'How did you know I'd be here today?' she asked him.

'I didn't.' He smiled. 'Believe it or not, I come here every day in the hope of running into you.'

Susan stood up. 'I'm sorry, Ted, but the time's getting on. I have to go. Karen will be waiting.'

He stood and faced her. 'Then may I?'

'I suppose so if you must.'

'Oh yes, I must,' he said with a smile. 'I really must. If you only knew how much courage it took to speak to you just now.'

Susan said nothing as she rose and began to push the buggy, but she was slightly mollified by Ted's humility as he walked silently beside her.

Karen was already waiting. Her cheeks were glowing and she looked happy.

'Thanks so much, Mum,' she said as she took the buggy's handle. 'I've enjoyed this morning so much. Tutoring is so rewarding. They've asked me to continue. It's for a boy who's broken his leg in an accident and as he's taking his GCSEs next year, they don't want him to fall behind.' She kissed her mother and hurried off. Ted had been standing to one side and now, Susan felt him looking at her. He touched her arm.

'Lunch? Please say yes, Susan.'

She relented. 'Well I normally only have a sandwich. They do quite nice ones here at the cafe.'

He nodded. 'Then a sandwich it shall be for both of us. You pick a table out here in the sunshine and I'll go and get them.'

He returned with an a.s.sortment of sandwiches and coffee for them both. She looked at him.

'I never thanked you for the flowers you brought me,' she said. 'And I owe you an apology for my stepdaughter's out-spoken remarks.'

He shook his head. 'Don't give it another thought.' For a few minutes they ate in silence then he said, 'Susan, I owe you an explanation and I'm determined that you shall hear it. It's all a bit convoluted and you'll have to bear with me but-'

'You owe me nothing, Ted,' she interrupted.

'Oh, but I do,' he insisted. 'There are things I have to tell you, if only for my own peace of mind.'

'All right.' She looked around. The tables were filling up now and two elderly women at the next table were clearly listening to their conversation with interest. 'But let's finish our lunch first and find a quiet spot.'

They finished their sandwiches in silence, then got up and walked slowly down to the lake. She waited for him to begin and it was obvious that he was nervous and hesitant.

'First, I must confess that it's true that I'm still married,' he said at last.

She stiffened. 'You gave me the impression that you were a widower.'

He looked at her. 'I'm sure I never actually said so.'

'Maybe not, but ...'

'Meg and I have been married for more than forty years. We were both very young when we married, especially Meg, and I'm sorry to say that she cheated on me from very early on in the marriage. She had an endless stream of affairs, none of which lasted for long, and like a fool I always forgave her and took her back. But eventually she met someone and fell seriously in love. They ran off together went to live abroad. I filed for divorce when it became clear that she had no intention of coming back to me but for some reason she refused to cooperate. I thought it must be because she was still unsure about her new relationship, but eventually that thought petered out and I began to pick up the pieces and make a new life for myself. I thought that eventually she'd want to marry her new partner and agree to a divorce, but the years went by and it never happened.'

'Do you know where she is now?' Susan asked.

He gave her a wry smile. 'Oh yes. I know where she is. Four years ago, Meg's partner got in touch with me quite out of the blue. He told me that she had developed dementia and he could no longer have as he put it the responsibility of her. He informed me that as I was still her husband that duty now fell to me.'

'Oh no!' Susan stared at him, appalled. 'But how many years had you been apart?'

'Almost thirty.'

'But surely, isn't there something about a marriage being null and void after a certain period of desertion?'

'Desertion is grounds for divorce, yes, but I never applied to divorce her on those grounds.' He shook his head. 'And I could hardly do so at that stage.'

Susan shook her head. 'So what happened?'

'Her new partner brought her back to me and just left. He handed her over like an unwanted pet and disappeared over the horizon. Naturally, she didn't understand. She didn't even remember who I was. Life was sheer h.e.l.l not only for me but for her as well. Eventually, my only alternative was to get her into a care home. I chose the best I could afford and she's still there.'

Susan felt chastened. 'Do you visit her?'

He shrugged. 'Occasionally, though she doesn't recognize me.'

'Oh, Ted! How awful. I'm so sorry.'

'The woman next door knows some of this but not all. She had no right to speak to you as she did.'

For a while, Susan was silent as she tried to take in all that Ted had told her. At last she looked at him. 'I wish you'd told me this in the beginning.'

He smiled wryly. 'I wish I had too, but it isn't a happy story and it doesn't make me much of a prospect, does it? Apart from that, you might have thought I was to blame.'

'How could you be to blame?'

'For all you knew I might have driven her away. I might have been a bad husband might have been violent or abusive.'

'Knowing you, I'm certain none of those things applied to you.'

'But back then you didn't know me. I would have told you eventually, Susan. I had no intention of keeping you in the dark. But when we first met I knew at once that you were going to be someone special and I couldn't risk losing you.' He sighed. 'Unfortunately Mrs Freeman forestalled me.'

'I should never have listened to her,' Susan said. 'I should have given you the chance to explain.'

He shook his head. 'It was understandable that you felt shocked and let down, believed that I'd misled you.' He looked at her. 'Under the circ.u.mstances I'll understand if you don't want to see me again. I just wanted you to know the truth. I couldn't bear the thought of you thinking me a liar and a philanderer.'

Very tentatively Susan reached for his hand. 'Oh, Ted, what a sad life you've had,' she said. 'Now that I know all this how could you imagine that I would want to end our friendship? I've missed you too so much.'

His eyes lit up. 'Are you saying you'd be happy for us to start seeing each other again?'

'Of course, though it might be better for us to meet at my flat in future.'

'Whatever you say.' Ted stood up and held out his hand to her. 'Shall we walk back to the cafe? I don't know about you but I could murder a cup of tea.'

Susan laughed and took his hand. 'Me too.'

Walking back through the park in the sunshine with Ted, Susan's heart lifted. Although she felt desperately sorry for the poor woman in the care home she felt that Ted deserved some happiness and contentment at last for all that he had suffered. As for her, she couldn't remember a time when she'd felt so happy.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

I couldn't believe it. The very next day after the article had appeared in the Sunday Sphere, I had a call from one of the agents I'd left my details with. I called at once and an interview was arranged for the following day.

Di was thrilled. 'There! What did I tell you?' she said. 'I knew it was a good idea to put yourself out there.'

I pulled a face at her. 'Making myself look like a gullible idiot, you mean,' I said. 'Maybe they're just looking for a cleaning woman.'

'Get away with you,' Di said. 'This could be the making of you.'

Dressed in the Chanel suit, carefully sponged and pressed, I made my way to the agent's office at the appointed time and sat nervously in reception. Looking around the room, I was impressed by the signed photographs of many well-known celebrities displayed on the walls.

The door opened and a man came out. A moment after he left, the receptionist's phone rang. She listened briefly, then replaced the receiver and looked across at me. 'Mr Jason will see you now.'

He was middle-aged with silver-grey hair and an attractive, warm smile. He rose and offered his hand. 'Good morning, Miss Delmar. I'm Patrick Jason. Please have a seat.' When we faced each other across his desk he said, 'I read the article in the Sunday Sphere about your bad experience. The name rang a bell and I looked in my in-tray and found the details you left at the office a few days ago.' He looked up at me. 'Surely you had an agent before all this?'

I nodded. 'Yes, Harry Clay. Unfortunately he put money into the project too and it has put him out of business.'

'I see. I had heard he was retiring, but I had no idea that he was another victim of this terrible business.' He looked at me speculatively. 'This Fortune man fooled us all. It was brave of you to go to the national press with your story,' he said.

'I don't know about that.' I smiled. 'It might well turn out to be the end of my career, but frankly it was a case of desperation. I needed the money. It was as simple as that.' I looked at him and decided I might as well lay my cards on the table. 'I couldn't believe my luck when I got the leading role in this new musical. It seemed like the big break I'd been longing for, and when I was asked to put money into it I was only too eager. I was supposed to get my money back, plus generous interest once the show was up and running.'

'I can't begin to imagine how you all felt when you found yourselves stranded high and dry in Bournemouth.'

I gave him a wry smile. 'It was a blow to say the least. Then when Harry told me he was closing the agency, it looked as if I was going to be out of work for some time. I had to do something.'

He shook his head. 'So you decided to go public?'

'Yes.' I sighed. 'The price I paid being that now everyone will know how vain and gullible I was.'

'So, you've had no work since?'

'Not in the business. I did have a job at a West End wedding-dress boutique,' I told him. 'It only lasted a few days though. The owner was a twenty-four-carat cow.'

He laughed. 'I liked the sound of you in the article,' he said. 'It showed me that you have character, the ability to laugh at yourself.'

I decided to ask him point blank where all this was going. 'So why did you ask me to come in? Are you offering to represent me?'

He pursed his lips. 'I do have one or two things in mind that might suit you.' He looked at me. 'Meantime, would you be willing to do some commercial TV?'

'Anything to keep the wolf from the door.'

'Right.' He made a note on his pad. 'Have you done any TV work before?'

I opened my mouth to tell him I had and then closed it again. The time had come to be honest. If I lied about this he'd be bound to find out and that could ruin any future chances I might have. 'No,' I said. 'But it's always been an ambition of mine.'

'OK. If anything comes up I'll give you a ring.' He leaned back in his chair and eyed me for a moment. 'I've just had a thought. One of the TV soaps is auditioning next week,' he said at last. 'Have you done character?'

I shook my head, remembering my decision to be truthful. 'Not really, though I admit I'm getting close to that age. What's the part?'

'A middle-aged motherly type,' he said. 'The kind of sympathetic woman everyone turns to in times of trouble. Do you watch King's Reach?'

I nodded. I'd seen it a few times when I was staying with Susan. Susan! She was just the kind of woman he'd just described to me. I knew Susan well enough to use her as a role model. 'I quite like the sound of that,' I told him.

'You wouldn't mind playing older than your age?'

'Not at all.' At that particular moment I wasn't at all sure about playing older but beggars certainly couldn't be choosers. And I reminded myself that some of those soap stars had been playing the same part for years. A guaranteed income sounded pretty good to me, playing older or not.

He opened a file on his desk and took out a sheet of paper. 'Here's the character description. She's called Amy Armstrong. Take it home and have a read. The audition is next Thursday. I'll text you the address of the venue when they let me have it. Meanwhile, I'll ring you if a commercial opportunity comes along.' He paused. 'Are you still at the address you left me?'

'Oh, no. What a good job you thought to ask. I'll be staying with a friend for the foreseeable future.' I scribbled down Di's address and pa.s.sed it to him. 'But you can always get me on my mobile.' I stood up. 'Thank you so much for seeing me, Mr Jason.'

He smiled. 'Patrick, please. Let's hope it all works out for you.'

The following morning I had two calls; the first was from Patrick Jason, giving me the address of the audition venue. I was so excited when I clicked the call off that I went to the fridge and poured myself a celebratory gla.s.s of wine. I wished Di could have been with me to share the excitement. I was sipping my wine and studying the character description once more when my phone rang again.

'h.e.l.lo.'

'h.e.l.lo, Louise.'

I recognized the voice at once and my heart plummeted. 'What do you want?' I asked bluntly.

'Oh, come on Louise,' my mother said. 'I'm just ringing to say how sorry I was to read about your disappointment. It was such a lovely photo in the paper too.'

'So now you and your son will realize that I'm actually broke,' I said. 'If you think I'm rolling in cash and a soft touch, you're going to have to think again.'

'You're very suspicious, Louise. I can't think where you get that from.' Her voice had a hard note to it now.

'Neither can I. So we might as well call it a day now,' I told her. 'I'll be frank. I don't want a relationship with you. It's too late and I don't think we have anything in common anyway.'

'I'm sorry to hear that you think that, Louise,' she said. 'But before we part company, there's something you should know about yourself. Something important that no one knows about but me.'

'I don't think you know anything that I don't.' I held my finger over the 'end call' b.u.t.ton but what she said next stopped me.

'Don't hang up, Louise! This is something you really should know for your own sake. I'm not joking.'

There was something chilling about her tone and I began to be apprehensive. 'Then tell me now.'

'Not on the phone,' she said. 'It's not trivial, Louise, and I'm not kidding. We really have to meet for me to tell you even if it is for the last time.'

She'd got me now. In spite of myself I was curious. 'All right,' I said. 'Where and when?'

'King's Cross Station,' she said. 'In the cafe Thursday, at one o'clock.'