He makes a grunting sound as his weight shifts, and for a second I dare to believe that he’s really listening to what I’m saying.

‘You’re their father. The man who is supposed to protect them at all costs. But how can you if you’re not here?’

‘He’s never protected them,’ hisses Vanessa.

‘Don’t,’ bellows Michael, lifting himself off me. I slowly roll over to see his silhouette rising up into the sky, moving towards Vanessa. She backs herself up against the stables, cowering in his shadow.

‘Shall I tell her what you did to Ben?’ she says. ‘That you left the door open for him to wander off. That you were too drunk to know if he was in his bed or not.’

‘You were there as well,’ chokes Michael. ‘It wasn’t just my fault.’

‘You told me you’d locked the door,’ screeches Vanessa. ‘You led me to believe that you’d checked – like any self-respecting father would have done. It was your responsibility to ensure the safety of our children and I was foolish to believe that you’d put them first – instead of the bottle. How could I have been so stupid?’

‘I swear I locked the door,’ cries Michael, with tears running down his face.

‘So how come our little boy was able to let himself out and wander down to the sea in the dark?’

I push myself up onto my elbows, listening in abject horror at the events that had led to Ben’s untimely death. So that had been the catalyst that Jacob had alluded to – the magical day that had turned into a nightmare, after which nothing had ever been the same again. How could it?

‘If it weren’t for you, he would still be alive,’ yells Vanessa, as a guttural cry escapes from somewhere deep inside her. ‘My little boy would still be with me, holding my hand, giving me cuddles.’

‘He wouldn’t be a little boy any more,’ whispers Michael. ‘He’d be a young man.’

I look between them, not knowing whose version of the child they lost is true; is Michael looking to distance himself from the son he let down just last year? Or is Vanessa clinging on to the boy she lost a decade ago?

‘But he’ll never get to be that man now, will he?’ she wails. ‘Because the daddy who professed to love him so much—’

‘Stop!’ yells Michael, bearing down over Vanessa as she presses herself into the flintstone wall. ‘Just stop.’

I want to run, knowing that this could be my only chance, but how can I? Vanessa needs me, just like my mother needed me, and I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.

There’s a glint of something in the melee of limbs; a shimmer of silver as it slices through the air.

‘No!’ I scream, forcing myself up off the ground and going towards them.