I reversed the car and drove back towards the motorway. When the turnoff to the Saeftinghe nature reserve appeared, it was as if my brain and my body were separate entities. One part of me continued driving, heading north towards Texel, and another, larger part of me turned the wheel and accelerated onto the off-ramp and entered Saeftinghe. I headed up a gentle slope and parked on a small verge, then got out and walked towards the guardrail that formed a snaking circle around the park. It was cold at that height with no trees to break the wind blowing across the saltgrass. I imagined my parents pulling up in their battered Skoda on the gravel where my hire car now sat. I saw my mother yawn and raise her arms over her head, stretching out her back. My father’s fluoro windcheater flapped around him like a kite. Shivering, he drew the zipper up to his chin. After locking the car, they set off, shading their eyes against the sun’s glare. I watched them disappear, two tall figures slowly swallowed up by the incoming tide.

At that moment, I heard someone singing. It was a woman’s voice, strong and lilting, coming from the direction of the swamp. I froze and gripped the guardrail. The wind blew. The grasses shivered. And I stood there listening, every nerve in my body thrilling. I could have sworn the voice was my mother’s, singing the lullaby Marieke had been pestering me about my entire adult life.

A sudden memory went off in my head like a flash of lightning. I was in my childhood bedroom, tucked inside my bed. The inky blackness haunting the corners of the room held myriad terrors. I resisted the urge to scramble out and flee for the safety of the lighted hallway. But then a familiar figure appeared in the doorway and another behind it. My parents. I held out my arms, but my mother shook her head. She stayed where she was and sang, her sweet voice harmonising with my father’s husky tones.

‘Little Nod,’ she said, when the song was over. ‘Lie down and sleep now. Let the water carry you away!’

I closed my eyes, comforted, knowing I was safe. That no matter what darkness lay outside, my parents’ love would protect me from it.