Kate looped the car around the top of the driveway, then crept slowly towards the road. It was a gloomy morning, and traffic was sluggish. Kate inched through it, like wading slowly through deep water.

They arrived at Pam and Fisher’s three-storey Brighton townhouse a little after nine am, and Kate turned to look at her daughter.

‘Two sleeps,’ Kate said in a reassuring tone, as much to herself as to Mia. ‘Three at the most.’

Mia nodded stoically, unfastened her seatbelt and sighed. It was a heavy sigh. Too heavy for someone her age, and too loaded with pain and worry.

‘Are you going to be alright?’ Kate asked.

‘I’ll be fine, Mum. Are you?’

‘Am I what?’

‘Are you going to be alright?’

‘… You don’t need to worry about me, monkey. I’m okay. And in a couple of days, I’ll come home.’

‘Promise?’

‘Promise.’

Fisher and Pam came out to meet them. Fisher, who had insisted on coming to Belport too, had an overnight bag over one shoulder. The thought of spending so much time with her father-in-law filled Kate with a very particular brand of anxiety, but if given the choice between that and going alone, she would have picked Fisher.

Mia climbed down from the passenger seat and Fisher lifted her into a hug and said, ‘Do me a favour and look after your gran while I’m gone, okay?’

‘Okay, Grandpa,’ she said, mournfully.

Pam crossed the yard behind him in slippers, leaving deep footprints in the wet grass. She took Kate’s hands in hers and kissed her softly on the cheek. ‘I know you have to head off soon, but there’s something I need to tell you before you go. It’s important.’

‘What is it?’

Pam pulled back but held tightly onto Kate’s hands. ‘John is fine,’ she whispered.

‘I know. I think he just needed some time out. We’ll bring him home, Pam.’

‘John is fine,’ she said again, and Kate wondered if she’d heard a word Kate had said. ‘I had a dream.’

‘A dream?’

‘You know those dreams I have now and then – I can always tell when they mean something real.’ Pam gazed skyward. ‘I was standing at the gates of heaven. I wasn’t shown through them, of course, but I was allowed to look inside. I could see all the way to John’s throne, and you know what?’ She laughed; a short, maniacal snort. ‘It was empty. John’s throne was empty, because he doesn’t need to sit in it yet. He’s still alive, Kate. He’s still alive, I’m sure of it. Just you wait and see I’m right. Just you wait.’

Kate and Fisher exchanged a concerned glance over the bonnet of the car. As if reading her mind, Fisher said, ‘Pam’s sister is on her way down from Beechworth to help out with Mia.’