‘We’d drive you mad if we lived with you full-time, Dad.’ More like we’d drive each other mad, but I think he knows that.

‘Hmph,’ he replies.

Our cottage at the bottom of Gold Hill sold the very same day it went on the market. After all my years of resistance to selling up, it turned out I couldn’t wait to be shot of the place. A young couple bought it fully furnished. They’re expecting their first baby next month and were thrilled to have found the house of their dreams for a bargain price. I didn’t stay for the viewing and I never met the couple – I couldn’t face seeing their hopeful optimism. It would have reminded me too much of how excited Toby and I were back when we first bought the place. I try to turn my mind away from all that.

‘Are you really moving away, Madeline?’ I stack some dinner plates in a high cupboard. They were a wedding gift from Celia’s sister, and I resist the urge to put them back in the box and take them to the charity shop. I can’t afford to give away all the items I own, just because of the memories they evoke.

‘I can’t stay in Shaftesbury anymore,’ Madeline replies. ‘I tried, but it’s too difficult. I need a fresh start. So do the kids.’

‘I think you’re really brave, starting over. But we’re going to miss you so much.’ I turn to her, but she’s focused on unwrapping the next item.

‘It’s only Salisbury – not too far at all. We’ll still see each other.’

My heart lurches once more at the thought of her leaving. She and Dad have been my rocks over the past nine months.

My children don’t know all the details about what happened. But I couldn’t shield them from everything – especially not Alice. Ten-year-old girls are pretty sharp when it comes to working out the truth. She knows her dad is in prison for killing her aunt. And she knows that her uncle Nick and her grandparents are also in prison for helping him cover it up (I’ve managed to keep from them that their grandparents were also sentenced for my attempted murder as well, but I’m sure they’ll find out in the end). I’ve also tried not to bad-mouth their father within their earshot. But I can’t change the facts of what he did. I just have to hope that it doesn’t scar them too much. It’s too late for me – I have scars on top of scars.