‘What makes you say that?’
‘The noises. And the things being moved around.’
‘What things being moved around?’
‘My toys. I put them in one place but then they’ll be in another. And Lucinda keeps moving. This morning I found her in Selena’s room.’
‘It’ll be me cleaning your room, I expect.’
She furrows her brow. ‘No. You don’t move things so that they’re in different places.’
‘Well, then, it’ll be Amelia.’
‘It’s not Amelia. It’s a ghost.’
‘Evie, you probably left Lucinda in Selena’s room when you visited Ruby.’
She turns to me, her nose screwed up. ‘And what about that rope thing this morning?’
‘Well, someone put that there as a joke.’
‘Who?’
‘I … well, I don’t know …’
‘Because it was a ghost,’ she says, as though I’m very stupid and need it explaining to me.
‘Honey, I don’t want you to be frightened,’ I say, squeezing her little hand gently. ‘Ghosts aren’t real.’
‘I’m not frightened when I’m with you and Amelia.’
‘Or Daddy.’
‘Sometimes I’m frightened when I’m with Daddy,’ she says, and goosebumps break out along my arms.
‘Why would you be frightened when you’re with Daddy?’
‘Because he’s possessed. You can see that, can’t you, Mummy? He’s not the same Daddy any more.’
My heart breaks, and I have to swallow the lump in my throat before I can continue. I stop walking and turn her to face me, bending down so that we’re at eye level. ‘Evie, darling, Daddy’s been ill, that’s all. And he’s getting better but it will take a while. And he loves you very, very much. He’d never want you to feel afraid of him.’
She looks down at her frog wellies. ‘I do still love Daddy,’ she concedes, toeing a weed breaking through a crack in the pavement.
‘Well, that’s good. I’m glad.’ I stand up straight again. We continue walking in silence for a bit longer. The pavement stretches in front of us as far as the eye can see.
Eventually, just before we reach our house, I ask her, ‘How do you know what possession means, anyway?’
She answers straight away. ‘Amelia. She told me Daddy was possessed. She warned me, Mummy. She warned me that I had to be careful.’
Amelia is in the back garden, kicking through crisp brown leaves with Will. As I’m putting the shopping away I keep turning to watch them.
‘She’s made a friend,’ Mum says. ‘And she’s not the only one. Nathan and Julia are in the front room with Susie and Peter Greyson. I heard Peter say he’s a medic too.’ Nathan has an innate way of drawing people to him. He has that magnetism, that larger-than-life personality, like Dad.
I drag my gaze away from Amelia and Will to Evie, Ruby and Selena. ‘Ruby really loves those rabbits,’ I say, closing the fridge.
‘She’s a sweet little girl,’ says Mum, with a wistful look in her eye. ‘And Selena is so good with her.’
I want to tell Mum what Evie said on the walk home from the shops. I’ve been mulling it over ever since we got back. Do I tackle Amelia? She’s always been such a daddy’s girl. She adores Adrian. That hasn’t changed. And, okay, she doesn’t sit on his lap any more, or throw her arms around his neck and plant kisses on his cheek, like she used to, but I put that down to her getting older, growing up. She’s less affectionate with me too.
