In the small chapel her mother, Hester, Eva, Eva’s mother, Berthold and Max were all waiting for her.

The British army chaplain who was to perform the ceremony, smiled at her from where he was standing in front of the altar. Her mother, who was to walk with her down the aisle in lieu of her dead father, took her place next to her. Max, who had no best man, flashed her a heart-stopping smile and then turned to face the chaplain.

With her hand tucked lightly in the crook of her mother’s arm, she had barely gone a yard when there came the sound of running footsteps approaching the chapel.

Seconds later, the door burst open and all heads turned, including her own.

‘Hi,’ Paul said breathlessly, striding towards her to give her a kiss. ‘Someone told me there was wedding taking place here without a best man and so I thought I’d help out.’

His uniform was dusty, his boots caked with dirt and he was still carrying a pistol on his hip. His mother threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, tears streaming down her face.

Eva pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, hardly able to believe that they were being reunited in such a special place and at such a special time.

Once his mother had released her hold of him, he moved swiftly down the aisle to where the woman he loved was waiting for him.

‘Sorry it took me so long, sweetheart,’ he said, his voice cracking and breaking with emotion as he took her in his arms.

The kiss they shared was deep and passionate and no one, not even the chaplain, suggested that it should come to an end.

When at last it did so, he said tenderly, ‘I’ve business to attend to, Liebchen,’ and in a couple of swift strides was at Max’s side.

Max slapped him on the back, overcome with emotion.

‘OK, buddy,’ Paul said, grinning broadly. ‘Give me the ring and let’s get this show on the road.’

It was then, as Max handed him the wedding ring, that he finally knew who it was Chuck Gleeson reminded him of.

‘Dearly beloved,’ the chaplain said, doing as Paul had suggested. ‘We are gathered together here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy Matrimony…’

A few minutes later, after they had exchanged vows and as Max slid the wedding ring on her finger, an azure butterfly came out of nowhere and fluttered onto Lotti’s bouquet.

‘An Osiris Blue!’ Lotti heard Berthold whisper in awe. ‘They are so rare, I’ve never seen one before!’

‘With this ring,’ Max said, his eyes holding Lotti’s as the butterfly hovered on the buddleia’s purple blossom, ‘I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.’