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enough phone battery to make one ten-second call; he was the guy who not only dug the grave for Henry’s beloved childhood Labrador, Rover, but bought and planted a rosebush above it too; he was the guy who still held the world record for Pac-Man (but was pitiful at
FIFA
), who laughed like a goose, had never knowingly worn matching socks and had married his wife on account of her rich lasagne and even richer eyes. He was Henry’s blood, his brother. There was simply no question of him dying.
    The doors opened and Henry was off again, arms swinging like a soldier’s as he marched directly to the CCU, from which he’d come – at the nurse’s insistence – only six hours before. Cassie and Velvet caught him up just as a nurse in blue trousers and tunic buzzed open the door. She must have been on the night shift, as she obviously recognized Henry, letting them all in with a nod and a bright smile.
    Inside the unit, everything felt different – the air was solid and thick like a slow-moving cloud, the light blue-tinted, and behind drawn floral curtains twenty different cardiac monitors beeped out of time with one another. Cassie closed her eyes, trying to brace herself for the sight of Archie on one of the beds, clad in a gown with tubes coming out of him; but all she could conjure was him this time yesterday, puckering up for a kiss from Velvet as Suzy adjusted his braces so that they didn’t rub his nipples when he ran – something Henry had been teasing him about ever since they’d bled on last year’s run and stained his shirt.
    Velvet dropped her favourite toy – a ragamuffin pig – on the floor and Cassie bent down to scoop him up.
    â€˜How’s he been?’ she heard Henry ask the nurse in a low voice.
    â€˜Quieter.’
    Quieter? It was hardly the answer they’d been hoping for, and as she stood again, Cassie saw a muscle clench in the ball of Henry’s jaw. Henry crossed the room in four strides, but Cassie saw how he paused before he stepped round the curtain; she clocked the slight rise in his shoulders as he took a deep breath, steeling himself for the horrific sight of his best mate flattened and barely alive on the bed.
    She turned back to Velvet and handed the child her beloved toy. ‘Here you go, darling.’
    â€˜Can I help you?’
    She turned to find the nurse now looking at her, although her smile was brisk and considerably less warm than the one she’d given to Henry.
    â€˜Uh, yes . . . I’m here to see Archie too.’
    â€˜Archie . . . ?’
    How many Archies did they have in here? ‘Archie McLintlock.’
    â€˜Are you family?’
    â€˜Well, sort of . . .’ Cassie hesitated. ‘I mean, not strictly, not in a blood sense. But in a legal sense – well, one day, anyway.’
    The nurse stared back at her, baffled and cool.
    â€˜He’s married to my fiancé’s sister,’ she said by way of explanation, jerking her head in the direction of where Henry had disappeared. ‘He’s my fiancé.’
    â€˜Who is?’
    Cassie blinked. Was this woman being deliberately obtuse? Was she the nurse who’d got the date wrong yesterday and was out for revenge on Suzy’s nearest and dearest?
    â€˜Henry. The man you were just talking to.’
    â€˜I’m afraid only family is allowed in the CCU. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’
    â€˜But . . .’ Cassie protested as the nurse shepherded her towards the door again, ‘I just explained.’
    â€˜Your status does not qualify as family. I’m afraid you cannot stay in here.’
    â€˜But surely I can at least say hello?’
    It was precisely the wrong thing to have said.
    â€˜This is the Cardiac Care Unit. Mr McLintlock is in no state to “say hello”.’
    Cassie stared at her, a hot blush of indignation washing over her otherwise peaches complexion. ‘This child here is