“Go,” Finn whispered to Hamish. “Be free.” She leaned in to give him a kiss on the forehead, a chaste, fairy-godmother blessing – but he moved his head and the kiss landed on his lips. His eyes merged into one big eye in the middle of his forehead, frightened and confused. Neither of them moved for a moment, until he pulled away and Finn staggered forward, sloshing some red wine out of her glass and onto her shirt.

“Whoops,” she said, swallowing hard, all of a sudden overwhelmed by how disturbingly not sorry she was.

And Hamish, the little prick, he just backed away, looking at her like she was crazy, and while Finn went to the kitchen to try to get the wine stain out, Hamish went to the living room to report to Nicki everything she had said and done. And then in a flash of light and heat there was Nicki coming at her with the fireplace poker, which, based on the searing burn she managed to leave on Finn’s neck, she had clearly been in the middle of using. Finn still remembers the feeling of her skin sizzling beneath the iron before Hamish and Shawn managed to pull Nicki off her, screaming and spitting, her face purple with rage.

Finn sank to the floor, her hand on her neck. “She’s trying to kill me! You guys saw that, right? She’s actually trying to murder me!”

“Fuck you, you stupid bitch!” Nicki yelled, articulate as always, and then she kicked her leg out and jammed her big toe against the kitchen table, howled in pain and fell back against Hamish as though she had just been punched in the face, and promptly passed out in his arms.

“Nicki, love, say something!” said Hamish.

Pain shot up Finn’s neck as she moved to a chair to sit down. She could see everyone now crowded in the doorway, her mother and father, Katriina, all the kids. No one said anything. Shawn and Hamish lowered Nicki to the floor.

A long silence followed. “What did you do, Finn?” Kate asked finally.

“What did I do?” Finn stared at her mother in disbelief. “What did I do? She fucking branded me!”

Katriina’s hands went over Petey’s ears. Nicki let out a moan.

“But why, Finn?” Kate asked. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know!”

Hamish stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans. “She tried to kiss me,” he said. “Now stop standing there like a shower of eejits and help me get my wife to the hospital!”

Great, thought Finn, rubbing her neck. He fits right in.

Then Nicki miraculously came to, opening her eyes and rolling her head back and forth on the floor. “You just can’t fucking stand to see me happy, can you?” she said. Her head lolled to one side as she glowered at Finn – angry, yes, but also a little bit smug.