‘What do you mean you couldn’t? You should have woken me.’

He shrugged helplessly.

Her shoulders began to shake. Great tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘This is awful. Just awful.’

‘I know, darling.’ He went over and put his arm around her. ‘I’m really sorry. I know how much that tree meant to you.’

She stepped away from him. ‘You haven’t the slightest conception of what it meant. You simply don’t understand.’

She was shutting him out again. For hours he had been worrying about how she would feel when she saw the tree, all for nothing.

Kate turned to him. ‘I’m not having a go at you, Will. It’s not your fault, but you really don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. Do you?’

‘Well then, explain it to me. It was a nice tree. I’m really sad it has come down, but at least it didn’t land on the house.’

Kate rolled her eyes. ‘It might just as well have done. It was important, Will. We need all the protection we can get out here. We’ll suffer for this, you’ll see.’ She pulled her towel tighter around her and turned away.

Will was left staring out over the marshes. Sam Page was right. It would be worth the risk of having her hate him just to get her away from this godforsaken hole. If there was the slightest chance of getting his wife back, he’d take it. Whisper Fen and Holland House were driving her insane, and he could not, in all conscience, sit around and watch her decline any further.

He twisted his gold wedding ring around and around until his finger was sore. He must ring Sam and make arrangements. And face up to his responsibilities, while he still could.

* * *

Will made no attempt to stop Kate when she said she was going out on the fen. It would give him a chance to ring Sam Page and ask his advice on how to proceed. He had managed to get her to eat a mouthful or two of breakfast before she went out, but she didn’t appear to be leaving the garden. He saw her sitting by the well with one hand on the trunk of the fallen tree, as if she were sitting at the hospital bedside of a dying relative.

Finally, she went out through the gate and made her way slowly up on to the high path. Will waited until she was a tiny figure on the horizon before he got his phone out.