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As he pulls my body closer to his, spooning himself around me, I realise the feeling I have inside me is one I’d long forgotten existed. The emotion that engulfs me—it’s hope.

Hope for the future. Hope for Maddie, her health, and that she’ll get to experience everything she wants in life. Hope for what is blossoming between Joseph and me, that we can make something beautiful out of the ashes of all the things in our past.

More than that, hope for me, that I’ll have a beautiful future, and that I’ve finally found peace.

Chapter twenty

Joseph

Eight Years Later

The sun beams down from the sky, bouncing up off the water fountain, making the back garden look like some sun-kissed tropical paradise. The trees around the edge of the garden all have fairy lights wound around them, which will be switched on as the evening draws in, and I know they’ll create the illusion the planners have talked about—a cosy, twinkling sea of stars.

There’s still the hustle of people doing the final set-up, ferrying across the garden the large vases filled with flowers for the table centre pieces, heading to the tented marquee that’s been erected. I wander over to the marquee, stepping inside again to take another look around. There’s a hard floor, with circular tables positioned around, covered with crisp white tablecloths. I watch the organisers put the vases into the centre of the tables that haven’t yet been completely decorated. There are crystal water glasses and shiny white plates against each placement setting. I look to the edge of the marquee, where a section has been set up as a dance floor, just next to the DJ kit. More fairy lights have been wound into the ceiling sections of the marquee, and I know everything will look like a wonderland later.

I step back outside, and the squeal of laughter from inside the house catches my attention. I walk towards the open doors that lead into the house.

“Sounds like you’re having fun,” I comment.

“Well, of course we are. We always do.” Maddie smiles at me before returning to playing with the remote-controlled car, making Elliot laugh as she spins it around the kitchen floor, bumping into the chairs and the units.

“Maddie, you’re so silly,” Elliot exclaims. He tries to take the remote control from her hands.

“Shall we see just how well Uncle Joseph does?” she asks, passing me the remote control, still grinning.

Elliot plonks himself on the sofa and waits. I smile at him before I spin the car around, letting it do some of the stunts I’ve practiced when he isn’t here. He squeals with delight when I manage to make the car flip.

“Can you teach me?” he asks.

“Of course,” I reply, taking a seat next to him on the sofa.

Elliot shuffles closer and pays attention to me as I explain what levers to pull and flick to get the car to do the trick. There’s a swell of pride through me as I see how I have his full attention, that he’s impressed by me. If anybody had told me eight years ago that I would feel this much pride at teaching Felix and Caleb’s son a trick with a remote-control car, I’d have told them they were on the verge of madness. I’d also have said the same thing if somebody had suggested I would be in the delivery room with Felix and Caleb when Delilah was in labour, though the expressions of surprise on all their faces when the midwife announced a boy instead of a girl were priceless.

“I see I’m surplus to requirements,” Maddie grumbles, but she sits in one of the chairs next to the breakfast bar, watching us play with the car.

I glance at my daughter, smiling at how well she looks. Twenty-one years of age, and although she still hasn’t decided what she wants to do in her life, the fact that she has the promise of a whole, long life in front of her is not something I ever take for granted. The day the consultants had concluded Maddie didn’t need the bone marrow transplant and they were confident in her recovery is still one of the best days in my life.

“Hey, Elliot, who’s the best babysitter? Me or Maddie-Moo?” I ask.

“Dad, I told you not to call me that,” Maddie scolds.

She was fourteen the first time she referred to me as Dad. Even now, I can recall the conversation and how my heart had swelled. She was visiting me in the States for the summer, and we had been making fresh orange juice when she asked me if I would mind if she started calling me Dad. We both know I don’t replace the man who raised her until he died, the same way that Delilah hasn’t replaced Verity, but I love that she made that choice.

“Both,” Elliot replies diplomatically. He reminds me so much of both Felix and Caleb. He loves as fiercely as Felix does, and like Caleb, he likes to make sure nobody has hurt feelings.

“Is everything ready in the garden?” Maddie asks as I do another spin of the car.

“Yeah, all good. We just need the guest of honour.”

She checks her watch. “Half hour until guests arrive,” she comments.

“Yep, so I’m going to check on a few more things before I get in the car. Elliot, you show Maddie some tricks, okay?”

He nods and takes the remote control from me. I get up and leave them in the kitchen, laughing at the car.

I walk towards the living room, glancing in at the dining room as I pass it to check how everything has been arranged to allow gifts to be placed later, satisfied that everything looks just as I planned.

I’m just near the living room when the front door swings open.