He took a cautious bite. She’d toasted the bread just a little, so it had a faint crunch but remained pale. It was delicious. He was famished, he realised. While he chewed, she went back to the kitchen to get him a glass of water.

“What’s going to happen?” He didn’t realise he’d said anything till, belatedly, he heard the words leave his mouth.

“I can’t tell you that.” Mollie smoothed her skirt. “Maybe she’ll come back, or maybe she won’t be able to. Siew Li’s a good person. She didn’t look like she planned to leave with Lina. Didn’t even take anything with her. Something must have happened, suddenly. She must have had her reasons. I don’t think we ever knew her, really.”

“Obviously I did, I think I knew my own wife.”

“This isn’t school. You don’t need to have all the answers.”

He sank back against the cushions. She took his empty plate and glass into the kitchen, came back and stood staring at him from across the coffee table.

“I’m not here to say the obvious things. You’ve already heard them from Ma and Dad. Be strong for the children. You’ll find someone else. I mean, it’s all true, sort of, but I know it’s not helpful. And maybe you won’t find someone else.”

“Thanks, thanks.”

“Well, you might not want anyone else, I don’t know. If Barnaby got run over by a bus tomorrow—he might, he’s terrible at crossing roads—I’d be sad, but I’d keep going. For Stella.”

“Stella?”

“The baby. It’s a girl; I’ve decided. I’d probably marry another guy eventually, because they’re useful to have around, but in the meantime I’d just keep going.”

“So I should just keep going? Excellent advice.”

“You don’t have to listen to me if you don’t want to, and I can’t really help. You’re in pain. It might never stop hurting. But try to let her go. Forgive her, if you can. For your own sake. I know it’s not easy, but if you possibly can, I wish you would.”

He nodded, suddenly feeling very tired. Mollie was a good person. Would he ever have her moral certainty?

After that conversation, she never brought any of this up again, but was simply there, never stepping away. For so much of his life, she’d been his annoying little sister. Now he knew her quiet presence was loyalty.