The turtle trapped in the fishing net had shaken her badly and brought the incident of her bracelet back with so much clarity she felt the tears run into her hair and then her pillow.

Was she doomed to this punishment for the rest of her life? She couldn’t dive without the memory of that day, when everything went wrong. It crushed her heart; a lifetime of regret returning each time she went into the sea. Yet she had to dive, to understand why David was so addicted to it. In a way, she also did it for him. She told him about every dive, talking quietly, sometimes aloud – sometimes only in her mind – she recounted every sensation, not that he could possibly understand. It was far too late for that, and of course that was the very thing that broke her heart.

She thought of her mother’s Christmas gift. If Mum hadn’t bought her the bracelet, she would not have been sitting at the bus stop that day. Mum would not have been killed. Shelly would not have gone to the jeweller’s that day and met David. If Shelly had not treasured the bracelet so much, she would not have kept it on all the time. It would not have slipped off in the sea. David would not have dived for it. So much had happened because of that one thing, the bracelet.

These thoughts went around in her head, making sleep impossible. She reached out and turned the bedside light on, dazzled for a moment. The unsettled feeling simmered away inside her, then she remembered her final video of Harry. Oh, Harry. She was falling in love, and knew it. She had to look upon his face. In a moment, she was out of bed and turning on her camera. There he was in the pudding video, smiling at her. Alone in her rented room, she smiled back at the camera, melting, wishing she wasn’t alone after all.

Moving her thoughts along to Gran Gertie, she must have been devastated when Sissy’s fob watch went spiralling down not two miles from where Shelly had just dived. But Gran Gertie was saved by the dolphin, a miracle in itself. If the dolphin hadn’t saved Gran Gertie, Shelly would not have been born. Shelly had gone on to save the lives of many animals, and as a stand-in paramedic, a few people too. As a nurse, she guessed her great-grandmother had also saved soldier’s lives.

Rather odd, the way everything worked out, she thought. Feeling calmer, she relaxed in her hotel bed and allowed her thoughts to drift.

*

‘Could you come here for a moment?’ Shelly whispered when Harry came to her room, the next morning. ‘I’ve had such a wonderful time, the best.’ She slipped her arms around his waist and kissed him. ‘Thank you, Harry. Now I’m going to take you for a wonderful breakfast.’