The man in the wheelchair must be Jimmy’s friend. Stanley had been at the funfair too. Grace couldn’t believe it. How wonderful. Terry had just said the little girl was named after her great-granny so it all made sense. Stanley was Kitty’s sweetheart and so they must have gone on to get married. And so Grace smiled as her heart soared on realising that this gentleman would have actually known Connie, his wife Kitty’s best friend all those years ago. He would be able to tell Lara about her mother when she was young and carefree and happy at the funfair, and then when she was courting Jimmy before he went away to fight, and before he ultimately lost his life for his country. It was incredible after all this time. And then Grace wondered how on earth Ellis had managed to find Stanley? And, more importantly, did Lara know that her father’s best friend was going to be here in Italy at Connie’s home? Or was this a wonderful surprise for her too?

Grace glanced at Ellis and squeezed his hand before stepping forward.

‘I’m so pleased and honoured to meet you, Stanley.’

Silence followed.

‘Stanley?’ the old man repeated, a look of confusion spreading across his papery face, and Grace’s heart sank for him on realising that he must have dementia if he didn’t know his own name. With a rush of compassion, she bobbed down in front of him and held out her hands which he took in his.

Another silence followed.

Grace could sense Terry moving alongside her and then kneeling down too.

Then, after handing the elderly gentleman a sprig of wild flowers tied in a jaunty yellow ribbon, she turned to look at Grace and said,

‘This isn’t Stanley. This is my dad, Jimmy!’

Grace gasped.

She stood up and turned to Ellis who, after giving her a kiss on the cheek, gently guided her forward again before stepping back to allow her to take it all in.

Grace could not believe it.

Connie’s first truelove. Jimmy. The man she had never stopped loving. The father of Connie’s darling baby girl, Lara.

Was it really him?

She crouched down again in front of the man’s wheelchair and looked again into his eyes. And then she knew. The impish green eyes. The same green eyes as his daughter, Lara, who was waiting in the garden to meet him for the very first time, she presumed.

‘Jimmy, it’s …’ Grace gulped back a tear and felt her face move into a massive smile instead. ‘It’s such an honour to meet you.’