There were pies and pastries, pickles, salad, a whole leg of pork, a side of beef and ham and bread fresh from the oven, as well as a selection of cakes and trifles. Katie and Alice tucked in the second they arrived and ate as if they hadn’t been fed for a month as everyone looked on indulgently. It was a special day after all.

In the evening the chairs and sofas were cleared to the side of the room and Gilbert, who was a surprisingly good pianist, played popular tunes as everyone danced. The cake was duly cut, the speeches were given and the guests drank a champagne toast – a gift from Gilbert – to the happy newly-weds.

‘I never in my wildest dreams thought that I could ever be this happy,’ Ivy sighed as Holly helped her out of her wedding dress and into her smart new going-away outfit early that evening. ‘But I’m going to miss you when you go back to work.’

Holly had decided some weeks before that once the wedding was over she would return to work in a military hospital. She had been offered a post in the same hospital Marcus had been in, as it happened, and she was looking forward to it.

‘But you’ll still see me every time I come home if you and Marcus are going to be living here till after the war,’ she pointed out.

‘I know, but I’ve sort of got used to seeing you every day, like I did when we lived in London. That seems a lifetime ago now, don’t it?’

‘Yes it does, but at least one of us got to have a happy ending and I couldn’t be more pleased for you.’ Holly fastened the pin into Ivy’s hat. ‘There, you look wonderful, Mrs Dolby.’

Ivy giggled. ‘Ooh, Mrs Dolby! It sounds grand, don’t it? People will be gettin’ me an’ yer mam mixed up wi’ us both havin’ the same name.’ She lifted Holly’s locket from the dressing table and handed it back to her. She knew how much it meant to her and felt honoured that Holly had let her wear it. ‘But what about you? When are you goin’ to find someone to make you happy?’

Holly shook her head. ‘I already found him but it wasn’t meant to be and I have no intention of settling for second best. I almost fell into that trap with Harry. I know now it would have been a disaster. But hark at us rattling on. The cab is waiting downstairs to take you to the station and if you don’t get a move on you’ll miss your train.’

Ivy instantly flew into a panic. ‘Oh dear, are you sure you’re going to be all right lookin’ after Alice? You know she likes—’ She wished now that she had agreed to take Alice with them on their short honeymoon to Southend. Marcus had been quite happy for her to come but she had thought they deserved a few days just to themselves. Now she wasn’t so sure.