She and Emma then spent a very pleasant hour with Sunday and her close friend, Cissie, in the drawing room but eventually Emma told them, ‘I’m so sorry but I’m going out this evening so I really ought to be getting back to get ready.’

‘Are you?’ Holly was surprised. Her mother rarely went out in the evenings apart from to go to church. ‘Are you going somewhere nice?’

Two spots of colour appeared in her mother’s cheeks. ‘Yes, I’m going with Walter to the theatre. Charlie Chaplin is on at the Hippodrome and Walter thinks we’ll enjoy it.’ She watched closely for Holly’s reaction and when Holly smiled Emma almost sighed with relief.

‘I’m sure you will and it’s about time you got out a bit more.’ She had no doubt that this might be the first of many times Walter Dolby took her mother out and she wished her well. It was time she had a little happiness in her life. Unbidden a picture of Richard’s face flashed in front of her eyes and the pain was back, just as strong as it had been on the day she had said goodbye to him. He was still the first person she thought of when she opened her eyes each morning and the last one she thought of before going to sleep, but she knew she had done the right thing. Hopefully, Richard would meet someone who was worthy of his love in time but she knew she never would. If she couldn’t have him she didn’t want anyone, but at least she had her work and she intended to concentrate on that.

Chapter Thirty-One

Christmas was upon them before they knew it and Holly wondered where the months had gone. Walter was bringing his family for dinner and Cook was in a panic as she checked and double-checked that everything was just right.

‘It will be perfect,’ Holly assured her as she laid the table in the dining room with their best china and crystal. ‘It always is.’

Mrs Bell, the cook, bustled back to the kitchen with a smile on her face at Holly’s compliment. She was a small, round woman who had joined the household following the death of her husband just before Holly was born and she had been with them ever since.

‘Yer mam seems a bit nervy today,’ Ivy commented as she and Holly put the finishing touches to the table.

‘Does she? I hadn’t noticed.’ Holly had been too busy thinking of Richard and wondering what he was doing. If he wasn’t at the hospital he was probably at home with his family, or perhaps he had met someone else and was sharing his first Christmas with his new love? She wondered what she might be like, but the thought was too painful so she pushed it away and hurried into the kitchen to see if there was anything she could do to help in there.

Little Alice was contentedly sitting on a blanket surrounded by gaily painted wooden blocks and she held her arms out to be picked up the second Holly stepped into the room. The little girl had the whole household eating out of the palm of her hand, even Holly’s grandfather, and she could play them all like a fiddle. She was eight months old now and bright as a button. Holly swung her up into her arms and tickled her making the child giggle.