They’ve moved the tables and the chairs to the front of Maregiglio and they’re sitting watching the sun set. Amy and Matt have opened a bottle of Prosecco and the children have glasses of lemonade. The sky is purple with layers of gold and pink folding into the sea; the sun is a blood-red ball. I slip in behind them and Amy silently pours me a glass of fizz.

Luca says quietly, ‘There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery’ and raises his glass to me. ‘Dante Alighieri,’ he adds, when it’s obvious the quotation has passed me by.

Amy lights four candles on the chocolate cake and they flicker in the twilight.

‘All right, Son? You ready?’ asks Matt.

Theo nods and unfolds a sheet of lined notepaper and reads:

I will lend you, for a little time,
A child of mine, he said.

For you to love while she lives,
And mourn for when she’s dead.

He and Lotte blow out the candles and we all clap, and Amy and Dad wipe their eyes. Chloe leans over and kisses Theo on the cheek.

‘I’m so sorry, darling, I’m so sorry, I can’t—’ Dad says.

Matt puts a hand on Dad’s shoulder and he blows his nose into his handkerchief. Amy cuts the cake and passes him a slice. Fireworks whistle and boom; the sound reverberates in my chest. I can’t see them, though, sheltered as we are by the slope of the hill, facing towards the ocean.

‘Remember when Ruby-May had chocolate cake for her birthday? She put the pointy bit in her mouth, and then she put both hands on the other end and stuffed the whole piece in her mouth at once,’ says Theo.

‘You know that time when she heard Uncle Nick singing?’ says Lotte. ‘She put her hands over her ears and she kept shouting, “Stop, stop, you’re going to break that song, Uncle Nick!”.’

Luca clears his throat. ‘Do you remember the time I say to her, “I love you”? And she reply, very satisfy with herself, “Yes, you love me!”’

Tears are running down Luca’s cheeks. Chloe has her hands clasped tightly in her lap and she stares down at them. I can’t see her face. I glance at Matt and Amy to see if this is going to break them. Amy tries hard to smile.

She says, ‘Do you remember that time when I couldn’t find my best bra? And then Ruby-May came back from the park with Daddy and she was wearing it!’

‘Fastened at the front, with the boobs on her back,’ says Theo, ‘Daddy hadn’t noticed she was wearing a lacy pink bra. On the swings!’

‘I tried to take it off her and she got very annoyed. She said it was her—’