How I wished, with everything within me, that Sephy hadn’t died. If I could, I would have taken her place in a heartbeat. Sephy might not have liked me very much – or at all – but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still admire her. Her strength, her forthright nature, that way she had of setting you at ease or putting you on your arse. I always knew where I stood with her. And, more than anything else, what endeared her to me the most was that she was Callie’s mum. It was as simple and as complicated as that. I knew all about Sephy’s past. Without her and her bravery, there would be no Callie Rose. And my life would just be an eternal bleak wilderness.

Even when Callie first said yes to marrying me, I still didn’t quite believe that it would happen. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was taking advantage of her at her most vulnerable. I’d taken it slow, giving her a chance to back out and change her mind – even though I knew my heart would wither if she did. I was even prepared to wait a year – or however long it might take. I couldn’t, wouldn’t marry Callie unless she was one hundred per cent down with the idea. I loved her too much to do that to her, to both of us. What if we got married and Callie slowly awoke to the fact that she didn’t love me the way I loved her? The thought of her eyeing me with contempt for rushing her into sharing a life with me turned my blood to icy slush for weeks. But Callie had very patiently reassured me, over and over, that being married to me was what she wanted most in the world. The clincher had been when she told me that her mum’s last words in full were, ‘He needs you. Save him.’

‘Tobey, believe me. Mum would’ve approved,’ Callie told me.

After that, my last remaining doubts were swept away.