She could never have imagined she would feel shy around her children, but the day of her return, she felt more than nervous, she felt exposed. It wasn’t just the prospect of watching what she said, of only recalling those months away within the permissible limits of what her family was allowed to know, checking herself on every detail, every consonant and vowel – a habit to which she had become accustomed and yet which became no less cumbersome as time passed. It was the fear that they would look at her and see what had changed.

‘Mum? She’s here!’

She could hear her children’s voices at the top of the staircase as she turned the key in the lock, muscle memory reminding her to push a little further to the left than common sense would suggest.

As she stepped through the door, she looked up, and when they saw her, Sadie paused, as if with one look at her face she sensed her mother’s apprehension.

The familiarity of the hallway felt like a blow to her solar plexus.

‘Darlings,’ she said as Callum ran towards her, hurling himself at her with a ferocity that made her wince.

‘Careful!’ Her voice was sharper than she had intended it to be and he took a step back, wounded, but then she bent her knees and scooped him into her chest.

Looking over his shoulder, she reached for Sadie with her other hand, the tears filling in her eyes as she joined them, the three of them contained like that until Tom moved into the hall behind them.

It was the sight of Tom that floored her. The way he hovered, the slight movement in his face as he looked at her, so familiar it was like curling up in front of a fire.

‘There she is,’ he said, the smile she knew so well creeping over his face, the lines deepening on his forehead. He was wearing an oven glove on one hand and as he stood there watching them. Slowly, Gabriela extricated herself from her children’s embrace, placing a hand against the wall and pulling herself straight.

She hadn’t expected the strength of emotion as he wrapped his arms around her, and she found herself instantly soothed by his touch.

‘Hey, it’s not that bad to be back, surely?’ he laughed, pulling away to wipe the tears streaming down her cheeks with the side of his finger.