I couldn’t stop the tears. They just flowed out of me and James Mohktar stood looking at me, his beautiful face distressed. He placed his hands on my arms gently.

‘Of course it is not wrong. It is time, Nikki. You must bury your sister with your Christian burial service. She is safe now and your love goes with her. There is no more to be done. A man may be brought to punishment or his God may punish him. It is over now. You carry new life. You do not look backwards, you go forward. It is for you to share your life now with those who love you. Yes?’

‘Yes.’ I said. ‘How did you get to be so wise?’

He smiled. ‘If I am wise, Nikki, it is through sorrow I learnt. I loved my brothers and I watched the light go from my mother, never to return in the same way; never to light up her face to make her look young again. She lost the smile all people have, that is ageless and comes from the inside; the smile that is the soul and comes from the pleasure of being alive.’

We stood facing each other. I saw that certain people are sent to us. Maybe we have known and loved them in another life. It would have been difficult to feel what I am feeling at this moment with a westerner. We all carry so much baggage and have forgotten the simple, honest emotions and the fact that strangers can connect and touch one another with absolute understanding.

I feel such closeness with James Mohktar and the moment will be etched always on my memory; like a photograph I take out and examine all through my life.

I stood on white sand with an aquamarine sea rolling in behind me. The heat bore down on the houses and hotels in front of me and shimmered above the ground like a mirage. From the backdrop of jungle I could hear birds and the noisy cackle of monkeys. I could hear our hearts beating and the silence stretching into something neither of us wanted to break.

‘Thank you,’ I whispered.

‘There is nothing for which to thank me, Nikki.’

‘I thank you for being here and for being you. I will never forget you.’

James Mohktar’s face was sad. As sad as mine. ‘It is hard to say goodbye to someone you have only just found, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. It’s very hard.’

We did not touch. We looked for a long time to engrave the other’s face upon our memory and then we turned and walked again in silence. Before we reached the house, I spoke, because I needed him to know what was on my mind.

‘I would like to bury Saffie in my garden in New Zealand. I don’t want to be parted from her again. We live in a place called the Bay Of Islands. My garden slopes down towards the sea and we have this beautiful flower meadow. I want to bury her there and plant trees all round and then build a little summer house over the grave. I want to let the trees and flowers grow through the house and Saffie will become part of…’