Devan squeezed her hand. ‘No, Connie. Jared took his own life. It was his choice.’

‘But I encouraged him. I let him think …’

Devan gave a weary sigh. ‘He was ill. You couldn’t have stopped him. If it wasn’t tonight, it would have been some other time.’

Silence fell.

‘Would you really have left him to die?’ she asked quietly, staring straight ahead.

Devan didn’t immediately reply. Then he said, ‘He made our lives hell, Connie.’

‘So, if I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have tried to save him?’

‘Of course I would have. I did,’ he said, without hesitation this time. ‘I couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t.’

Connie let out a long breath.

‘I did my very best. I hope you believe me. His breathing deteriorated so rapidly … There was nothing anyone could do. He must have taken a narcotic of some sort, maybe Tramadol … They’ll find out.’

She turned to him. ‘I do believe you.’ She felt tears pressing behind her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry, Devan, for everything I’ve put you through,’ she said.

‘I’m sorry too, Con,’ he replied, pulling her gently into his arms.

‘Poor Jared.’ Her tears turned into sobs as she thought of his body, lying motionless on the bedroom carpet. She remembered Dinah Worthington, and the love she clearly felt for her godson. ‘Dinah’s my only family,’ Jared had said. If I’d called her, told her what Jared was up to, would it have made any difference? The idea had crossed her mind after Jared’s Christmas Eve visit. But Dinah was over eighty, and Connie hadn’t wanted to upset an old lady over something she could doubtless do nothing about.

A while later, as she began to sink into a twitchy but exhausted doze, Connie was aware of Devan clearing his throat. His voice was quietly serious as he began to speak. ‘I haven’t said this before, Connie, because I’ve been so bloody angry with you recently,’ he said, ‘but it’s always been there for me. It’s like a solid layer underpinning the crap on both sides.’ He took a breath and she looked up at him in the half-light from the bedside lamp. His mouth was twisting, eyes blurring with tears. ‘You … our marriage … You and me … It’s the absolute … absolute bedrock of my life. The family is important, work is important, but at the centre of everything is the love I feel for you.’ He blinked, biting his lip, obviously trying to control his tears.

She couldn’t speak.

He gave a wan smile as he went on, ‘We’ve been so lucky. Most couples don’t survive what we’ve just been through. But we will survive, won’t we?’ He looked at her beseechingly, his blue eyes still bruised by the anguish of the recent past. ‘Because I really, truly love you, Connie.’