‘Look, I wasn’t saying you should.’ He looked down kindly at her, but his voice sounded weary. ‘I’m in no position to preach, am I?’

‘No,’ she agreed. ‘You’re not.’

‘I’ll be on my way now, Katie. Happy Christmas – and I’m so glad you’ve found someone good . . . for yourself.’

For a moment it sounded as if he was saying goodbye, forever. She was afraid he had had enough!

‘Will I see you?’ she asked in panic.

‘Of course.’ He squatted down again for a second. ‘Goodbye, little fella – see you again soon.’ To her, he added, ‘You have to understand, it’s delicate. But I give you my word, Katie – I wouldn’t have come back into your life unless I’d intended to stay, in some form or other. We just have to wait and see what form that is. That’s all I can say.’

She felt a pang. But I want all of you. I don’t want to share you! Then she thought of Marek. Take what there is and be glad, she told herself. You have more now than you ever dreamed of.

She turned as they walked away, and she and Michael waved at the tall figure who stood watching them, one arm raised.

On Saturday morning, Sybil opened the door to find the Arbuckles on the front step. Katie, who had been halfway up the stairs, paused on hearing their voices.

‘Oh, good morning, Miss Routh,’ Edna gushed. ‘Sorry to disturb you so early, only we wanted to be sure he hadn’t gone out or anything.’

Then came Susan’s deep voice. ‘What Mom means is, we’ve come to see Mr Pee-ot.’

Though, as Polish names go, Zielinski – Piotr’s surname – was not the most difficult to pronounce by a long chalk, Piotr was always known by everyone as ‘Mr Piotr’ or just ‘Mr P’.

‘Ah, I think he’s still in,’ Sybil said. ‘Why don’t you come in a minute?’

Continuing up the stairs, Katie said, ‘I’ll call him. Just a minute!’

‘Ah,’ Sybil said. ‘Thank you, dear.’

From below she heard Edna Arbuckle say, ‘The thing is, we heard that he’s been looking for a room, and we thought: Well, what a stroke of luck – he need look no further!’

Katie ran upstairs and knocked on Marek and Piotr’s door, and in a second Marek appeared.

‘It’s the neighbours,’ she hissed, with a mischievous grin. ‘For Piotr.’

‘What?’ Piotr came to the door, bemused.

‘Those ladies – from next door,’ she whispered. ‘I think they want you to go and live with them!’

Piotr’s eyes widened.

‘They’ve got a room for you!’

‘Go on then.’ Marek shoved him towards the stairs. ‘You have no luck so far . . . Now is here on a plate for you . . .’

‘I expect you’ll have to marry Susan,’ Katie added. ‘As part of the arrangement.’

Piotr rolled his eyes. ‘What – they are here?’

Marek and Katie were finding it difficult to control their laughter.