Thirty minutes later Claudia and Dan were outside the front door of Maria and Archie’s second-floor flat on the other side of town. As they waited for a response to Dan’s knock, Claudia looked around the brutal concrete walls graffitied with mostly indecipherable hieroglyphs and lit by sluggish overhead lamps along with a few hardworking Christmas stars. There was little sign of anyone; a couple they’d passed on the stairs had muttered a polite “Merry Christmas” allowing her to believe that as insalubrious as this place might be, it was a whole world away from the estate Maria and Archie had come from.

“Someone’s coming,” Dan muttered, and a moment later the door opened to the width of a security chain, and Archie peered out at them.

Seeing his surprise, Claudia said, “Do you think we could . . . ?”

Maria shouted, “If iss carol singers, tell ’em sing ‘’Way in a Manger.’”

With a smile Dan waited for Archie to release the chain, and gestured for Claudia to go ahead of him.

The spicy scent of a Christmas diffuser mingled with fresh paint welcomed them as Claudia followed Archie along the newly carpeted hall to the sitting room. Maria was curled up on a sofa next to a faux log fire; the instant she saw Claudia her mouth fell open.

“Not carol singers,” Dan joked cheerily.

Maria said, “Wha’ . . . I don’ . . . Ochie . . . ?”

“It’s all right, Ma,” he told her, “there’s . . .”

“He din do nothing wrong,” she declared.

“No, he didn’t,” Claudia agreed, “but there’s something we need to put right.” Turning to Archie, she looked him in the eyes as she said, “Dan gave me your letter and you’re right, I have found it difficult accepting you in our lives. To be honest it still feels strange, but I need to tell you about something that happened yesterday because I’m already certain it’s making a difference. Marcus was arrested, and I realized it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t told us about your uncle, or if you hadn’t been at the coach house when he turned up that day. He connected himself to you in a way none of us could have foreseen or planned.”

Archie’s hesitant eyes held to hers as he said, “I heard they’d taken him in. It should have happened sooner . . . I’m guessing you haven’t read the letter I wrote to Marcy.”

“Not yet,” she replied. “It’s why I’m here. I’d like you to come with us because whatever you’ve written to her I think you should tell her yourself, face-to-face. You’ve got the courage for that, Archie, I know you have.”

He didn’t protest again, nor did he say he’d come.

“I think she deserves that much, don’t you?” Claudia said gently.