‘If you would, please rise to welcome the bride.’

The organ music soared to the rafters as Danuta slowly came down the aisle on a very proud Ron’s arm. Her beautiful dress glittered and shimmered as she moved, and her lovely face was positively radiant beneath the veil that drifted around her shoulders.

Peggy glanced away to Stanislaw whose look of adoration spoke volumes as tears began to fill his eyes and slowly trickle down his face, but Martin had clearly come prepared, for he handed him a handkerchief.

Danuta floated past on Ron’s sturdy arm, her gaze never leaving the man who waited for her. The little girls were wearing the same dresses they’d had for Rita’s wedding, their coronets of lily of the valley firmly pinned in place. It seemed they were getting the hang of being bridesmaids, for they behaved perfectly.

‘I never realised how beautiful our little Danuta is,’ said Cordelia, mopping up her tears.

‘Beautiful inside and out,’ murmured Peggy tearfully, watching the groom meet his bride at the steps to lovingly kiss her hand.

The service was a long one as is the Catholic tradition, with hymns and prayers and the couple taking communion, and Peggy noticed that Danuta had surreptitiously let the hem of her dress cover the top of Stanislaw’s shoe, which according to Polish superstition would give her prominence in the partnership. This made Peggy smile, for they were both as fiery and stubborn as each other, and she’d be most interested to see who emerged the stronger.

Father Finlay surprised everyone by conducting the vows in Polish, and once they and the rings had been exchanged, he encouraged Stanislaw to kiss his bride, which he did with such alacrity, he had everyone chuckling.

Peggy, Ron and Cordelia had been fully advised on the etiquette and tradition of a Polish wedding so weren’t at all surprised when Stanislaw’s fellow Poles showered them with small coins along with the confetti as they emerged from the church.

Photographs were taken on the steps and by the lychgate, and then the happy couple followed the priest into the cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of Aleksy and Katarzyna, and bow their heads as he said a prayer for them in Polish.

The wedding party finally moved to the Officers’ Club where the reception room had recently been updated and extended to twice the size with a sprung dance floor and huge windows overlooking the coastline. Everyone crowded in to wait for the bride and groom, and when they arrived, they were presented with a specially baked loaf of bread sprinkled with salt, as was the tradition. The bread was to ensure they never went hungry; the salt a reminder of life’s difficulties and the importance of learning to cope.

Ron stepped forward with two glasses – one filled with water, the other with vodka. It was the bride who had to choose which one to take first, for whoever had the vodka would be the dominant one throughout the marriage. Danuta looked at Ron for a clue, but he merely grinned and refused to say anything.