‘Only two of you,’ he apologised. ‘And then only a couple of minutes. She’s very tired.’

Of course she was tired. But only people who are alive feel weary.

‘Go on,’ I said to Lois and Jasper. ‘Give her a kiss from me.’

I drove back to my house through the thin drizzle. Coming home had never seemed so pleasant, or the security that my home offered felt so welcome. I went slowly up the stairs and lay down on my bed, intending to get up in a minute and undress properly. The room was blessedly cool after the stifling weeks that had just passed. I pulled the covers round my shoulders and let my eyes close. My last thought before I fell asleep was of Cassie. Sleeping too, in her safe bedroom, with the curtains closed on the night.

When I woke up again I was aware first that it was broad daylight, then that there was someone snugly fitting like a spoon against my back. I thought in sleepy confusion that it must be Paul, but when I stirred he stirred too and I knew it was Jack.

‘Mum.’

I turned over and looked into my son’s wide eyes. ‘You’re home.’

And as if through his ears I could hear the shuffling and the throaty calls of pigeons on the roof.

‘We heard the early news on the radio. Audrey always listens to it. I came straight away because I thought you’d want me to be here.’

‘I do.’

‘Do you know how Mel is?’

‘I went to the hospital. Jasper called me. She’s going to be all right.’ I stroked his hair. His clothes smelled of Audrey’s house.

‘It would be against the laws of nature for someone like Mel to die, wouldn’t it?’

This was what I had tried to tell Jasper last night. ‘I’m not sure that there are any laws, Jack. It’s frightening.’ I was speaking to him like an adult. We had passed a milestone.

‘There are in nature,’ he said calmly.

We lay still for a few minutes, lapped in quiet. The traffic in the street, even the pigeon noises seemed a long way off. It was only hours since I had watched Cassie playing with her boats in the sink. An afternoon, an evening, a night and half a lifetime seemed to have intervened.

‘It’s quite cool outside. It smells of autumn,’ Jack remarked. After another pause he went on, ‘It’s cool to be home as well. I’ve had enough of Audrey’s. I want to go up the park before school starts. I might see Wes and the others.’

‘Okay,’ I ventured. ‘Good. Do you want some breakfast now?’

‘Haven’t you got to go to work?’

‘I think Penny’ll understand if I don’t make it this morning.’

‘Yeah. All right, then. I’d like a bacon sandwich. White bread and red sauce.’