‘Maybe it’s come full circle,’ she said. ‘Haven’t you always felt, Michael, that there was unfinished business around here?’ Without waiting for a reply, she continued. ‘I always have. It was there before Sarah died, but it never went away. It was still there after, too.’

Michael’s eyebrows almost met in the middle. ‘And now?’

Rosie hesitated. Raising her eyes to his hairline, she began to run her fingers over his thick and slightly receding waves. She had untied her own hair and it fell across her shoulders and down onto his chest. ‘I know this is going to sound weird,’ she said, ‘but it’s gone. Whatever it was, it isn’t here any more.’

Michael didn’t reply. He turned his head to the window and, reaching out, pulled Rosie down into his arms. He felt her heartbeat close to his, stroked her hair down her back, pressed his limbs against hers. ‘Rosie, I don’t think I’ve ever said this to you before, but thank you.’

No sooner had the words left his mouth than she raised her hand and pressed her fingers to his lips. ‘You don’t have to say that,’ she said.

His hand moved and began to rub up and down the tops of her arms. ‘I do though. You came here, took over a new baby, a grieving man and a sad daughter, and you saved all of our lives, Rosie. I don’t know what would have happened to us if it hadn’t been for you. I would have lost the business and that’s for sure. I know I’ve been the worst man you could have married, but I do love you, you know that, don’t you?’

Rosie didn’t speak, just gave the slightest nod and pressed her forehead deep into the pillow. Tears of happiness had filled her eyes and she allowed them to run and be absorbed by the crisp fresh linen beneath her face. It had taken so long, years of uncertainty, and now he had said it and she knew he’d meant it.

They lay in silence for what felt like an age until Rosie spoke. ‘Michael, Mary Kate won’t stay, you know that, don’t you?’ She held her breath as she waited for his reply, which seemed to take forever to arrive.

‘I do,’ was all he had to offer in response.

An owl hooted outside the window and the rush of the Taramore as it went on its way filled the room. Michael’s breathing became deeper and steadier. He was spent, as were they all. He kissed the side of her head through a curtain of hair. ‘I love you,’ he whispered again, and within seconds he was sleeping.

He had never before said the words she had waited years to hear and yet now they’d come twice in one night. She felt as though her own heart would burst with happiness as she smiled and wept all at the same time. This is a special night, she thought to herself as she pressed her skin closer to that of the man she had always loved. Wrapping her arms around him, she fell into her own deep, exhausted sleep.