point, though, in thinking that way, today of all days.

‘Any sign yet?’ Dad calls.

‘Not yet…’ Kazia is stationed at the window, looking out for the first star of the evening. As the youngest child, this is her special task. I remember when it was my job… I’d be at the window the moment dusk threatened, watching so hard, willing the sky to darken, longing to see the first bright star of Christmas.

In Liverpool, the sky has a dull orange glow and it’s snowing steadily now. Spotting the lamp post across the street will be a challenge, let alone the first star, but suddenly Kazia whoops, jumping up and down. ‘I saw it, I saw it!’ she insists. ‘I saw the Christmas star!’

That’s all we need for the feast to begin, and Mum lights the candles and Dad breaks the golden wafer bread and reminds us that now all grudges will be put behind us, all troubles are over. Dad is dishing out beetroot soup and dumplings when the doorbell rings.

‘Who is this?’ Mum asks. ‘At this time…?’

Dad is on his feet.

‘Unexpected guest,’ he says, and goes to see who it could be.

There are seven dishes on the table now. Our landlord, Mr Yip, worried after Dad’s visit earlier, has brought some deep-fried sausage and chips up for us.

‘Christmas is a special time,’ he says. ‘I don’t celebrate it myself, but I know what the spirit of Christmas is all about. I won’t have you going hungry at this time of year. As for the rent, I’ve talked it through with the wife. There’ll be no rent due this month, none at all. Didn’t you fix the broken window and mend the kitchen cupboard, put new shelves up in the bathroom?’

Dad smiles. ‘Thank you, Mr Yip,’ he says simply. ‘You have no idea how much that means. Please, stay with us this evening, share our meal, help us to celebrate Christmas.’

‘Thought you’d never ask,’ Mr Yip grins.

Mum is dishing up herring with chips on the side when the doorbell rings again. She blinks, setting an extra place at the table hastily just as Dad opens the door.

‘Tomasz! Stefan!’ Two young men shuffle in, stamping the snow from their boots, talking in Polish. They clap Dad on the back and set vodka, fruit and chocolates down on the table. They are two of Dad’s best workers, loyal to the end.

‘You paid us every week, even though we knew it came from your own pocket,’ Tomasz says. ‘We’re grateful.’

‘We know what it’s like to be far from home at Christmas,’ Stefan adds. ‘We wanted to wish you a Happy Christmas, and a prosperous New Year…’

Before they can sit down, the doorbell rings again. ‘Who now?’ Dad puzzles. ‘So many visitors!’

Mum ushers Karen Carney into the room, her coat starred with snow. She is carrying Dad’s Christmas castle with its shining towers and bright painted patterns, still draped with Christmas lights from its stay in Heaven’s big bay window. I’m glad to see Karen, really I am, but I can’t help wishing Dan was with her.

‘You said it would bring good luck, and I truly think it did,’ she says, setting the castle down beside the window. ‘I thought it was important to make sure it was back where it belongs for Christmas, with all of you…’

Mum plugs in the fairy lights and the whole thing glimmers brightly in the darkened room. ‘It’s lovely,’ she smiles. ‘Thank you for bringing it back, Karen. Please join us… all of you! Eat! Enjoy!’

The meal has turned into a kind of buffet, with everyone crowding around, filling their plates, eating with forks and spoons and teaspoons, mixing chips with spiced cabbage and deep-fried sausage with mushroom dumplings.

‘Dan is home!’ Karen tells us, in between mouthfuls. ‘James brought him back an hour ago. We talked and talked, all of us together, cleared the air a little. James won’t be coming back, but that’s for the best, I can see that now. And me and Dan… well, we’ll be OK.’

‘Where is he?’ I dare to ask.

‘He fell asleep, right there on the sofa – he had no sleep at all last night, and he must have walked twenty miles today, looking for his dad’s place. He was worn out. He doesn’t know, Anya, about you going back to Krakow. I’ll tell him in the morning. He’ll be very upset, I know. But right now he needs to rest, and James is staying a while to spend some time with