The van fell silent, the only noise the gentle ticking of the cooling engine and exhaust, even the traffic noise died away, as if not wishing to intrude.

“Woah!” Lia gasped, breaking the silence at last.

“When did you know I was yours?” Poppy asked quietly.

“I didn’t know for certain until we found Nikki.”

“Did she know?”

“That I was your father? I don’t know, she didn’t recognise me in the hospice, that’s for sure.”

“Did that hurt?”

“No, her mind was mostly gone, I was surprised she recognised you.”

“She didn’t at first, but when she did it was wonderful. She still had her lovely smile.”

“It’s the smile that hooked me Poppy, and it’s your smile that first got me thinking. You have some of Nikki’s looks, but not so much that you’d make the connection.”

“So, when I tried to...”

“I didn’t know then, and I didn’t let you do that out of principle, I don’t take advantage of little girls.”

“So, all the time, you’ve suspected I was your daughter.”

“Yes, and I’ve done nothing about it. You’ve no idea how much it burned me inside to leave you on the streets, but I didn’t know for certain, and if I took you in, what about every other kid out there. So what I did instead was make sure you were as safe as you could be, I had my guys patrol the areas we knew you stayed. If we saw somebody hurt you, we hurt them.”

“Oh, so that’s why!” Belle gasped.

“Why what?” Poppy asked, puzzled.

“One day I saw a boy who’d slapped you, he was in a really bad way, all bruised. Even though he’d hurt you I felt sorry, so I offered him some soup and he ran away. I bet he thought I was Jeremy’s spy or something.”

“So, you were my avenging angel all along. I loved you from day one Jeremy, and I hated that I disappointed you with my behaviour. I guess I’m a bit thick and I needed to keep falling before I learnt my lesson.”

“Not to put a spoiler on things,” Lia interrupted, “but given Nikki’s ... err ... lifestyle, how can you be certain?”

“That’s a good point,” Jenny agreed.

Jeremy silently reached into his back pocket and pulled out his battered leather wallet, he flipped it open and carefully withdraw a photograph from within, holding it out to Poppy.

“Who’s this?” she asked quietly.

“April, my sister. This was our last holiday together, in Margate, she was killed about 6 weeks after this holiday.”

Poppy took it carefully from Jeremy, holding it so Belle could see it.

“Oh wow,” Belle gasped, “she’s got your figure, err, sorry Jeremy, that was rude.”

“It’s Ok, you’re right. They could be sisters.”

“She’d be my Aunty April. How did she die?”

Jeremy didn’t answer, instead he took the photo back and slipped it back in his wallet.

“Not well,” he replied eventually, “and I went off the rails for a few years afterwards.”

“I can understand that, especially considering my life.”

“The man I killed in the fight, it took me a few years to find him, but I did eventually...”

Poppy touched Jeremy’s knee gently, “he killed April?”

“He did, and he’d made her suffer, so I made him suffer the same way, I beat him to death with my fists. Some nights I think about him and wish I’d killed him more slowly, other nights I wish I’d just shot him so I wouldn’t keep seeing all the blood in my nightmares. Either way, I’m not sorry he’s dead.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting Jeremy’s revelations.

Poppy broke the silence this time, “so, what do I call you now?”

“Jeremy, same as always.”

“But you’re my dad?”

“I was never your father, Poppy, even if by some miracle Nikki and I had got together and stayed together, we were on a self-destructive spiral. Alex is your dad, he’s proved himself worthy of that title.”

Poppy slipped onto Jeremy’s lap and hugged him, “you might not have started out as father material, but you redeemed yourself. And thank you for not letting me ... you know ... once I was thinking again, I felt that was an important moment, you were someone who wanted to help me, you were the first man I’d met who didn’t want me for my body. Once my head was straight, and let me tell you all, do not do drugs, coming down and getting clean is not a fun process.

“So yeah, once I was clean, and I could think and process what had happened, I felt something, an affinity to you. I didn’t really have the mental building blocks to process my thoughts clearly, but I felt close to you Jeremy, I think you became the father figure in my life.

“I guess we both felt something, but you had a couple of extra pieces of data to work with.”

“I didn’t know Nikki was your mother at that point, it was another year before I picked up on that.”

“Mmm, so, is this a big secret?”

“Well, I’d rather you didn’t take out adverts in the press, but you can tell Jenny and Helen.”

“Ahh, so I guess your family don’t know.”

“No, they don’t. They know I wasn’t an angel, and I doubt it’ll be a huge surprise if she found out I had a child from before. Ahh, I don’t know Poppy, can I think about this?”

“Of course, I’m over the moon with this, you have no idea what fucking scumbags I thought were my father. At one point I was convinced it was Westley or Parker and they were taking perverted joy in ruining their daugter’s life. If you don’t want your family to know I understand. Shit, I can just imagine how weird that conversation would be, ‘hey Meg, you know how you’ve always wanted a sister, well guess what!’ Yeah, I’m happy to keep it quiet.”

“Sometimes, Poppy, I don’t think Belle’s wrong when she says you’re a goddess.”

“Belle’s just weird,” Poppy laughed as she slid off Jeremy and snuggled up to Belle, “can we go home now, I want to give Belle a good cuddle and put her in the bath, she smells funny.”

“That’ll be the gallon of lube he squirted up my arse, I’m going to be farting bubbles for weeks.”

“Oh Belle, I’m sorry I put you in danger.”

“You didn’t put me in danger, Poppy,” Belle replied as Alex started the engine and pulled into traffic, “none of this is your fault. Anyway, we proved two things today.”

“What are they?”

“I can protect myself when I need to, and my bum hole is super tiny.”

“Belle, that twat was hung like a horse, he nearly killed me with that thing.”

“Yeah, but I shut that fucker right out, he couldn’t even get a finger in me.”

“So, Dad’s out of luck then.”

“I’m afraid so. It’s just for you and your talented fingers.”

“Yayyy, me!” Poppy replied.

Alex parked around the back of Helen’s apartment building, she must have been looking out for them, as the back door opened as Alex shut the engine down.

Belle shot out of the van and ran into Helen’s outstretched arms, “I’m alive!”

“You are, and you’ve got a new t-shirt!”

“A souvenir, I don’t know where my clothes are, I think they cut them off me when I was tied up. I really liked that shirt I had on.”

“We’ll find you a new one tomorrow,” Helen told her as the others joined them and set off up the ornate wooden staircase to her apartment.

“This place is a bit flash,” Jonno said in an awed whisper.

“Five million and it’s yours,” Helen laughed.

“What the fuck, how did you afford a place like this?”

“Would you believe me if I told you it was a gift from a fan?”

“Are you likely to tell me that?”

“Yep, because that’s what happened.”

“Wow, I’m in the wrong business,” Jonno sighed.

“You could start an Only Fans.” Belle suggested as she dashed past him and into Helen’s apartment.

“Oh my god!” Katie cried as she saw Belle, “are you OK? What happened?”

“I’m fine, Poppy was awesome, you should have seen her pounding Mikey, I’ve never seen anyone so angry. Oh hey Mr Newbold, are you OK?”

“Hi Belle, err, yes, I’m fine, I’ve just been marvelling at your auntie’s amazing apartment.”

“It’s fantastic, have you seen her kitchen, I love it.”

With that she grabbed her teacher’s hand, leading him into Helen’s kitchen.

“Err, what you just heard, about Poppy, you didn’t hear it, OK? Nothing happened this afternoon, we made food for homeless people then you went home.”

“OK, is there a reason for the secrecy?”

“Ghosts from Poppy’s past, they’re gone now.”

“But, you were kidnapped, and by the look of your bruises, you were attacked.”

“And I’m alive, so we’ll leave it at that. Dad said you’d saved me a pie...”

“Yes, let me warm it for you.”

“Thanks Mr Newbold. This doesn’t happen every week, you know, so I hope we haven’t put you off.”

“Not at all. The day would have perhaps been better if you hadn’t been kidnapped, but up to that point I had a wonderful time, and afterwards I saw how your family and friends pulled together, rather like an army would.”

“Poppy is a special person, Mr Newbold, she’s helped so many people that it’s an honour to return the favour when we get chance.”

“Don’t do yourself down Belle, they pulled together to help get you back.”

“Poppy got me back, Mr Newbold, they helped Poppy. That’s the way it works.”

The oven pinged, so Mr Newbold reached for the oven gloves and pulled Belle’s pie out.