As she went round, snipping and stripping off excess leaves, she fought the cold little bit of her heart that reminded her Martin was unhappy. But she wouldn’t have behaved differently, she realised, she was just as entitled to happiness as he was. He would get over it. He was an adult and he would eventually realise she was allowed to be happy with another man.

She left the flowers in her favourite dark shed to soak up as much water as they could (she was aware she should have picked them the previous evening) and then went up to have a shower. She would get ready after Helena had come and helped her arrange the flowers.

A shower using her favourite honey-scented soap cheered her and she pulled on some old and comfortable clothes which were also soothing. The outfit she and Helena had chosen the previous day was hanging outside the wardrobe. She didn’t dare look at it too closely in case she changed her mind and had to go through the whole process again.

She remembered Helena’s surprise that she hadn’t wanted to buy anything new. This made her laugh – Helena was notoriously reluctant to buy new clothes herself.

She had finished doing her make-up when Helena arrived.

‘Are you up there! I’m here to do the flowers!’ She ran up the stairs. ‘Oh! Jeans and an old linen shirt – I thought we’d sorted out your outfit yesterday? Your hair’s looking good though.’

‘Thanks! But I’m not going to do the flowers in my glad rags. Let’s have a cup of coffee and get these flowers done. Time is moving on!’

When there were flowers on every table and the large arrangements had been tweaked (not everything looked as perky as it should have done) Helena and Gilly looked around them.

‘Oh, this is exactly what I’d love for my wedding!’ said Helena.

‘Yes, but it’d only work if you just want something very small,’ Gilly reminded her patiently.

A split second later Helena said, ‘I think something a bit bigger would be lovely as long as it can be here, like this. But we’ll squash it into the garden somehow.’

When Gilly went up to dress she realised that Helena wasn’t particularly bothered about having a big wedding but that she wanted her mother to have what she wanted for her daughter. She was touched and knew she was very lucky that they got on so well. They were bound together by adversity, she decided, and that was why she and Martin weren’t as bonded.

As Gilly was tweaking her hair and worrying about her earrings she was aware of feeling anxious – stage fright probably – and then she heard the front door creak.