Her father pushed open the door. She paused. If he had told her they were only going as far as the house garden, she would have used her peg-leg instead. She sighed; Papa would always be fastidious with his business but never took the time to see the details in his home. Still, he’d interrupted his night’s rest to take her out, and when he turned and beckoned her to follow, she felt the delight of being his little girl again.

Without daylight to see the boundary walls the garden seemed to stretch endlessly and the inky shapes of the fruit trees made it feel intimate. Luna stumbled a little in the pebbles scattered along the path but she righted herself before her father saw and followed him to where the low stone wall ran around the perimeter of the central pond. They stood in silence for so long her leg began to prickle. Then she felt him grasp her shoulders and manoeuvre her so that he was standing behind her.

‘Cast your eyes up, Luna. What do you see?’

She craned her neck back and her head swam as she looked into the vast, anchorless dark. It took a moment to find her balance then she saw one star and another and then another in an endless and intricately laced pattern of tiny silvery specks.

‘Sometimes our Heavenly Father rewards us with a perfect night,’ her father whispered, pointing into the dark sky. ‘This is all God’s work. Can you see the three stars of Orion’s belt, in that line there?’

Luna strained to see where he pointed. ‘Yes, I see them!’

‘Now, if you keep looking along that line do you see another bright star?’

Luna followed the line of his outstretched arm. She eased back into his warm shape for support. ‘A little red dot, there, I see it—Aldebaran.’

‘The red eye of the bull in the constellation Taurus. You know the stars almost as well as your grandfather.’

Luna tucked the compliment into her mind to savour later.

‘Aldebaran portends of riches and honour. I saw that star the night you were born.’ She felt herself move gently with each rise and fall of his chest. ‘So I knew you would be blessed. The Fusili name is made for grand things.’ He kissed the top of her cold head. Luna blinked and for a second lost sight of where she was looking.

‘What of the Moon, Papa?’ Luna pointed. She hoped to tease another retelling of the story of her birth from his memory.

‘When I see a Moon such as the one above us tonight, I think of your mother in God’s illuminated house.’

‘I wish she were here.’ Luna’s voice was a whisper. Even without a history to bind them, she’d fashioned the love of her mother into a cloak that warmed her.