Dan turned and leaned against the window sill. “I’ve found out that there’s a bus leaving for Fort William at ten o’clock. Once I’m there, I’ll have a word with Pete and tell him that I have to go. It’s only another couple of weeks before the chap from Ocean Produce starts, so I’m sure he can cope until then. After that, I’ll get Josh to take me back to the cottage to pick up my gear.”

“What will you tell them both?”

“The first of my lies. That I have been called back to London to start a new job.”

“Will Josh go with you?”

“That’s up to him.” Dan let out a short laugh. “I doubt it, though. Everything he loves is up here. His job, Marie José, and, of course, the Trenchard family.”

Dan saw a tear trickle slowly down Katie’s cheek. “What do I say to Patrick?”

“I would suggest that you say exactly the same to him and to Max and to Sooty as I’m going to say to Pete and Josh. The trouble with subterfuge is that stories always have to match exactly.”

“He’ll miss you so much, Dan.”

“As I will him.”

She looked up at him, a pleading look in her eyes. “Could you not just see him for a moment before you go?”

Dan shook his head. “No, Katie. We are pretty much alike, Patrick and I. He would be able to tell immediately that something had happened. We must never give him any reason not to get well again.”

She stood up and hurried towards him and encircled his waist with her arms. This time, Dan responded without reservation. He placed his arms around her neck, and leaning forward, he kissed the top of her spiky head. They stood holding each other for a minute before he turned her around to face the door. “Now, go and see your husband, Katie. He needs you as much as you need him.”

Katie walked out of the doors of the hospital and stood beneath the canopy, looking up at the cold grey skies. She had noticed the first flurries of snow out of the window when she was sitting beside Patrick’s bed. Yet, despite the bleakness of the weather, she felt contented, almost happy. Once more, Patrick was fighting back, and whilst in the presence of the doctor, he had slid the oxygen mask off his mouth and said in a laboured voice that he wanted to get the hell out of that bloody mausoleum as fast as he possibly could. The doctor, who had overheard every word, simply smiled at her and said that Patrick had progressed well enough to move him out of the High Depency Unit and that he would discharge him into Katie’s care as soon as possible.