Jumping to conclusions

A couple of books bought secondhand from a village jumble sale; in the front, a name - Johnnie Bearsden - scrawled in a childish hand.

This is all it takes for old wounds to open and rumours to begin swirling again.

Rumours about little Izzy Haddon, whose mother, Jess, has kept the identity of her daughter's father a secret for seven years.

Now Johnnie Bearsden is coming back to the village with his American wife and children.

Everyone has always assumed that he is Izzy's father, but Jess will neither confirm nor deny it.

She simply maintains a resolute silence, and gets on with what she does best - riding racehorses in point-to-points.

But Jess's mother, who looks after her little granddaughter Izzy, and loves her with a passion, quite rightly suspects that things cannot long go on as they are.

Sooner or later the story must break, and when it does, there will surely be terrible consequences.