‘You’re a right noble sod, aren’t you?’ Bill had found a bottle of champagne from somewhere. ‘Let’s toast a near miss.’

‘It might have been a whole lot worse,’ Lena said tightly. ‘Have a beer, Fintan. Have two!’

‘I’m just glad your man’s OK.’ He ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. ‘I don’t need beer, honest.’

‘Ah, come on now.’ A pale-looking Marcus was subdued. ‘Please!’

‘Thanks, but I’ve got that long ride ahead of me at dawn, so I’ll get off. Just dropped by to say hello to the boss.’

‘Tell you what, mate’ – Bill winked at him – ‘I choose my people well, don’t I!’

‘All done.’ Ish finished applying the dressing and stepped back.

‘I owe you,’ Marcus said to the stranger called Fintan.

‘Ah, you’re grand. Take care now.’ He melted into the night.

‘Could you look at this, Doctor?’ Willow stuck her long leg out at Ish, displaying a nasty graze on her left knee.

‘It’s fine, angel,’ Nella said, ‘I’ve got a first-aid kit in the tent.’ She led Beau and Willow away, but not before I heard her murmur quietly to Marcus, ‘Thank God Jan Vermaak didn’t come. She’d have had an absolute field day on her blog.’

Melissa

When Ceci finally fell asleep, and Zach began to snore gently, Ruby and I were both still wide awake.

‘God knows what I’m going to say to her mum,’ I whispered, rolling my eyes above my comatose stepdaughter. ‘Or Rex, for that matter.’ I felt my face drop. ‘He’ll think this is entirely typical of me.’

‘Ah, he won’t. You do a great job, Mel. You’re a brilliant stepmum.’

‘Hardly.’

‘Melissa,’ Ruby hesitated. ‘It’s – is there something you’re not saying?’

‘Many things probably, mate.’

‘I mean – I wondered if everything’s OK, at home?’

‘At home?’ My voice caught in my throat, just for a second. ‘Course, hon,’ I lied so easily I almost believed it myself. ‘You know, I still can’t believe that tiny woman thought it was a good idea to bring a load of hash brownies on a family camping trip. And worse, that her mate thought it was a good idea to let her son bring an actual gun.’

‘It was only an airgun though, and did she let him bring it? I’m not sure they knew he had it.’

‘Oh don’t be so reasonable, Ruby. They’re just lucky it didn’t end in complete disaster.’

‘Yeah, well, it looked pretty disastrous to me.’

‘I just don’t get posh people,’ I sighed.

We contemplated this observation in silence.

‘Me neither,’ Ruby eventually agreed. ‘It’s like a different set of rules.’

‘They say us chavs are bad.’

‘Oi!’ She shoved me gently. ‘Who are you calling a chav?’

‘Well, you know what I mean. The Jacksons are nice enough, but they do seem to think they’re above the law.’

‘That Rebekah was so hysterical, that guy Ish said he’d have sedated her, except she was too drunk.’ Ruby yawned loudly. ‘But how did the kids get hold of the brownies in the first place, if she’d kept them as secret as she reckoned? Poor Ces.’