My heart belonged to Daniel, and Daniel was with me in the villa. How could I leave the villa when it seemed to me that my darling boy was there? How could I abandon that sad, small place in the shade of the oleaster where lost DeLuca children gathered to wait for someone to come to find them? Matilde Romano had her memories of the place, but she wasn’t family. Our ghosts weren’t her ghosts, they weren’t calling to her.

I had the strongest sensation, a visceral feeling, that the villa could only exist if it belonged to the DeLucas. If we were to abandon it, what would happen to the spirits who inhabited its boundaries? What would happen to Daniel? If we weren’t in the villa, would he too be lost, forever?

I swam back to the beach, dug my phone out of my bag, wrapped the towel around my shoulders, perched on a rock sticking out of the sand and called Fitz. She filled me in on the news from Bristol and then I tried to tell her about the ideas that were somersaulting through my mind. I didn’t talk about Daniel or the stillborn children because I didn’t want her to worry that I was going crazy. I tried to sound like a reasonable human being. I wanted to hear her honest opinion.

‘Fitz, do you think it would be a terrible idea if we kept the villa after all?’ I asked.

‘I thought you’d decided to get rid of it?’

‘We had. We agreed. And I don’t really know what it is we could do with it if we did keep it, but there must be something.’

‘You could turn it into a wedding venue, like they do with those French chateaux.’

‘I was thinking more of a retreat.’

‘You’ve got Ragusa and other World Heritage sites on your doorstep. You could host history trips or culture tours.’

‘Or walking trips.’

‘Culinary trips!’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Wine!’

‘Yes!’

‘But how much needs doing to it? Is it falling down around you?’

‘It’s not that bad. I don’t think we’d ever be able to afford to make it immaculate, but that’s kind of its charm. You’d have to come over, Fitz. You’d have to come and see it.’

We talked on, and every time a new idea was generated, the possibilities for the villa seemed greater, its potential more valid, and at no point did Fitz tell me I was being unrealistic, in fact she encouraged me. After our conversation, I felt invigorated. Everything was clearer in my mind.