‘He hardly knows me either,’ Yvonne says. ‘I’ve not been in his life for years. But he asked me for help and now he’s asking you too. He’s still so young, don’t you think we owe it to him to try and find out what he needs from this trip, why he’s chosen to come back here?’

Kiama appears in the doorway and they all watch him, waiting to see what he’ll do. If it were Emma, she would have probably shouted and sworn, or fled, but Kiama simply stands there and says, ‘Yvonne showed me some photos of Mum, at a school or orphanage. She was surrounded by kids and she looked,’ he stops and shakes his head, ‘she looked really happy. Do you remember where she worked when she used to come back for the holidays?’

‘Emma? Work?’ Neil says with a laugh, his Yorkshire accent seeping through.

Cynthia puts a hand on her husband’s arm. ‘No, she never worked. But she did spend time helping out at an orphanage. Don’t you remember it, Neil? It was one of the countryside ones Evivo used to support through its outreach scheme, I can’t remember where exactly. It was right after she finished university.’

‘Oh,’ Yvonne says, ‘yeah, she looks about twenty-one in the photos, so that makes sense.’

‘So she was pregnant with me when she was there?’ Kiama says.

Yvonne had never thought of that. ‘Yes, I guess so, in the first few weeks of it.’

‘Yes, that summer,’ Neil says, as he stands up and opens the small glass door on the grandfather clock. ‘And what about you? I know you’re not studying, so what are you doing?’

Kiama attempts to stand tall. ‘My dad runs a business, so I spend a lot of time helping out there.’

Neil winds the clock then shuts the window. ‘And?’

He seems to physically shrink under his grandfather’s scrutiny.

‘Well, I wanted to do this first, come here, and then, when my head’s a bit clearer I can really think about what I want to do.’

‘And how long are you expecting to think for?’ He sits back at the table and holds his empty plate in Cynthia’s direction.

‘I,’ Kiama stalls, ‘I can’t answer that. I don’t know how I’ll feel when I get back.’

‘And I guess you don’t feel the urgency because you have your money now.’

Kiama looks at Yvonne quickly and then turns away.

He’d never mentioned any money to her. But she was aware that things didn’t quite add up. He readily admitted the trampoline park was doing bad business, yet he was able to go on countless holidays and pay for his own flight here. If Kiama had a trust fund Emma would have told her. Perhaps there was a life insurance payout when he turned eighteen? Or a compensation payment of some kind?