‘I-I’m sorry,’ she stuttered, her cheeks glowing. ‘I had no idea they were coming.’ She did have to work after all and she didn’t want Hermione to think she was taking advantage of her good nature. ‘Perhaps if I could just have an hour off to see them; I could make it up on my afternoon off? Or I could work for an hour later this evening.’

‘Oh, get away with you,’ Hermione told her good-naturedly. ‘You work longer hours than you need to and you deserve a bit of time off.’

Ruby flashed her a grateful smile and with her heart racing she hurried to the sitting room where they were waiting for her. Perhaps today would be the day that Maddie had decided she would tell her she was her mother? She could only hope.

‘Well, look at you,’ Nell said when she entered the room. ‘I swear you look more grown-up every time I see yer.’

‘This is a nice surprise.’ Ruby gave them both a kiss on the cheek. ‘I wasn’t expecting you.’

‘We thought we’d treat usselves to a day out an’ so we hopped on the train. But how are things?’ Nell asked.

‘Wonderful. Why don’t you come through to the sitting room and I’ll go and make us a pot of tea.’ Ruby ushered them into the house.

‘Why, this is lovely,’ Maddie said, looking out of the window at the garden. ‘I’d heard Hermione was a keen gardener and I can imagine this is beautiful in the summer.’

‘I help her out there as well,’ Ruby told them. ‘And I’m getting quite good at it now. I know the names of almost all the flowers, although I must admit I was probably more of a hindrance than a help to start with and I pulled up more than a few flowers thinking they were weeds! I’m still nowhere near as good at it as Hermione is. She seems to have green fingers.’

Maddie shuddered. ‘I have to admit that as much as I like to see a pretty garden, I wouldn’t like to tackle one myself. It looks a bit too much like hard work to me!’

Grinning, Ruby hurried off to fetch the tea and soon returned with a tray containing not only the tea but a plate of Mrs B’s hot buttered scones straight from the oven. Nell tucked into them with gusto and Ruby smiled to see her enjoying her food. She could never work out how she managed to stay so thin because she would eat anything and everything that was put in front of her.