‘Clearing the minibus?’ Lily queried. Then Max opened the door and she saw fresh snow shifting and swirling thickly in the wind, its chill reaching in to her through the open door. Only Max’s footprints were now visible and the rest of the garden was carpeted in unbroken white, a drift forming against a garden table like a whorl of ice cream. ‘Ohhhh! That’s beautiful.’ Lily breathed the sharp tang deep into her lungs.

Max led them around to the front door. As soon as they were indoors a man and woman in their fifties bore down on them. The woman had stylishly short brown hair, the man a grey moustache and glasses. ‘Welcome,’ boomed the man. ‘I am Los, and this is my wife Tanja.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for sponsoring the Middletones’ visit to Switzerland,’ said Lily formally. She hadn’t communicated directly with Los as all her dealings with British Country Foods had been via Max, Garrick and Kirstin.

Los beamed. ‘Please come into our home and join your friends and some of our colleagues from British Country Foods.’

Lily felt a frisson of nerves she hadn’t had time to think about in the rush of getting ready as Los ushered them down three steps into a large elegant lounge filled with people, laughing, chattering, sipping glasses of wine or soft drinks. She could feel her mouth stretched in a big smile as the words colleagues from British Country Foods reverberated around her head and took her breath. And then—

‘Hey, Lily, this is my brother, Garrick,’ said Tubb.

He was there.

A large, cushiony man, greeting her with a similar smile to his brother’s, though, in his early fifties, younger, and with a little more hair. She met his eyes and felt overwhelmed by the same astonishment she’d experienced the first time she’d met Tubb. She and this man shared a father. They were blood. Yet he didn’t know.

She had to clear her throat before she could speak and even then her voice squeaked. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you at long last.’

Garrick’s eyes twinkled. ‘Great to meet you other than via email, Lily! I know you’ve been working for my brother for a while but because we moved from the States to Switzerland in the spring we didn’t make it to the UK this summer.’ He turned and held out an arm to a woman with coifed silver hair. ‘This is my wife, Eleanor. And our kids Myla and Xander are over there somewhere.’ He waved a hand in the direction of a corner full of teenagers.

Amongst those she already knew Lily picked out a tall lad who’d probably be pleased when his skin improved and a girl whose hair was shaved at one side. Lily stared, trying to drink them in. Family. You’re my family.