She stared and stared at him. ‘I’ve … I’ve been away,’ she said. ‘I only got back late last night. I saw lights on in the cottage and wondered if the new tenant had moved in. I … oh, my goodness, I can’t believe it!’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I’m prattling on. It’s the shock.’

‘Take a breath,’ he said with a smile, while opening the gate and joining her on the shingle.

That was two months ago. Two extraordinary months during which it was as if they had turned back the clock. He hadn’t known such happiness in a long time. It made him realise that he had been doing no more than existing since Diana had died, merely taking each day as it came. Now he felt as though he had been given a second chance to live his life to the full.

The sound of his mother clearing her throat roused him from his thoughts. Turning from the wall of photographs he’d been looking at, he was surprised to see that Rose’s eyes were wide open and fixed on him.

‘How long have you been awake?’ he asked, leaning forward in his seat and reaching for her hand.

‘Long enough to wonder what you were thinking about.’ Her voice was surprisingly firm and quite at odds with her frailty.

‘I was thinking about Naomi,’ he said.

‘I thought so.’

He smiled. ‘What gave me away?’

‘The happiness on your face. Why don’t you bring her to meet me one day? If she’ll come.’

‘I’m sure she’d like to meet you.’

‘Well, ask her before it’s too late.’

He gently squeezed her ghost of a hand. ‘Don’t talk like that.’

She ignored his comment, just as she always did whenever he admonished her for talking about dying. ‘Do her daughters know about you yet?’ she asked.

‘No.’

‘So you’re still her secret lover.’

‘That makes me sound a lot more interesting than I am.’

‘What about Lucas, have you told him?’

‘The moment hasn’t felt right yet.’

She narrowed her eyes, making him feel like he was a child again and caught out for not being entirely truthful.

‘Are you waiting for Naomi to take the first step of making things official before you do?’ she said.

‘Stop being so wily.’

She tutted. ‘The pair of you need to get on with putting the past behind you so you don’t sacrifice your future. I want to die knowing you’re happy.’

‘It’s only been a couple of months, Mum. And please don’t talk about you dying, you know I don’t like it.’

‘We both know why I’m here, so there’s little point in being squeamish about it. Now be honest with me, are you worried Naomi will allow her guilt, for what you two did all those years ago, to wreck things? Because if you are, you need to convince her that past sins are just that, they’re mistakes one makes in the past and they should be left there. They should not be allowed to ruin a person’s future.’