Although her head is spinning with this new information, Molly takes a deep breath and looks up, summoning a smile. ‘I’m fine, really.’

Chris and Bella begin to chat and, as the conversation buzzes around them, Kit gives a wicked grin and pushes his hand forward. It is veined and wrinkly much like her own, and covered in liver spots, but the fingers are still long and elegant. Molly takes it in hers, feeling its warmth, and they both give a gentle squeeze. She looks up into eyes that speak of their sympathy and their sorrow, and her heart is warmed by his humanity. How she has missed him, all these years. There is no one else left in the world who knows what she went through, that summer. And here they are together again, in their own little bubble, trying to shield out the rest of the world for a few precious seconds.

‘We must stay in touch,’ she hears him whispering. ‘I can’t let you go, now that I’ve found you again.’

She’s wants the moment to go on forever; never to relinquish the warmth of his hands. But all too soon they are saying their goodbyes and wrapping each other in fond, regretful embraces, and promising to meet again before they both get too much older.

All the way home Molly has been hugging herself, as though to hold the memory of Kit tightly against her.

‘That was a bit of a shock, wasn’t it?’ Bella says, once they are back in the bungalow. ‘Do you really think Jimmy could have done such a thing? Locked himself inside the hut to stop it being demolished?’

Molly shakes her head. ‘I’m not sure he’d have known how to, to be honest. But the stove was by the door, so if it caught fire, it would have blocked the exit. And he had such a dodgy heart, the doctors always warned us that he might go at any time. Perhaps that is what happened?’ But he was only ten. And disabled. And stubborn, fearless and loyal.

Her brother’s face appears before her, as clearly as though Jimmy were really here. He is smiling, of course – that cheeky smile. He always seemed so innocent, so guileless, she thinks, but because his speech was so limited you couldn’t ever be certain what was going on behind the smile. She recalls Mrs D saying, ‘That boy understands more than he ever lets on.’ And she was right, of course, as she was in so many things.