While he comforted her, Maggie unpicked the mess Penny had made of Charlie’s jeans.

“He ripped the knee when he fell,” Penny wept. “I tried to catch him, but he was too heavy. Oh, Jack, I thought I’d lost him. I thought I’d lost him!”

“Where are you staying, Penny?” Maggie asked. There was no reply. “You’re meant to be aboard ship tonight, so I’ve booked you in with us.”

Penny nodded, but Maggie could see she hadn’t really taken it in. And even though Charlie was sedated, they had to prise her away from the hospital on the promise that they’d come back the next morning at eight o’clock. It was well before visiting hours, but the rules had been set aside for them.

“They’re so kind,” Penny said between sobs, but Maggie knew that it was because they didn’t think Charlie had long left to live.

The Le Haut Resort was only three stars, but it had a swimming pool and almost all the rooms had a beach view. Jack didn’t care where they stayed as long as he and Maggie could snuggle down together. As they lay there, with one thin sheet pushed down over their naked bodies by the powerful draft from the ceiling fan, they could hear Penny crying in the bedroom next door.

“Since moving to London, I’ve seen Dad three times. And the second time was the day he told me he was dying.” There was so much guilt in Jack’s whispered voice. “I thought I didn’t need to see him all the time, because he wasn’t going anywhere. I wish—”

“Don’t wish for things you can’t change, Jack. Just love him while you can.”

Jack watched a yellow and green gecko crawl along the ceiling directly above his head.

“Mags,” he whispered, and the movement of her fingers in his chest hair told him that she was awake and listening. “How far gone are you?”

“A few months already,” she said. “But I only just found out.”

They went on to have a whispered conversation about practical things such as maternity leave, pay drops, the price of nappies and whether they’d need to move from the flat. They both knew that money was tight now, so when the baby came, it’d be even worse. Maggie pointed out that Charlie would never have got medical insurance, being terminally ill, so their pensions and money from the sale of the bungalow would disappear if they didn’t get him home quickly. She wasn’t begrudging the way Jack’s parents had spent their life savings; she was pointing out that Penny would probably be left with little or no money of her own and so would need looking after financially. Maggie and Jack would soon go from having no dependents, to having two.

At last, as a gentle snoring came through the paper-thin walls, Maggie and Jack allowed themselves to relax and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Maggie dealt with all of the medical notes and the medication they needed to take back to the UK with them, while Penny sat in the chair by Charlie’s bedside, watching the two most important men in her life play dominoes. She smiled as she recalled the days when Charlie would allow Jack to win; now it was Jack allowing his dad to win. By the time the first game was halfway through, Penny’s head was nodding and her eyes were closing. Charlie and Jack exchanged glances. Neither of them needed to mention the terrible stress Penny was under; they just allowed her to sleep.