Merrin stood on the wooden balcony with her wool pashmina about her shoulders, taking a minute before she whacked on the radio and picked up the paintbrush for the evening. She closed her eyes, feeling the last of the day’s sun warm her spirit as surely as the cup of tea in her hands. How she loved this house; she was happy they had managed to retain the original footprint and the rugged features that showed its age. But more than how it looked was how it felt: the peace of it, particularly this little spot looking out over the cove. The renovation was nearly complete and then she could start thinking about furniture, plants and cushions – all the exciting finishing touches that, when funds allowed, would make this place perfect.

She had started the project a little over a year ago with Jarvis, Robin, Mac and others providing the labour in their spare time for the love of Ben. Merrin knew she would be forever grateful to this community, her community. Between her job on reception at the Port Charles Hotel and the odd cleaning shift Nancy offered, she too had picked up tools. Physical labour, she found, was the perfect distraction from her mourning, diverting her sadness through the hauling of lumber, the sawing of wood, the hammering of nails and the laying of the floor. It felt good to take out her frustrations and sense of loss on joists, lumps of metal and vigorously mixed buckets of plaster.

‘I tell you something, Jarv,’ she had stated one afternoon, as they smashed out wood to put in a window. ‘Doing this kind of thing makes me feel better, helps me forget. Do you know what I mean?’

He had laughed and wiped his eyes. ‘I know exactly what you mean.’

‘I’m glad we’re mates, Jarv. Always have been, haven’t we?’ The fondness she felt for her brother-in-law was in no small part down to the way he treated her sister and his beautiful baby girl, Katie-Ellen Kellow-Cardy.

‘We have, Merry. Always will be.’

‘Yeah, but he picked the best sister, didn’t you, Jarv?’ Ruby yelled comically from the leather chair in which she rocked her little one.

‘I did, my love.’ He winked at Merrin. ‘I certainly did.’

Ruby beamed, wrapped in the bubble of love that had surrounded her, Jarvis and Katie-Ellen since the baby had arrived with much fanfare in the middle of the night some eleven months ago.

Merrin had laughed, happy how they could talk freely, jest freely, without repercussions. Looking after each other. Holding each other close. Just as their dad had asked.