And now she couldn’t even keep track of a set of earphones, Heidi reflected morosely, reaching the plane’s open door at last and explaining her quest to a cleaner already poised to start work. When, two minutes later, she found the little plastic box exactly where she had left it, tucked between the magazine and the safety instructions card in the back of the seat in front, she felt a little better. She strode back towards passport control, remembering again her father’s wise words from their many Lucas discussions, it having proved impossible to keep shtum about the Moira crisis as Lucas had specifically requested.

‘Do you trust him?’ her father had asked simply; and when Heidi, holding his kind, steady gaze, had said that yes, she did, he had reached for her mother’s hand, saying, ‘Then that is all that matters. Trust. It is everything.’

‘But we are here for you,’ her mother had put in hastily, being always the one to worry more. ‘If ever things go wrong, dearest, remember you can turn to us.’

Heidi spotted Lucas the moment she emerged into the arrivals concourse, standing a little back from the line of waiting friends and relatives, staring into the middle distance. He looked deeply tired, she observed at once, thinking it again even when she was in his arms, and his beautiful green eyes were lit up with the pleasure of having her there.

‘I have missed you.’ He kissed her as if he might take bites out of her, speaking in breathless staccato bursts. ‘So very, very much. Are you okay? Really irritating about the earphones, thank God they hadn’t been taken. Awful about Wolfgang. But at least you were there, right? Your grandparents must be heartbroken. And your parents, are they all right? And Stefan? Did you eat on the plane? I’ve got in a few bits and left them ready at yours, but didn’t go mad.’

‘How kind to meet me, but such a boring way to spend your Saturday night,’ she teased, reassured by the rush of her own delight at seeing him again, but slightly puzzled by his quickfire talking – almost as if he, too, was nervous, which was a little disconcerting. Lucas excelled at being sure of himself; and, though it could be annoying, it was a trait she found very attractive.