“Karen told me some men like to hurt their girlfriends when they’re pregnant; she said it would have got worse. You rescued me.” Lina touches Melissa’s hand gently. “Hassan is in Syria now,” she goes on softly. “He still texts me, he says he loves me.”

“Do you believe him, Lina?”

She shakes her head. “He hurt me,” she replies very simply. “That’s not love.”

Melissa nods, pushing herself upright, and then she helps Lina to stand. The photograph is still in Lina’s hand; Melissa watches the tenderness in her face as she studies the grainy image. You are wiser than I was, she thinks, you’ve got to the truth much more quickly. What Hassan says isn’t love, not even close. Love is what you are feeling for the baby you are carrying. It will survive everything. You will find this out for yourself, you are right at the beginning of love.

They link arms and walk through the wooden door of the cloisters into the bright sunshine of the Close.

20. December

Eve

Eve is outside in the herb garden gathering sage, partly to escape. The house is noisy, Sundays are always noisy. Jean-Claude’s wish is coming true, according to Melly. He wanted the house filled up. There are four women and five children; three when Grace goes to London to meet her lawyer. It might be difficult to prove historical assault, but luckily she kept the DNA, and once Grace has made up her mind, things tend to get done.

Eve can hear Charley calling and Blake calling back; Poppy shouting at them to shut up, she wants to do her homework. Sorrel will be telling Noah not to worry, that this kind of noise is normal in families. Charley and Sorrel go to school in Broad Chalke; Poppy and Blake catch the bus into Salisbury. It’s quieter on a weekday, Eve tells the sleeping baby in her arms.

The dark green sage has the scent of Greece. She holds a crushed leaf under the baby’s small nose. “Your mother is sleeping,” she says, “she’s tired out. Well, you did keep her awake all night with your antics.”

A car enters the gates and begins to drive slowly toward the house. Eve is surprised. They weren’t expecting anyone. The car stops and two men get out and walk toward the house. They haven’t noticed her. The taller man has the swinging gait of someone who spends much of his life outside, a wind-tanned face, a face she has known for most of her life. He looks around at the grounds, interested, as you’d expect him to be. The other is shorter, with gray hair straggling over his collar. His face is tanned. She knows him too, of course. She bends to pick another handful of sage. She’ll have to make more stuffing now.

The baby sneezes.

She hears Grace calling the children down and then she goes inside.

Epilogue

Grace sits back, puts her pencil down, stretches and shakes out her hand. She walks to the window and opens it as wide as she can, which isn’t that far. The new locks allow eighteen inches; Eve measured.