“Just a little light,” they say as the wood crackles and spits.

“But, oh what a great fire a little light can bring.”

And the fireplace glows with warmth and bright, dancing fire. And I know I’m ready, although I am just a little light.

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-three

My dream makes me urgent this morning. I emerge on the landing, the first time I have left my room in weeks. I wonder if I am hearing things when a rumble of chatter whips up the stairs. I draw my dressing-gown more tightly round me and step down into a kitchen full of people. Full of blanks.

Oscar catches me when I lose my footing – my body so weak from my time in the cocoon. When he wraps his arms tightly around me and draws me in, my head against his chest, I let myself cry. And I sob for the first time since the day Longsight tried to flay me. I sob for the girl I was who worked so hard, who wanted to be brave and thought that doing the right thing would be enough. I sob for the fractures in all my relationships and for the people I have lost. I still have love for them clinging on to me with nowhere for it to go. I cry too because his strong arms and his warm body remind me of the dream and I weep because I love those sisters who drew me up from the depths and showed me the light.

When I move he lifts my chin and kisses my tear-jewelled eyelashes, making me cry harder still.

Finally, with everyone squeezed into the small space, I ask them their tale. And, although they must have told the story many times, they begin again: Solomon, Tanya, Kasia and Fenn, Penny and Blake and … a baby.

“Another wall? We could not stand it. We saw marked workers digging out the ancient stones – the original bricks of the wall Moriah called for – and we knew what was happening.”

“Why didn’t you come sooner? We would have gladly welcomed you.” It is Mum.

“It was dangerous.” Blake speaks up. I never knew him well in Featherstone, but he was always courageous enough to ask questions and to stand up for what his pregnant wife Penny needed. “We knew the baby could come any day – I refused to take the risk. I didn’t want Penny to have to give birth in the middle of the forest with no help, no support.” Penny takes up the story.