There was a sprinkling of snow on the ground when Camilla awoke on Christmas morning. She felt light-hearted and full of energy as she drank some coffee and made herself toast. Then, on the spur of the moment she left the house, walking briskly through the village to the small church on the green. The notice said there would be a service at ten o’clock and she was half an hour early. It was cold and she pushed the heavy door ajar and sat down in a pew close to the back, finding unaccustomed security and nostalgia in the smell of incense, the candles and flowers, and the traditional Christmas crib. A few local church members came and went, preparing for the service, smiling a season’s greeting but making no attempt to intrude on her. After a few moments she knelt down and prayed for the first time since her days in the convent chapel, begging for the strength to care for Marina in her last days, asking for the courage to build a new relationship with her father and to try to understand his suffering. Later today she would talk to him about Langani. And then she would telephone the farm to let them know she had not forgotten, that she loved them still with all her heart and would always love them. When the service was over and the carols had been sung she made her way to the Bear Inn and rang Edward’s room.

‘It’s glorious outside, with the sun and the snowfall. Would you like to escape from here and go for a walk?’

‘I’ll come down right away.’

She rang the cottage to tell her father where she was, and then set out with Edward. They walked slowly, rejoicing in the fine weather and the crunch of glittering snow beneath their feet. Robins hopped in the hedges and smoke curled from neat cottages, where the shine of Christmas lights could be seen through a veil of newly washed curtains.

‘Don’t you have any family at all?’ Camilla asked.

‘I was an only child. Like you. My father’s been dead for years and my mother died eighteen months ago. They were great people.’

‘I’m so sorry.’ She hesitated, unwilling to pry. ‘But you were married once. I think you said that the first time we had dinner together, didn’t you?’