I’ve never felt so torn. Of course, Lumin’s safety was my priority as Cole laid her on the ground but the sound of Mairi’s cries for her son, the gasps of Glenn and Cole trying to battle through the flames to get to their beloved brother … for a moment I wanted to run in too.

But my daughter needed me.

As the sound of sirens pierced the air and Lumin was carried carefully into the ambulance, I watched the firemen bring the fire under control. I saw with surprise how untouched the downstairs was. I kept telling myself that Dylan had fallen to the ground, would just have a few broken bones. We had just become a family, I couldn’t bear the thought that he wouldn’t have survived.

I repeated this over and over to myself as we rode in the ambulance to the hospital, Lumin’s little hand in mine, the sight of the gas mask over her tiny face so harrowing. Dylan had to be fine. It allowed me to focus on our daughter. But deep down inside, I knew there was a big chance he hadn’t survived. I just wasn’t ready to admit it.

When Lumin was given the all-clear, I left her cubicle to find the others. I saw Cole first, head in his hands. He looked up when I came to him and I knew from the look in his eyes that Dylan was gone.

‘It’s my fault,’ he’d said. ‘He died because of me. Eleanor died because of me.’

I don’t remember what I said, what I did. I just knew that my whole world felt like it had collapsed.

I never saw the McCluskys again. Mairi tried to make contact with a heartfelt letter asking to see her granddaughter, all that remained of her son. I told her I needed time. She passed away the next year from cancer. Cole told me of Mairi’s death in one of the packages he sent for Lumin throughout the years, filled with presents and cards from the family. Did I regret not taking Lumin to Mairi sooner? Maybe if I’d known she was dying, I would have. But all I learnt that day, the callous way she was able to watch a girl die to save her land, made me reluctant for Lumin to be part of that.

Instead, I’d got on with my life. I had to deal with a child who was contending with the trauma of seeing her father die. A girl who had nightmares of that awful day … and of a story she’d overheard us arguing about, of a girl who had drowned in the lake. Nightmares of fire and ice. I had to bring her back to stability and normality; back to Northumberland and the life we had before. And then, five years later, I received an unexpected call from Hekla.