Still in Liverpool, Victoria and Abby agree to hire a car and drive immediately to Parbold to search out the elderly lady, identified by solicitor Lynton Grey, who holds the conditions for Victoria’s potential inheritance of Orsbrick Hall. But along the way, the strange woman in the purple shawl appears again and not where Victoria, inside her remotest dreams, could have remotely envisaged. Unexpected revelations from Abby persuade Victoria to keep calm and they continue to Appleby Lodge to find the mysterious Eveline West, who reveals not only her true identity but the most astonishing secrets and tales of the McKenzie family which Victoria cannot believe possible. She now has to make the most important decision of her life.