‘You’re my sister,’ Olive said again. ‘I always thought the saying about blood being thicker than water was a load of old codswallop, but it’s not. I – I care about you. I know you hate me and could never forgive what I did, but if it helps at all you were right about me making a bed of thorns for myself. If it wasn’t for Alice, I’d have walked down to the river and thrown myself in long before now.’

Ruby had always imagined it would be impossible, unthinkable, to forgive Olive. It would mean that her sister had effectively got away with what she had done, that she was off the hook, and that the pain and devastation her actions had caused were of no account, actions that hadn’t affected just her but her mam and da and others too. Mrs Walton had been left alone with her plans for the future spoiled, and Ellie would be alive now if she’d stayed in Sunderland. But she had to let go of all that. Forgiveness was only forgiveness if it was absolute.

She reached out and took Olive’s hand. It was cold and thin, and it occurred to her that this was the first time she could remember them holding hands. ‘I don’t hate you. Like you said, we’re sisters, and four years is too long to hold on to hate.’ She felt Olive’s fingers quiver in hers although her sister’s face was strained. ‘And I forgive you, Olive. The past is the past and I think we should leave it there from now on.’

When the tears spurted from Olive’s eyes and her sister practically collapsed against her so that she was holding her up, Ruby was totally taken aback. The sobs that were shaking the sparse frame were harsh and painful, and as Ruby held Olive close, her body shook them both with the force of her agonized weeping.

Ruby was unaware of her mother putting her head round the hall door and then disappearing again; she continued to murmur words of comfort without really being conscious of what she was saying. After thirty seconds or so when the crying hadn’t abated, she guided Olive to a kitchen chair and sat her down, sitting next to her, still with her arms round her. It was a good couple of minutes later when Olive pulled herself free and searched blindly for something on which to dry her eyes, and as Ruby pushed her handkerchief into her sister’s hand, Olive wiped her streaming face. Between gasps, she kept saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ but it was another full minute before she could cease crying.