Maybe later tonight when the boys were asleep, they could talk some more. About Aidan and her part in his death. About her own mum vanishing and how it had been as if a piece of Olivia had gone with her too. Mack knew the basics about Leon, but now she’d have to tell him that her first son might be returning to her life in the future, and that she hoped he’d be okay about this. Having started talking honestly at last, she wanted to delve further into these subjects, expose them to daylight and another opinion, rather than burying them all again. Perhaps it would help to find a counsellor to work through them as well, she thought. Someone who could maybe give her a few coping strategies while she was there, to shore up her defences against spiralling right down again. She gazed out at the wide white sky and felt as if she might be open to possibilities again – or at least to accepting some help.

She remembered her brother’s concerned texts just then and sent him a message. Hi Danny, she wrote. All good here. Thought for a minute I had turned into Mum – couldn’t cope. But I’m going to sort things out with Mack. We’re meeting up later. Think we will be okay. x

He replied moments later. I get it. You can always talk to me, remember. Good luck and let’s catch up properly soon. x

Feeling a hundred times better than she had done a week earlier, Olivia sipped her tea and let out a long exhalation. Then her phone rang, jerking her out of her reverie and she fumbled to answer it, assuming it was Mack again or maybe Danny. But there was an unfamiliar number on the screen. ‘Hello?’ she said.

‘It’s Lorna,’ came the reply and Olivia’s heart clenched with immediate dread. Oh no. That hadn’t taken long.

‘Hello,’ she said warily. Following her letter that morning, Lorna and Roy were certain to have a lot of questions, some of them potentially very angry ones. There was a strong possibility, in fact, that they would hate her by now. Her grip tightened on the teacup, so tightly that she had to set it down, fearful it might shatter between her fingers. She wasn’t sure she could bear hearing Lorna’s wounded rage right now.

‘I’m ringing to thank you,’ Lorna said, though, which came as such a surprise to Olivia that she had to blink several times before she could register the words. ‘For telling us, I mean. We’re going to find Leon, we want him to be in our lives. We are so delighted by the news, I . . . Well, I’m as giddy as a kipper, to be honest. I can’t believe it!’