The coffin was impossibly small and the loss was impossibly hard. Rosa wept and didn’t care who saw her tears. She had refused to wear a mourning veil, and as soon as her tears began to fall inside the church, Eustace touched her elbow and attempted to quieten her. She tried to believe he was concerned for her, but she knew he was only embarrassed by what people would say, so she put both hands on his chest and pushed him away so forcefully that he staggered into a nearby pew. It screeched loudly as it shifted along the stone floor, and everyone turned to look. This was, Rosa reflected, the first time she had willingly touched her husband since their wedding night. How strange to think that they’d been married in this very place almost a year ago. Surely a hundred years had passed since then. There were shocked murmurs and gasps from the other mourners as Eustace straightened his jacket, and Rosa loathed them all.

After the service she watched as the coffin was lowered into the frozen ground, trying to withstand the finality of the goodbye, and to accept that Esme would never have the chance to become an adult with a life of her own. She was a candle that had been snuffed out the moment she tried to burn.

There seemed to be an endless stream of people wanting to express their condolences, but Rosa found she could not face speaking to anyone, and slipped away to return to Esme’s small grave. Her heart felt as if it had been split open. For the first time in her life, she wished she had never been born.

‘Miss Warren.’

She turned. James stood before her in the snow. He was dressed all in black and there was such a look of utter sorrow in his eyes that she wanted to weep. Esme’s own father cared less about her death than this man who had only met Esme once, and just for a matter of minutes. This man who could have been her husband and made her happy, if only she had let him.

‘There are no words that will help,’ he said quietly. ‘I know that. But I wanted to tell you that I am so very sorry.’

Rosa couldn’t speak. Her whole body trembled and she wanted so desperately to be alone that it was difficult to breathe. Suddenly she wished she had worn a mourning veil after all, so that the agony of it all would not show so plainly on her face.

‘I have not come to disturb you,’ James said quickly. ‘I only wanted to bring you this.’