‘That’s plenty of time to arrange packing and removal. If you’re not ready to part with any of it, then keep it, like Johnny said. I’ve got bags of room as well.’

She smiled at both of them.

‘Take anything you’d like, Ted. It’s what she’d want.’ She left them, heading for the stairs.

The smell was stronger as she walked into her mother’s bedroom. Her hairdryer was still on the dressing table, and a jacket sat on the back of a chair. Her purse was on the bedside cabinet, as well as a whole array of pills, none of which had saved her in the end. It had been almost six months, but it still looked the same.

Kelly knelt beside the bed, because she didn’t know what else to do.

Why had she left it this long? Nikki had taken what she wanted. Kelly felt the familiar pang of self-reproach. Without Mum, there was no point in seeing her sister. The last time they’d been together, Nikki had questioned why Kelly was hanging about with an older man, making a fool of herself, taking him everywhere with her; insinuating some kind of fling with Ted. No doubt Dave Crawley would be sitting in her house right now, given a hero’s return, and they’d be discussing how Kelly had stitched him up. Leave them to it, she thought.

She buried her head in the duvet and took in the strong aroma of a woman who had died far too soon. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into Ted’s eyes. She hadn’t heard him coming up the stairs and she didn’t know how long she’d been there, on her mother’s bedroom floor. Her vision was blurry and she knew she was crying, but she was making no sound. He struggled to kneel down and sit down beside her, holding her in his arms. It was one of the most pleasant places she’d ever been. They stayed like that for long minutes and Kelly allowed herself to be weak for a moment. Inside his embrace was an unconditional place that she rarely encountered, and the succour was overwhelming.

When she pulled away, it was with a feeling of renewed strength and energy, and she made her mind up that she would phone the removal company and get everything packed up. If she got rid of it all now, she knew she’d regret it. She had room at home to store it all, as well as Johnny and Ted’s offers should there turn out to be too much. She’d been warned by the removal company that people often underestimated what lurked inside the cupboards and drawers of a house inhabited for generations and virtually untouched.

‘Is there anything you’d like?’ she asked Ted.