‘How long have you lived here, Annabel?’ James said, a twinkle in his eye as he looked at Grace. ‘You really are in the right profession, aren’t you. Is there anything you don’t know after you’ve been somewhere for five minutes?’

Grace laughed, while Annabel feigned indignance. ‘Well, it’s a ticketed event, so I don’t know if we’ll get you in.’

‘Ignore her,’ Grace chuckled. ‘We’ll get you a ticket. I’ll call Meredith in the morning.’

‘But I haven’t got a suit, let alone a tux …’ James said. ‘Presuming I can come, of course,’ he added sarcastically to Annabel.

‘There’s probably a shop in the next town.’ Annabel looked thoughtful. ‘We’ll check it out tomorrow when we go and get the supplies for Christmas dinner.’

‘What would I do without you, Bel?’ James replied, raising an eyebrow at Grace, before he settled back onto the sofa and closed his eyes.

Grace smiled as she watched him, thinking that it had made her Christmas simply to have him here.

As Grace made her way downstairs with Millie the next morning, she expected to find James still asleep. However, he was up and fully dressed, seated at the small dining table with a coffee, looking over some papers.

‘Hi,’ he said on seeing her. And then, ‘Hello Millie. Wow, you’ve grown so much!’

Millie whipped around and hid her face in her mother’s neck.

‘She’s always a bit shy,’ Grace explained apologetically.

‘Understood. Not to worry,’ James replied. ‘Actually, I’ve got a present for her.’ He went across and pulled a large brown teddy out of his bag, jiggling it around, trying to coax Millie to play, but she gripped on to Grace even more tightly. Grace took the teddy and attempted to give it to Millie, but the little girl snatched it and threw it on the floor.

Grace was embarrassed. ‘She takes time to respond to new people and new toys,’ she reassured James, noticing that he was crestfallen despite his efforts to hide it. ‘Ask Annabel, she’s had the same treatment.’ Yet she couldn’t help but remember Millie holding her arms out to Ben, and kneeling by his side.

James sat down again, and Grace strapped her daughter into her high chair, then went to put Millie’s morning milk into the microwave. Once it was ready she shook the drink before giving it to the child, who used it as a security barrier from which she could inspect James further.

‘My god she’s like you,’ James said.

‘Really?’ Grace smiled. ‘In what way?’

‘Well, big eyes and long legs for a start,’ he replied immediately.

Grace laughed. ‘Most people tend to see Adam in her, since she’s got his colouring and his curly hair.’

‘Yes, well, perhaps it’s more indefinable than hair colour, but I definitely recognise something in those baby blues peeping at me.’ He stuck his tongue out playfully at Millie, but she looked worriedly at Grace.

Grace moved over and stroked her hair. ‘Well, you’re probably the only person who sees it.’

‘Perhaps it’s because I know you a lot better than most,’ James replied.

Millie broke the charged silence that followed by dropping her cup on the floor, and they both laughed. ‘I’ll get it,’ James said. And when he bobbed his head up above the table again, things were back to normal.

‘Shall I make you scrambled eggs for breakfast?’ Grace asked as she flicked the kettle on.

‘That would be great, I’ll help you in a sec.’ He glanced once more at the papers in front of him. ‘I hope you don’t mind – these were lying here, so I was taking a look at your plans.’

‘Of course I don’t mind.’ Grace sat down opposite him. ‘So, what do you think?’

‘It’s a really good idea. But it could be a lot of work. Are you all right out here, really? Because this might take quite a while.’

‘I’ll be okay. Besides, I’ve got Ben helping me out, so hopefully that will speed things up.’

‘Ah, yes. Ben.’ James put the papers down. ‘Tell me about Annabel’s hottie – has she seduced him yet?’

Grace ignored the unease she felt at the question. ‘I doubt it. He’s very reserved. He’s been a godsend to me, though, as I was worried it would take weeks for me to find someone to work on the cottage. Although Annabel has been monopolising him a bit of late, for her “story”.’ Grace made speech marks in the air and James chuckled. ‘They’ve been roving all over the moors with him telling her spooky tales. But that’s all, I think.’

‘How romantic,’ James commented dryly. ‘Trust Annabel.’

‘Trust Annabel what?’ said the woman herself, appearing at the door.

‘I was admiring your dedication to getting a good story,’ James laughed, then spluttered on his coffee as Annabel clipped his head with her hand as she went past. ‘Ow.’

‘You deserved it.’

‘So, what’s the plan for today then?’ James asked. ‘There appear to be all sorts of exciting possibilities around here.’ He got up and gestured out at the white sky and the bare expanse of the moors, now pockmarked with last night’s melting snow.

‘You’re as bad as Annabel!’ Grace went across to the worktop and poured her sister a drink. ‘Tell you what, let’s go for a walk while the weather holds, see if we can get you two city slickers to actually enjoy a bit of fresh air.’

‘Whatever,’ Annabel murmured, leafing through a magazine as she accepted the mug Grace handed to her.

James winked at Grace. ‘Good plan.’ She smiled back at him, but faltered for a moment at the expression in his eyes before he looked away.

As Grace strapped Millie into her pushchair, she listened to Annabel and James on the doorstep, both complaining about being outside in the bitter cold.

‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ Annabel asked doubtfully, rubbing her arms with her gloved hands.

‘It’s only a walk, Annabel, it won’t kill you,’ Grace retorted, surprising herself. In London, she had regularly grumbled about the distances between bus, tube and destination, but now she found herself looking forward to these long countryside rambles. ‘Come on.’ She pushed Millie’s pushchair towards the gate, the others falling in step behind her.

To reach the moorland path, they headed up the steep road past the other cottages. ‘Who lives in these places?’ James asked, breaking the hush of the frosty morning.

Grace looked across at the row of cottages as she replied. ‘Emma and Carl are next door to me. They’re lovely. Apparently an old man called Feathery Jack lives in that one –’ she pointed to the cottage with smoke rising from the chimney, ‘but he’s reclusive by all accounts. I’ve never seen him. And Ben lives in the house at the top.’ She motioned towards the redbrick dwelling standing incongruously beside its stone neighbours.

‘Feathery Jack?’ Annabel repeated. ‘What’s that about?’

‘He keeps birds, apparently – owls.’

‘That’s actually pretty cool,’ James said.

Annabel raised an eyebrow at him.

They continued walking in silence, following the tarmacked road to the summit, leaving the houses behind. At the top, they turned down a path marked only by flattened grass and occasional groups of uneven stones. They made their way along until they reached another peak, and as they crested the hill the moors spread out before them.

‘There’s not a lot of green about, is there,’ James said.

‘That’s because it’s winter,’ Grace snapped, lifting Millie out of her pushchair and hoisting her onto her shoulders so she could take in the view. ‘Here,’ she instructed the others, ‘before you both start gabbling away, shut up for a moment and look at this place, will you, and breathe it in. It might be deserted, but it’s absolutely pristine.’