She had counted herself very lucky back then that they had both survived the First World War but during the second war they hadn’t fared so well. It had cost the life of their middle child, George, who had been killed at Dunkirk and Holly had never quite got over it. It was still hard to believe that of the four children they had been blessed with only two remained. They had also lost their youngest daughter, Mary, to whooping cough when she was just three years old. Holly’s grandfather, Gilbert, had passed away in the same year, and for a time Holly had been weighed down with grief. It had been Ivy who had pleaded and bullied her out of the pit of despair she had sunk into.

‘You’ve still got Charlotte and Gil to think of,’ she had scolded her. ‘Pull yourself together, woman. Do yer think yer the only one that’s lost someone? I’ve lost my Paul an’ all, yer know?’

Sadly Ivy’s son had also been one of the war’s casualties but somehow she had managed to stay strong, although his death had left a gaping hole in her heart that no one could ever fill. Even so her optimistic nature had pulled her through, and supporting each other through their losses had brought her and Holly even closer together. ‘We still have a lot to be thankful for,’ she had pointed out and gradually Holly had come out of her depression and started to live again.

At Charlotte’s wedding, Ivy’s two daughters, Alice and Lucy had been bridesmaids and Ivy smiled now as she thought back to the special day.

‘That weddin’ cake were a triumph,’ she declared. ‘What wi’ rationin’ still in place I don’t know how yer managed to get a three-tier one. An’ the dresses … Eeh, they were just beautiful. Charlotte looked like a princess. I don’t mind tellin’ yer she gave me a fair old gliff when I first saw her come into the church wi’ your Richard. She’s the double o’ you at that age.’

Holly grinned at the compliment. ‘That’s very kind of you but I don’t think I was ever as pretty as Charlotte.’

‘Oh, but you were, just ask your Richard.’ Ivy took another sip of the hot tea as her mind drifted back over the years to when she had gone to be a maid in Holly’s grandfather’s house. He had been a grumpy old devil back then, but the years had mellowed him and by the time he died he and Holly had been as close as could be and she had taken his death very badly. Thankfully she did still have her mother and Walter, and even though they were now well into their seventies they were still both enjoying good health. She smiled again as she thought of how proud they had been at the wedding.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Holly suddenly told her, ‘I’ve been thinking of going back to work again.’