The crowd surged around her, helping to push her up the ramp as her legs seemed unwilling to walk on their own, but every movement from her and every touch from someone else caused her wet clothes to touch her skin, making her even colder.

She was vaguely aware that Henry was only in his socks too, having clearly ditched his skates at some point.

The Pilchard loomed over them and she tried to pull back but Henry and the rest of the crowd were having none of it. The warmth of the pub swallowed them and Penny just hoped with everything she had that Chris was not going to be amongst the regulars tonight. People jostled around her and there was lots of shouts of confusion and calls for everyone to get out the way as Henry dragged her towards the fire.

Where was Sam, surely they would have brought him in here too? Penny looked around as she was shoved into a seat right in front of the flames and locked eyes with Chris’s mum, Kathleen, as she pushed her way through the crowd to see what the fuss was about.

To her credit Kathleen only hesitated for half a second when she saw who it was that was causing all the attention before she moved into action.

‘Come on, Penny, let’s get you into some dry clothes.’ Kathleen grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door that led to their living quarters.

Through the cold and exhaustion, Penny noticed that nothing had changed since she had frequented these corridors and rooms almost every day when she had been going out with Chris. The dark wood panelling, the tiled floor, the photos on the walls, everything was exactly as it was.

Even Kathleen hadn’t changed; maybe she had a few more lines around the eyes and a few more flecks of grey in her hair, but she had remained relatively the same. She was even wearing one of her favourite shirts that Penny had seen her wearing many times when she had been dating Chris.

The scents of various cleaning solutions and the ever-present odour of alcohol was prevalent as it always had been, mixed with the smells of food from the kitchens.

She didn’t need these memories; she had spent eight years carefully keeping them locked up. She had been here the night she had miscarried and everything about that night came flooding back to her now. Panic, fear and the devastating loss slammed through her, coupled with the memories of how badly Chris had treated her afterwards.

Kathleen pulled her upstairs towards the bedrooms and she must have felt how awkward this reunion was too.

‘Would you like a shower or a bath to warm yourself up?’

Penny shook her head, wanting to be out of there as quickly as possible and Kathleen nodded with understanding.

Kathleen laid out some clean clothes and a towel on her bed and then hovered awkwardly for a moment.

‘Thank you for this,’ Penny muttered.

Kathleen smiled weakly before leaving her alone in the room.

With fumbling cold fingers she managed to get out of her wet clothes, dried herself off and dressed in the warm, dry clothes of her ex-boyfriend’s mum in record time. She needed to get out of here, her chest was tight, her throat was raw with suppressed emotion.

She looked around for a plastic bag to put her wet clothes in and saw one propped up against a chest of drawers. She picked it up and carefully removed the contents and laid them on the bed, but her heart missed a beat when she saw the abundance of tiny baby clothes and a bear that had the word ‘Grandson’ emblazoned across its chest. As Chris was an only child it was obvious this was for him, or rather, his son. She ran her fingers across the softness of the bear, feeling numb and it wasn’t anything to do with the cold any more. She had heard, through the grapevine, that Chris had got married but she’d had no idea that he’d had a son, the grapevine had spared her that. She closed her eyes and prayed that the little boy who received this bear would be loved and adored by his dad and not hated as her child would have been years before. She hoped with everything she had that Chris had turned into someone wonderful like Henry, who loved Daisy so much there was no room for anyone else in his heart.

She dumped her wet clothes in the bag and walked out. She walked down the stairs into the warmth of the pub again and a loud cheer went up when her ‘fan club’ saw her. They all surged round her, patting her on the back and trying to thrust drinks in her hand.

She was finding it difficult to breathe, the tightness in her chest becoming unbearable. Henry was suddenly in front of her, his eyes blazing with a myriad of emotions.

‘I need to go home, I can’t stay here.’

He grabbed her hand and forced their way out of the pub, despite all the moans of protest behind them. They obviously wanted to celebrate her heroism until the early hours of the morning, but she got the feeling they probably would even without her there.

It was freezing outside and Penny knew it felt worse than it was because she still hadn’t thawed out yet. Her whole body was aching, her muscles screaming at her.

‘You guys stay and enjoy the ice skating, I’ll get a taxi,’ Penny said quietly, as Henry pulled her a little way along the street.

‘Daisy has gone to collect our shoes. The car is here, I brought it as close as I could.’ He bundled her into the passenger seat, but before he could climb into the driver’s seat, Daisy was already clambering into the back.

‘I’m sorry I ruined your night.’

Henry stared at her incredulously. ‘By saving a child’s life, yes how incredibly selfish of you. I saw you dive into the sea. I honestly don’t know whether to applaud your bravery or berate your stupidity – you could have been killed.’

‘Let’s go with applauding her bravery then, eh, Dad?’ Daisy said, from the back seat as she squeezed Penny’s shoulder. ‘You’re a hero.’

Penny didn’t feel very heroic, in fact she felt pretty devoid of all emotion at the moment.

Henry seemed to guess that she didn’t want to talk and they drove back up the winding lanes in silence. The further away they got from The Pilchard the more the pressure on her chest lessened slightly. She tried to order her emotions; she had done all her grieving for the baby she had lost eight years before, it didn’t make sense to be upset again now, but walking back into The Pilchard had brought back so many memories of that horrible night. She had been dealt one bad blow after another by Chris in the immediate aftermath of the baby’s death and for some reason she associated the pub with all of that. Not only had he left her two days after the miscarriage, but he had also spread cruel lies around town about her. Then to find he had been sleeping with Jade behind her back the entire time she had been pregnant had been the ultimate betrayal.

To find out that Chris was now a parent again was a shock, especially after he had been so against her keeping their child. He had been young, they both were. But somehow, knowing he had grown up and moved on, that hopefully he was in a better place now, a much better person, made so much of that bitterness and hate she felt for him fade away. Maybe losing his baby all those years before would make him treat his little boy like a king and truly appreciate how precious he was. She would hope for that.

They pulled up outside their house and she said her goodbyes to Henry and Daisy and let herself into her house. She ran upstairs and quickly changed out of the clothes that, although clean, still smelt of the pub.

When she came back downstairs in her pyjamas, Henry was waiting for her. He’d lit a fire and the golden glow infused the room with warmth and light.

‘Are you OK?’

She stepped closer to him, hesitant because she wanted nothing more than to step into his arms and have him hold her tight but she didn’t know how to ask for that. But somehow, instinctively he knew what she wanted and gave her just that. In one large stride he was in front of her enveloping her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his chest, hugging him back.