Before I have time to work it out, James gets up, walking towards me. I fight the tiny part of me that wants to move away as he crouches down to get a better look, taking my face in his hands. I feel the warmth of a man I never thought I’d know.

‘When you sat in my office, I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know where to start. I kept thinking you had a right to know, but where does one begin with something like that? I didn’t even know if you knew you’d been adopted. I barely understood it all myself. I’m so sorry.’ Tears stream down his face. ‘I’m so sorry.’ He pulls me into an embrace, like the ones I craved from Dad even before he left us, before I even knew that’s what I needed, what I wanted. With James’s touch, I feel barriers fall, their ruins gathering at my feet, replaced by a new strength, a strength I haven’t felt before. I take hold of James’s arms, so we can see one another, and there we stay, unwilling to break apart just yet. I am found.

It’s Kat who eventually interrupts. ‘I know this is huge. And I know you all have a lot to process, to talk about, but I’m sorry, I must call someone,’ she says, her voice tight and small. She stands in the doorway to her kitchen, her face apologetic. ‘I’m sorry – I just – I have to.’

James turns to face her. ‘Of course, Kat. Of course you do.’ He looks over to Susan, who hasn’t moved since the final twists of her secrets unfolded. Since my response, since my anger. I watch him move towards her. I can see how he aches to reach out; I feel it too. But her barriers are back up. Despite all that she has said, Susan’s still hiding.

James crouches down before her. ‘I can take you, Susan. I can drive you back, and stay for as long as you need me to. We can talk, work out how we…’ I don’t know what he had in mind as his words trail off. She gives him a shallow nod, but she’s vacant. ‘Are you okay?’ he asks, a note of concern in his voice. ‘You look…’ He looks up to Kat, the concern now etched across his face.

Susan gives a shallow nod, speaking so quietly we can barely hear her. ‘I’m okay,’ she says, breathless. ‘I’m just…’

Her head lolls forward, then her body too. James reaches out to catch her. ‘Woah, Susan? Susan!’

Kat rushes over, taking hold of her face as I come around to see her too. She’s pale, almost blue, like a rag doll in his arms. Kat lifts her eyelids to check her pupils; her head falls back, then forward again. ‘Susan, can you hear me? Rhys, Have you got your phone? Call an ambulance, tell them who it is, tell them I am with her. Get them to send it straight away.’ I fumble with the phone, trying to dial. Kat is holding her head firm, talking to her calmly but urgently as I dial the numbers, waiting for the line to connect. I can’t lose her. Not now that I’ve found her. Now she’s found me. I can’t…