‘We could make this look lovely. Just look at the garden, Ethan, we could fill it with vegetables. And it looks like there are two bedrooms. Room enough for a family, if we are ever so lucky again.’ Rosie blushed and felt a pang of sadness for the trauma and worry that she had been through, while thinking of the future and hoping for better times ahead with Ethan by her side.

Ethan looked around him at the overgrown garden and the ivy-clad walls of the unoccupied cottage. ‘Aye, I reckon we could make something of it. But I daren’t dream too much about it. Your grandfather might have plans for it and he may not even agree to us living here.’ He looked at the excitement on Rosie’s face as she peered through the peeling, paint-cracked windows into the kitchen and small living room.

‘Grandpapa would only be too happy to let us live here – it’s always been empty. He used to say that he would live in it sometime, but now he’s happy to be back with us up at Crummock.’ Rosie stood back next to Ethan and put her arm through his. ‘I’ll wait a bit longer and then I’ll ask him, once we have proved that we do love one another and that we are serious.’ She squeezed Ethan’s arm tightly and smiled. ‘Our own little house – just us two, where no one can tell us what to do. Won’t that be fine?’

‘It will, Rosie. In fact I could make a start on the garden in my spare time. I can clear the weeds over this winter, cut back these brambles and give the garden gate a lick of paint. Then everyone will know we are serious about each other. It’ll not do the cottage any harm anyway, as it looks so uncared for.’ Ethan looked around him. He would give the garden his time, as and when he could. ‘I hope that when the time comes your grandfather will agree, because it is, as you say, the perfect home for us. A home that we will cherish between us. We’ll do this, Rosie. Despite whatever obstacles they put in our way, we will show them.’

Ethan held Rosie tightly and looked around him. It was a lot of responsibility, but Rosie was worth it. That spring he had been a young lad without any cares. Now he had grown into a man, and he aimed always to be there for his Rosie.

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