We joined the others just as Chrissy caught us up.

“They’re a friendly lot in there, Mike. All my stuff locked away, no humping, not even the nice sort—er, sorry. Sense of humour gets a little direct when I’m tired. Got my ear plugs, so should be safe from snorers”

Ish looked directly at me, before saying “Snap!”, and then we were inside, the lad beginning a round of introductions for the woman, before she simply cornered Steph for a chat about strings or soundposts, or perhaps sanity and its retention. As usual, Geoff simply sat and laughed, as LC quite casually sat in Neil’s lap to show him her photos

The morning was a clear one, and Chrissy was already gone by the time I awoke, off to her next gig, which was apparently at a club in Worcester. Not my idea of a life, that. I took a walk outside with Enfys for a quiet chat, but she was already prepared for me.

“It’s that girl with Debbie, isn’t it? The--- I was going to say ‘the trans one’, but that’s a bit redundant with that lot. Getting a bit of the ‘icks’, Uncle Mike?”

“I think I was, love. It was… Look, I should know better, me”

“You’re the one who brought me Alys. I think we can give you some slack”

“Yeah, that’s the thing that got me. Like with Steph. I had… Look, this is going to sound creepy, but she didn’t really come into focus with me till I, um, heard her and Geoff together”

“Oh!”

“No details. It just suddenly made sense. Why I can’t, couldn’t, with Ish, god knows”

“Different when it’s your family, love, I suppose. I had another thought, though, and it’s something you can help with, I hope. He’s never… Maz went when he was twelve, and it was just us for all his adolescence, and that’s the thing: he never actually got to have one. Two of us, it was. Always in each other’s pockets until Di found her, and since then, we’ve been looking inward all the time, all four of us, and LC, well”

“Elsie?”

“L. C. Little Carolyn. Maz named her after my late wife, she says as a way to keep me alive in her head. She never got to be a little girl, and now Ish is locked on keeping her safe and happy, real big brothering stuff. Hasn’t left, doesn’t leave, time for him to be a lad, a young man”

“And Debbie’s girl?”

“Oh, I’ve got the waking mind sorted. Just need to slap the hindbrain a few times till it learns. Bit of help be nice”

She drew a slow breath, before smiling at me.

“Mental health stuff is part of my role, you know? And yes, I do have an obvious insight here, but, well, we’re starting from a good place in that none of us knew the girl before she came out, ah? No script to overwrite, no need for palimpsesting”

“That is not one of yours, love!”

“Nope. Blame the wife for that one, but it fits. You want to go to the Perving Slab with Ish, don’t you? So he can be perved at? I was going to suggest Milestone, but we can start off at the slab first. Anyway, I remember how Mam met Dad, so please tell me he won’t be in microshorts!”

“More like board shorts, knowing him”

“Then we have a plan. Breakfast first, my ‘rents are doing a mass of sandwiches, or so they said, then it’s on the road. We have a load of gear, and both nine and fifteen millimetre ropes, and I found a kid-sized helmet. And Nansi is cooking something up with Vic”

Breakfast was exactly as anyone would expect, and Steph spent some time filling flasks with tea before our little convoy set off, Neil riding with us once again as Keith simply locked up his business and climbed in with his two younger women. As we ambled through the campsite before the first ladder stall, I saw Marty and Alun tending to a number of kettles, the younger man calling out a greeting to Ish as we passed.

Up the hill, over the rock platform, LC needing a little boost over the ladders by the farmhouse but bouncing away over the rest, until we were at the foot of the great sweep of slab that is the introduction to so many new climbers, LC now staring at all the sheep, who simply stared back.

“Jamming, Dad?”

“Not so much here, love. All about balance and how small a hold you can use. Now, this is a bigger hill, so we have something else for you”

Enfys and Alys were approaching, carrying the promised lid, which fitted nicely after some adjustments. LC loved it, the little gearhound, but stared meaningfully at her bear until Alys laughed and produced a carrier bag.

“Mam and Dad made this. Shall we see if it will fit?”

They had simply taken a plastic camping bowl, cut out some holes for the bear’s ears and rivetted in a length of elastic tape as a chin strap. And it fitted, which delighted our girl. We left her explaining to her bear what we would be doing, and how he had to look after our bags, as those of us out for a climb changed our footwear and started to fasten on harnesses and then rack gear. The change of footwear was what brought child away from bear, and soon she was “READY TO CLIMB!”

Steph watched her as she bounced up the very easy broken ground at the lefthand foot of the slab, before pointing out a pale bulge on the rock, with a thin crack crossing it.

“Take her up the flake crack first, before doing that one? She’ll get some jams in on the flake route, but the second one will show her some gibboning and small hold stuff”

“Two pitches?”

“Enfys has sourced an extra length rope. One pitch only”

“Sounds good to me. Just going to solo the first route, get my head working”

Up the easy first crack, over the two little corners, and jog-slither back down to the group in time to watch as Geoff belayed his wife up the thinner crack, LC seated on an outcrop to watch.

“It’s flatter, Dad. Not so up and down, like the Dark was”

“It’s a slab, love. Come and try this with me”

I showed her one spot where, with clean rock boots, you can simply walk up the smooth slab, at least for a few feet. I got to my usual spot, stood on nothing, then eased upright to clap my hands. LC squealed in delight, demanding her turn, and then shouted “MAGIC FEET!” as she clapped.

Geoff simply carried on belaying his wife until she had taken her stance at the top, then called LC to him so that he could tie her on.

“Right, Carolyn, we have something for you here. It’s called a nut key, so you can take out the gear Aunty Steph’s put in. You use this bit to wiggle anything that’s stuck We fasten it here, with this screwgate, so if you drop it, it gets caught by this string. That okay?”

He grinned at me.

“Hairy’s doing without cams and that today. Almost had a strop, she did. Anyway, THAT’S CAROLYN!”

A short pause before we heard “Climb when ready”, but it was LC who yelled “CLIMBING!” and started up the route, and yes, her hands were small enough to find jams. It seemed our daughter was a thug.

Other pairs and groups were drifting up to the crag, as Neil set up what looked like his ‘Very Serious Photographer’ kit, including a tabard reading ‘N&M Strachan Photography’, the sneaky sod. He caught my stare, and grinned, our old friend clearly recovering from his despair.

“I have a living to make, mate!”

“How does that work?”

“People ask me for a snap, I take their e-mail, send them a watermarked proof. If they like it, they send me money and I send them a file, or whatever sort of print they fancy”

I laughed.

“You’ll get a few more customers here than in a cave”

“You’d be surprised”

“Let me rephrase that: more than in a flooded cave”

He just mock-whistled, and I gave up, as a shout came from above, “She’s up, but she is coming down by rope”

It wasn’t abseiling, but my daughter walked backwards down the route like a pro, to the astonishment of a couple gearing up to repeat the same route.

“Your kid?”

“She is”

“How old is she?”

“Six”

“Bloody hell! She’s doing well”

“Only up to Severe, so far”

“Shit! Where was that?”

“Froggatt Edge”

His mate elbowed him.

“Shall we just give up now, Gray?”

He turned to look at me instead of his mate.

“How long’s she been climbing, my friend?”

“Um, ten days or so”

“Right… Anyway, good luck. I’m just here to enjoy the rock, not compete. Certainly not with little girls. Six; oh dear me”

“Well, I will point out our mate over there. He’s a very good photographer, doing a sort of open shop day”

“Bit more sensible, then”

“Not really. He’s also a cave diver”

I left them to it after some good-natured assassination of Neil’s sanity, and collected LC, who was now chatting away at nineteen to the dozen.

“You enjoy that, love?”

“Hand jams, Dad!”

“Good, love. Did the nut key work?”

“Yes! Can we buy one?”

Geoff laughed, just as ‘Gray’ set off.

“That’s your nut key, Carolyn. Aunty Steph and me, we didn’t want to buy you things if you didn’t like the climbing, but Uncle Neil told us how good you were, so that’s our present to you. Severe, Mike?”

“Just Heather Wall, mate”

“Good start”

“She did Straight Chimney at Stanage the day before”

“Now that one, I think, is actually harder than the Froggatt one”

“Carolyn likes jamming, mate”

“Hands and fists!”

The volume was lower, but the sentiment was the same. Steph joined us, and I led my girl across the blanker piece of slab as Steph followed close behind to talk her through small hold technique, until we were once again jog-sliding down from the top to make some inroads on Steph’s flasks.

All through this, Ish and Maz had been climbing gentler stuff, and while we had been busy, a steady flow of girls had assembled at the foot of the slab, Clara among them. I made a decision, finally, praying it was the right one, and took a seat next to her and Alun’s daughter, as he poured from his own flask.

“Hiya, Mike. That was a bloody good night, wasn’t it, Alicia? This is Mr Rhodes, love”

Alicia prodded her father.

“Met him years ago, Dad! Friend of Enfys, aren’t you?”

“Yup. First time here for my wife and daughter, though”

She looked down at her hands.

“We all know, Mr Rhodes. We follow the news, and Alys, well, Enfys explained where she was staying. This isn’t the place… Not the right words. You got your family back. This is where I got my own back, right, Dad?”

Alun gave her a one-armed hug.

“It’s where I found my daughter, Mike, so yes, not the place for sad thoughts. The little girl really loves the climbing, doesn’t she?”

I could hear the laughter as LC worked through some little toprope problems under the huge ledge, belayed by Geoff as Steph offered advice, and I realised this was just about as far as she had been from me and her Mum since their rescue. Recovery, most definitely.

“She does. Alun, as well as the music”

I waved at Ish, some way up a blank section of slab.

“My son’s been a godsend in so many ways. Just…”

The words were there; all I had to do was let them out.

“Maz was snatched when he was twelve, and that was six years out of our lives. We’re all finding each other again. Finding ourselves as well”

Clara found her tongue at last.

“He’s really gentle, isn’t he?”

I laughed out loud.

“Say that after you’ve seen him playing rugby or Aussie Rules, girl!”

“Wish I could… I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry”

Keep that momentum, Rhodes.

“It’s not a problem, Clara”

“But he’s, and I’m not…”

“I said it’s not a problem, love. Now, I am going to break every rule of being a Dad and simply say that he thinks you’re nice, and no, what we are talking about isn’t a problem for him. I am boing to be busy with his sister, but we are looking to move on down the valley in a bit. Now, we have some spare harnesses. What would be nice for him is the chance to help someone learn to climb. You up for that?”

She nodded, eyes moist, and twenty minutes later, she was half way up the easy crack on her way to join Ish at the top. Maz simply sat watching, but Alicia had her own words.

“Thank you, Mr Rhodes. I need to tell you a few things about her, just in case. You already know the big thing, but it’s Clara’s history. Do you know what I mean when I say ‘chaser’?”

I nodded, remembering Neil’s use of that word, and as Maz stiffened, Alicia smiled.

“Innocent sounding word for something very nasty. With Deb, in the House, well, we have a lot of shared experiences. Like a hive mind, we are. Right, Dad?”

Alun just chuckled, and she carried on.

“Clara and the rest of us, well, we all share. Part of having so much common ground. We all had a moment, a sort of choice of paths, but that’s now the big thing. That big thing is luck, that’s all. Deb, a few others, they’re lie a net. Some of us get caught in it, the rest slip through. Clara was one we could have lost. We… Serena, Dad?”

“Yes, love. I know”

“Indeed. Could have been me in her place… Anyway. Clara was with a chaser, very young, she was. He was a drug dealer, as well, but I don’t think he’d got past the stage of getting his own jollies and onto the bit where the girl gets handed round various customers for fun and profit”

She paused at a shriek of laughter from LC, then tilted her head as she looked me in the eyes.

“Flippancy is how so many of us cope, Mr Rhodes. It won’t bring Serena back, or her mother, but it lets us talk about things without breaking. Sorry if it comes across wrong, but I do believe you understand. Clara was groomed. Thought it was all real. Then he made sure she was about when he had company, and all she had was a minidress. Police put his door in, though, arrested him for dealing coke, and didn’t even know she was there. That’s what I mean about luck: their custody sergeant knew someone who knew Nana Deb, and that is how Clara found us”

Alun tightened his embrace on his daughter.

“Mike. Maz, four of Deb’s brood have got married, so far. They, well, Gem and Marty are already here, but the others will be along later today”

Alicia nodded.

“Yup. Some real climbers there. The rest of us, well, we dream, but we see those who have made it, and it’s not jealousy so much as hope,; expectancy, almost. Freaked Dad out for a bit”

Alun laughed, but it held some bitterness.

“She’s right. One thing accepting your daughter’s, well, your actual daughter, but courting, that’s… It’s sort of homophobia, Mike, in my view. I try and think… You’ll laugh: I try and imagine any prospective boyfriend as a possible friend, for me, that is”

Maryam burst into happy laughter, which puzzled me, until she simply kissed my cheek and said, “Alan”

She turned to the others, with the warmest of smiles.

“It’s not a story for today, but each of us was married before, and each… We both lost our lovers. I had a thought, a bit like yours: if it was possible for my lost man to meet my found one, what would he say? I came down on the side of going for a pint together. This trip, it’s a sort of pilgrimage, partly, for Mike. There’s a shelter on a mountain somewhere over there that I want to see, a place with lots of memories”

Alun winced, and went to speak, but Alicia shushed him.

“Enfys said she’d explained about Pat. Another one who helped with that net, Mr Rhodes”

Maryam held a finger to my lips.

“My turn, love. Clara’s lonely, isn’t she?”

She turned to me with a Mum-stare.

“Not the only one who can watch and listen, love. He’s my son as well, and he’s been on his own for too long. We have another week with this lot, so let’s not push him, or her. Now, what’s this other cliff we’re heading for? I think we can squeeze one more into a car”