A pale winter sun was climbing into the sky as Luke drove out of Cork and towards their final destination. He was hyped-up on coffee, which he’d been drinking all night to keep him awake on the long and tedious drive, and he could feel his body trembling with the caffeine shakes. Night-driving was never pleasant but when you were in a strange place and nothing was familiar, it was even worse. He could have stopped, but he knew he wouldn’t rest if he did, because he had to know that everything was going to work out as he’d hoped.

The children were still asleep when he pulled into the driveway; no more than a potholed track leading to a square yard in front of the house, which was separated from the road by a narrow field. His eyes were dry and sore, lack of sleep making him feel floaty and disconnected from his surroundings, and when he finally pulled to a halt he just sat for a while, hardly believing that he’d done it. He was here. Safe. He stared through the windscreen without seeing, numb with exhaustion, and it was a few minutes before he realised there was a light on in a downstairs window, a gentle glow behind the kitchen blinds.

It took a moment for him to register what that meant. Then his eyes widened, a grin spreading across his face. They made it! As he stared at the door, it opened, and his mum stood in the doorway, apron on, looking as if she’d lived there all her life.

‘Luke!’ she screamed, and hobbled towards him.

She was laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks as he clambered out of the car and ran to meet her, wrapping her in a hug.

‘Mum, you’re here!’

His mum pushed away and beamed at him. ‘Yes, love, we’re all here. All present and correct, thanks to you. We couldn’t have done it without you, sweetheart. We really couldn’t.’

‘Nana!’ Tessa called as she climbed out of the car, eyes still bleary in the early morning light. ‘I didn’t know you’d be here.’ She clung to Fay’s waist, and Fay stroked her hair, smoothing it away from the girl’s face.

‘I couldn’t let you leave us,’ Fay said. ‘Not when I’ve just got to know you. We’re all here now, anyway. One big family.’

Tessa frowned and looked a little wary. ‘Even Uncle Ted?’

Fay gave a tight smile. ‘No, love. Uncle Ted’s still at the farm.’ Fay glanced at Luke. ‘Plenty of time to talk about that later. Come on, let’s get you inside. Sort out some breakfast for everyone.’

Luke watched his daughter slide her hand into his mother’s, then he turned and lifted a sleeping Callum out of the car. The boy mumbled, still drowsy. ‘Are we there, Dad?’

‘Yes, we are. And Nana and Pops are here. And Ceri and your cousins. This is going to be our home, for a while, all together.’

Callum’s eyelashes fluttered, then his eyes opened, his face crumpled into a frown. ‘Mel’s not here, is she?’

‘No, son. Mel’s not going to be part of our lives anymore.’

Callum sighed and his head relaxed against Luke’s chest. His black eye was starting to fade now, the edges a faint blur of green and yellow. It was a mercy, Luke thought, that black eye. Because if it hadn’t happened, he didn’t think he would have been able to shake himself out of his fear and denial. He’d wanted his relationship with Mel to work so much he’d become a different person, someone who hadn’t seen what was happening to his children. He’d wanted to have what he’d had with Anna, but he realised now that it would never have been the same. Mel wasn’t Anna. She was a chameleon, an actress, an expert manipulator. Worse. An abuser. Unable to control her anger, which flared up in an instant. It was her source of power, making everyone around her afraid, making them tiptoe around her emotions; a state of affairs that had suited her very well. And he’d been too ashamed of his situation to tell anyone what was really happening for far too long.

He shook thoughts of Mel from his mind. It would be a few days before he’d know if the plan was going to be a success and, in the meantime, he had to think very carefully about what happened next.

He’d hoped that his family was going to be able to follow him to Ireland, so they would be out of the way if Mel mentioned the drugs business, which she’d threatened to do if he left her, but it had all hinged on Ted being cooperative. Because if Ted hadn’t agreed to go up to the Lake District to help, then it wouldn’t have been possible for his parents and Ceri to get away. Of course, there was a Plan B, which involved hiding all the plants and turning the power off for the heat lamps so thermal imaging wouldn’t pick them up. But it was risky and there’d always been a chance that the drugs would be found and the family arrested. Then who knew what the outcome would have been.

After the initial family meeting, he’d rung his mum and talked it through without Ted being able to eavesdrop on their discussions. His parents and Ceri had been fully aware of the risks and implications but had still urged him to go ahead, promising him that whatever happened it would be worth it to get Mel out of their lives.

So now they were all safe.

Except for Ted.

After breakfast, Luke was alone in the kitchen with his mother.

‘I can’t believe you’re all here, Mum.’ He reached over and held her hand. ‘I’m so sorry I got you wrapped up in my mess.’

She gazed at him and sighed as she stirred sugar into her tea. ‘Well, Luke, we were wrapped up in our own mess, weren’t we? You got a taste of how things were with Ted. But for us, that’s been going on for many years. And when we thought about it, we realised that your situation gave us an opportunity to get away. So don’t think we’ve done all this for you, love. We’ve done this for ourselves as well, you know.’

‘I didn’t think you’d come, Mum. I didn’t think you’d want to leave the farm. Or drop Ted in it.’ Luke frowned. It was the one bit of the plan he felt uncomfortable about. ‘However much we don’t get on, he’s still family and it doesn’t seem right, leaving him to face the music on his own.’

His mum nodded, sadness dragging at the corners of her mouth. ‘I know. I feel bad about it too, but I couldn’t see another way and, to be honest, Luke, that lad needs to come to his senses. Over the years he’s become more and more controlling and –’ she looked down at her tea as it swirled in her mug – ‘I just haven’t the energy to stand up to him anymore. None of us have. Honestly, he’s worn us down, got us frightened to disagree with him. Even me.’ She scowled. ‘And he’s moving away from therapeutic cannabis now. He wants to sell the strong stuff, and add cocaine into the product line.’

His mum swallowed and he could see her eyes shining, her voice wavering.

‘We don’t want any of that. We just want to have a quiet life. My health’s getting worse and your dad’s feeling the strain. We want some quality time together now, time with our children and grandchildren. And Ceri needs a bit of freedom, a life for herself and the chance to make it up with Dylan. She still loves him, you know, but with Ted in the way they have no chance of getting back together.’

She squeezed Luke’s hand. ‘We’ve given Ted a good life. Looked after him since his parents died. We’ve done our best for him. And in the long run, I think this is what he needs.’ She stared through the window and shook her head, sadly. ‘He scares me. You know, he gets in such a temper if things don’t go his way, and he’s so strict with Ella and Finn, I worry what he’ll be like when they get older. How he’ll cope with the backchat that’s bound to come.’ She nodded to herself. ‘No, although this seems harsh and believe me, I feel terrible about it, we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place and whatever we do, there’ll be consequences we don’t like. He needs some professional help and given the waiting list for NHS counselling…’ She pursed her lips and looked at Luke. ‘I honestly believe prison is going to be the best place for him. They’ll sort him out.’

Her shoulders slumped, and she gave him a rueful smile. ‘Nothing fair or easy about life, is there? But your troubles, son, honestly… you know how they say that every cloud has a silver lining?’

Once again, Luke realised how much he hadn’t seen, how much he’d been wrapped up in himself. He hadn’t thought for one moment what life must be like for his family under Ted’s regime. For the months that he was living there, they’d all seemed happy to give him the leadership role. And in his heart, Luke had thought it was just his mum humouring Ted, while she was still organising everything in the background, trying to smooth over the disruption caused by Luke coming home. He hadn’t realised they were all virtual prisoners, caught in Ted’s protective net.

He frowned, trying to imagine what Ted’s reaction was going to be when he found out he was alone on the farm. ‘When will he know you’re not there? What if he rings and nobody answers before he’s done everything in the Lake District? What will he think?’

‘You don’t need to worry about that. He’s given your dad a mobile. He won’t know where we are if he rings on that, will he?’ She looked unsure for a moment.

Luke gave her a reassuring smile. ‘No, that’s perfect. So, have you heard from him?’

‘He rang last night to say you’d got away. He’s camping out somewhere, waiting for Mel to turn up. Then once she’s there, he’s got to give the phone in to the Grizedale Information Centre and then he’s going to wait a bit to hand in the bag of clothes to the police. That’s right, isn’t it?’

Luke nodded, his mind going over all the possibilities, all the things that could go wrong. Would he ever really be free of Mel? That was the niggling doubt gnawing at the back of his mind. Even over here, would he ever really be free?

‘Does he really think it’s your idea, Mum?’

Fay nodded, a sad look on her face. ‘Yes, he does. He wouldn’t have done it for you, would he?’

‘If he thought he was going to rid of me for ever, he would. That’s what he said to me in the café. He told me it was the price to pay.’

Fay frowned. ‘It was never going to be that, love, was it? How could I let you go that easily?’ She squeezed his hand again and Luke felt a lump in his throat, preventing him from answering. He squeezed back instead, hoping that she knew how much her actions meant to him. ‘I know this seems a cruel way to teach someone a lesson,’ she continued, ‘but Ted needs to learn one way or another that love isn’t a weapon you can use against people. He needs some help to understand what he’s been doing.’ She sighed. ‘Anyway, we’re talking as though it’s a given that he’ll be arrested. There’s a good chance that he won’t be, not with our local police contacts.’ She took a sip of her tea, put her mug down carefully, her hand shaking. ‘No, chances are he’ll be fine. And if that’s the case, we’ll have to decide how to bring him round to our way of thinking.’

They sat in silence, sipping their tea. He could hear the children screaming and laughing, playing some game out of sight. Through the kitchen window, he could see Ceri tying a washing line between the house and the outbuilding and his father sitting on a log in the yard, sharpening an axe, a pile of logs waiting to be chopped at his side. Already, they were settling in.

Still, Luke’s mind was restless. There were a lot of things that had to happen before he could believe they were really safe. And he was relying on Ted playing his part. Could they really trust him?

The rest of the day was spent sorting out the house, Fay keeping Luke busy with a long list of jobs, while the children played and explored their new surroundings until it was supper time.

Luke was about to follow Ceri upstairs to put the children to bed when his mother called to him from the lounge, where a fire now glowed in the hearth. She closed the door and turned to him, looking worried. ‘We’ve got a slight problem. Mel hasn’t turned up. But she sent a text to your phone to say she was going to be delayed and will be there tomorrow evening.’

Luke winced and frowned. ‘Yeah, her events do sometimes go on longer than she thought. It’s the networking afterwards, she says.’ He sighed. ‘She’s probably had too much to drink. You know how she likes her wine. Is Ted okay with staying an extra day?’

Fay nodded. ‘He was a bit annoyed, because he’s camping out and he says it’s freezing, but I managed to talk him round. It’s okay.’

Luke wrapped her in a hug that he hoped conveyed the depth of his gratitude. ‘Love you, Mum. You know I couldn’t have done this without you.’

His mum clung to him and the fragility of her made him more determined than ever to get everything right this time. In that moment, in the silence of their embrace, all the events of the past couple of years played out in his mind and he could see all the trouble he had caused for his family, first with Ted and then with Mel. He could sense the burden of worry he had placed on his parents and his resolve hardened. There could be no wavering, no backing down or taking the easy way out. It was up to him to do everything in his power to right the wrongs and make sure their lives could be lived out in peace.