Just a normal Christmas Day, preparing lunch and opening presents. And then a fire broke out. Many years later, one of the children who might have been there that day turns up on an icy beach on the other end of the country with no memory.

Amber sighs and looks back down at the paperwork. ‘I think McClusky Lodges built houses like this around the world,’ she murmurs after a while. ‘Dylan, the person who did those sculptures, was the chief builder. A man called Cole McClusky was the financial director. Oscar owned it. Looks like Dylan and Cole are brothers and Oscar is their father.’

Lumin strolls over. ‘A family business then. Any mention of a Lumin?’

‘Nothing.’

Lumin sighs then looks around her, eyes alighting on a pretty china doll. She goes to it and picks it up, hugging it to herself and breathing in its smell. ‘Maybe this was mine,’ she says as she fingers a now filthy pink dress. Her eyes fill with tears and Amber goes to her and puts a comforting hand on her small shoulder. ‘Why the bloody hell can’t I remember though?’

Amber pulls her into a hug. ‘We’re going to find the people who lived here. We have their names, the address of a house they’re associated with, maybe even lived in. Look,’ Amber says, wiping the tears from Lumin’s face, ‘this place isn’t going to run off, is it? Let’s get to our hotel before we get stuck in the snow, and look on the internet. We can search for the McClusky family then start making some calls. I bet you’ll be back with your family within a few days.’

Lumin takes a deep breath. ‘I hope so.’

As Lumin walks over to the vast windows, Amber can’t help but feel a trickle of sadness. Will Lumin forget Amber when she’s reunited with her family? Will Amber be just a distant memory in her past, one day, like the memories she’s gathering here? They will return to the lives they had before. What did that mean for Amber? More loneliness, the battle to keep the shop open. Her heart sank.

‘There’s another house,’ Lumin says, interrupting her thoughts ‘Look.’

Amber walks over to stand by her and notices a grey farmhouse in the distance, lights twinkling in the windows. ‘Looks like the McCluskys had neighbours. Let’s go see them, they might have some answers.’

‘Like how this place caught fire,’ Lumin adds, peering up the charred roof above, her face filled with shadows.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gwyneth

Audhil Loch

22 December 1996

Wolves once walked the Highlands of Scotland but were driven away by hunting and persecution, which included setting fire to the forests in which they roamed.