Nico caught the sound of Leesa’s laugh and Rob saying, ‘Josie! You should know better than to run off. We’re supposed to be going to Nan’s for her blood pressure pills, not taking a diversion to spy on people.’

‘I wanted to know where Dad was,’ Josie complained, but her voice began to recede.

‘I must teach my daughter that glass isn’t soundproof.’ Nico slid his hand off Hannah’s behind, ‘and remind myself that glass is transparent.’ He groaned, feeling the need to be honest even though his arms had fastened around her as if they’d never let her go. ‘An adult relationship conducted with children around is tricky. You get ready for a date night and they throw up over you. You’re cuddling and they join in. You’re in the middle of the hottest sex of your life and they wake up with a screaming nightmare.’

Hannah’s eyes had grown enormous as she digested this litany. Then she smoothed her hair and twitched her top straight with an air of determination. ‘I have a lot to learn then, don’t I?’

When they strolled back through the sleepy Christmas village, Hannah felt as if she were floating at least two inches above a pavement beginning to twinkle with frost. Nico’s hand was hot around hers and her nerves were jumping, her blood dancing in her veins.

She giggled. ‘I feel like I’ve stepped through a magic portal to happiness yet my family are probably having an after-lunch nap.’

His eyes glowed into hers. ‘I can say with certainty that no one in the household will be sleeping until the girls get their presents.’

They reached the door to the house she’d known all her life and Hannah opened it.

‘They’re here!’ an eight-year-old squealed.

‘Dey here!’ squeaked her two-year-old echo.

The girls galumphed into the hall, Josie going into reverse to let them in and nearly flattening Maria. ‘Dad! You’ve been ages and—’ She paused and flushed, probably deciding not to remonstrate with him about the kissing in case Rob had been right and she shouldn’t have been peeping. ‘And everyone’s dying to open their presents.’

‘Everyone?’ he queried mildly.

‘P’esents, Mydad. P’esents, ’Annah,’ Maria affirmed, jumping on the spot, wearing one pink slipper and one drunken sock.

Nico relented. ‘OK. I’ll get ours from our car boot and you can help give them out.’

‘P’esents!’ Maria squealed.

Hannah watched the girls run off as she took off her coat and boots. Voices drifted to her: Jeremy asking about whisky, Mo telling him she’d put it on a high shelf because there were children in the house. Nan saying she’d sooner have sherry. Her ordinary family’s normal Christmas she’d depended on to cheer her up, rumbling gently on.