‘I’ve run across Viktor a couple of times,’ Sarah said. ‘I wish I’d run over him, frankly. But I don’t think anyone could have prevented what happened between him and Hannah. It’s a pity that Lars was a casualty, though.’

They walked out on to the lawn that Lottie had tended with such care for so many years. ‘I find myself asking the same question you asked earlier, Sarah,’ she said. ‘Where is my real home? I said it was where you find the people you love the best. But I don’t know if what I feel for Jan is love, and I don’t know if he is capable of loving any more. He is dead inside, my dear. He has been dead inside since Camilla’s terrible mother, that bitch of a woman—’ She spat the words out. ‘I have not found my husband since that night, and I am not sure if I will be able to love him when I do. If I do.’

‘Oh, Lottie! Jan was a good man, a good father, and you’ll find him again. I’ll pray that you will.’

‘I hope you’re right. And I hope that I’m strong enough for whatever comes.’

‘Come on in, you two!’ Hannah was calling from the verandah. ‘No more gossiping.’

‘I’m going to read and sleep for a while,’ Lottie said. ‘I’ll see you girls later.’

‘OK. Do you want to come and sit in my room, Han?’ Sarah asked. ‘Or maybe go for a walk somewhere?’

‘You’re going to ask me about Viktor,’ Hannah said at once. ‘It’s all over, Sarah. Just as everyone said it would be. Let’s go to your room and talk.’

She slumped into a chair, her face in her hands. It was so hard to tell the story, but she wanted to say it out loud to Sarah who would not judge her, who would listen to all her stupid mistakes and love her still.

He was everywhere, Lars. His face had been stony when he looked at her, or angry and filled with a pain she did not want to see. No matter where she went on the farm, it seemed impossible to avoid him.

‘He’s following me around,’ she had said to Piet. ‘Can’t you tell him to leave me alone? Stay out of my way?’

‘Following you where?’ Piet asked. ‘When?’

‘He looms up in the office every morning,’ Hannah said.

‘He’s supposed to be in the office in the mornings,’ Piet tried to reason with her.

‘And he’s at the stores. In the dairy. Everywhere.’