arm slid around her shoulders, she thought how fortunate she was to have such a good man, hopefully for the rest of her life.

Maddy had come here for one purpose and one purpose only. And that was to claim her son.

Now though, she was torn. She had seen the love these two had for each other. Her heart was like a lead weight inside her. Turning to Brad, she asked brokenly, “Will you wait for me, please?”

Having witnessed it all, he understood and nodded, and so she went from him, and as he watched her walk away, he saw a lonely, forlorn soul, and his heart reached out to her. Sadly, there was nothing he could do. This was for Maddy to decide.

She did not look back. Instead, she kept on walking. She climbed down the steps and wandered onto the beach, lost in her thoughts and filled with memories of happier times with herself and Ellen, and the child that was conceived with a monster, who had long wanted her dead.

With her gaze fixed to the horizon, she wended her way out across the beach and on toward the sea; and from the shoreline, Brad watched, desperate to go to her, yet knowing he must not.

As the gentle waves slapped over her shoes, at her feet, Maddy turned it all over in her mind; Ellen and the boy, and the way they had grown together, built and shared a life together. And while even through her illness, she had kept her son in her deepest heart, it was painfully obvious to Maddy that Ellen had wiped all traces of his real mother from Michael’s mind. To all intents and purposes he was now Ellen’s child, and he loved her, as she loved him. So now, if she was to take him away from the woman he knew as his mother, how would he react? And what would become of Ellen?

“Would Michael hate me, if I came between them now, after all these years?” Maddy stared up at the shifting skies, and hoped that some almighty power would guide her. But she felt nothing, except confusion and doubt.

“And if I left him here and walked away, how would I feel afterward?” she murmured. “Could I live with the knowledge that I had abandoned my own son yet again and worse… to a woman who had stolen him from me? More than that, can I ever forgive her?” Another thought occurred to her. “If I took him now, and he was desperately unhappy… the damage I had done might be irreversible. If I destroyed his peace of mind, could I ever forgive myself?”

A sense of ontrage shook her. “But it isn’t my fault! She was the one who did wrong!”

Raising her face to heaven, she called out in anger, almost as though justifying herself to some unseen person, “ELLEN BETRAYED ME. SHE BETRAYED US BOTH. SHE STOLE MY SON!”

But then she thought of he who was at the heart of all the pain, revenge and fear… and knew that the blame needed to be apportioned elsewhere.

From the shore, Brad had seen her stop and raise her arms, and though the wind carried her voice away, he realized she was grappling with herself as to what must be decided. “Do what you think is right, my darling,” he murmured. “That’s all you can do.”

Far off, Maddy paced up and down for what seemed an age. Then, when the air struck colder and the skies took on a frown, she made her way back, and as she came toward him, Brad saw the look of resolution in her face.