There had been a pause, when Lorna could imagine Olivia glancing around her home – the place she shared with her own small family – and weighing up the consequences. ‘Yes,’ she said eventually. ‘If he wants to, that is.’

Lorna had promised to report back after their meeting today. She and Roy had been on tenterhooks for the last few weeks, able to think of nothing else but how it would go.

‘You know, I’ve been wondering,’ Roy had said yesterday, when they’d been cleaning Briar Cottage in readiness for a new set of guests. Now into mid-September, the holiday season was beginning to slow, with the children back at school and the weather just starting to turn. ‘If Aidan hadn’t died, would he and Olivia even have gone ahead and had Leon, do you think? Or would they have decided that they were far too young to settle down at that point? Because maybe . . . well, it’s horrible to dwell on now, but they might have decided they didn’t want a baby. Leon might not have made it this far. If you know what I mean.’

Lorna had winced, not sure she wanted to imagine that outcome. And yet Roy had a point. With a terrible irony, it was perhaps only through losing Aidan that Leon had come into the world at all. Realistically, Aidan probably wouldn’t have wanted his own child at the age of eighteen, just as Olivia hadn’t – the possibility of having both Aidan and Leon in the world might not even have existed. Gaining a grandson would never make up for losing a son, but it was definitely a consolation.

It had been a summer of revelations, all in all. She and Olivia had been in touch several times since July, and the younger woman sounded much happier and more settled these days. Lorna and Roy were going to travel to Bristol next month, actually, to visit Olivia and her family, and Lorna was very much looking forward to it. She’d had some lovely cards and messages from happy holidaymakers too – one lady whose boyfriend had proposed to her at the cottage, a couple who’d celebrated their Silver Wedding anniversary there, and a woman who wrote the loveliest note saying that she and her teenage daughter had really connected on their holiday for what felt like the first time all year. Oh yes, and there had been one very funny review left on the booking site, from a lady called Em: My relationship might have wobbled, my kids had umpteen dramas, but the cottage was still so beautiful and homely we ended up having the most wonderful family holiday together. Perfect!