Holly thanked her profusely and rushed home to tell her mother the good news that evening.

‘Excellent.’ Her mother was pleased. ‘And I’ve been thinking too and I have a suggestion to put to you. I’m going to ask Ivy if she’d like to come home with me. I’ve already spoken to your grandfather on the telephone and put the idea to him and he’s agreeable. We thought that once Ivy is recovered she could resume her old job for a few months and then take time off until after the baby is born. What do you think?’

‘It would solve a lot of problems,’ Holly agreed. ‘Now that Matron has given me time off I could come home with you for a few days and get her settled back in. If you’ll have me, of course,’ she said with a grin.

Emma was delighted with the idea and now all they had to do was persuade Ivy.

The next day they both arrived at the hospital with some of the new clothes Emma had bought for Ivy. She had packed underwear, a new skirt and blouse, a warm coat, and even shoes into a bag and when she unloaded them onto Ivy’s bed the girl gasped.

‘B-but I can’t pay you back for them,’ she protested feebly.

‘You don’t need to.’ Emma swished the curtains about the bed so Ivy could get changed in privacy. ‘They’re my Christmas present to you and when we get back to the flat I have a proposition to put to you.’

They helped her to get changed, both shocked at how weak she still was, and then once Richard had signed her discharge papers, they led her to the end of the ward. ‘I’ll get us a cab,’ Emma said, clinging on to Ivy’s elbow for dear life. She was still very wobbly on her feet.

Richard emerged from the sister’s office and drew Holly aside while Emma discreetly moved on.

‘I was going to give you this nearer to Christmas Day,’ he told her, looking slightly embarrassed. ‘But now that you’re going home for the holidays I thought I’d best give it to you now.’ He pressed a small box into her hand and when she flipped the lid she gasped. A pretty silver-etched locket on a fine chain lay within.

‘B-but I haven’t got you anything,’ she protested. She hadn’t dreamed for a minute that he’d buy her a gift.

‘I don’t want anything, just to know that you like it.’

‘I truly love it,’ she assured him, feeling very uncomfortable. ‘Thank you so much, Richard, but you really shouldn’t have.’ His name had popped out before she thought about it and as he smiled at her he thought how pretty she looked with the colour in her cheeks. He was going to miss seeing her about over Christmas.

‘I, er … I’d best get on,’ she said hesitantly. ‘I think Sister has got her beady eye on us. Will you still be here after Christmas?’