Rosy wrinkled her nose at the smell and opened a window which promptly fell out and landed in the weeds and brambles of the flower bed beneath it. ‘Oh. Oh dear. Can you sort that out while I have a look upstairs?’

Without waiting for a reply, she bounded up the stairs, and as Ron tried to haul up the metal-framed window, he could hear her hurrying footsteps above him. He managed to ram the old hinges back in place and eyed the soot fall in the hearth, wondering if the chimney was safe, then went up to join her.

He’d never been upstairs in Doris’s house, but wasn’t surprised to find four good-sized bedrooms as well as a bathroom – but each and every room had peeling wallpaper, cracked ceilings, flaking plaster and rotting window frames.

His heart sank as Rosie excitedly went from room to room, making all sorts of plans as to how it should be decorated and where to put the furniture she’d yet to buy. The place would probably need rewiring and plumbing on top of renewing the roof and all the guttering. It was going to take months to get it habitable again and would probably cost a fortune – but if it was what Rosie wanted, then he’d have to knuckle down and get on with it.

He left her rummaging around up there and returned to the sitting room to gaze out to the sea, thinking that he could live with a view like that, and there was plenty of room for the ferret hut and his tool shed. The dogs would like it too, with all that lawn to play on, and the beach so close.

He dug his hands into his pockets, his smile wry as he thought of Doris, and how she’d react to him living in this posh side of town. Havelock Road had never been a place he’d considered living in – but it would certainly be a step up from the pub, Peggy’s basement and the old fisherman’s cottage where he’d started out. But then Rosie was a lady, and it was only right she should have a fitting home.

Rosie came back and slipped her arm about his waist. ‘It will cost a bit, but it’ll be worth it just for the view, won’t it?’ she said on a sigh. ‘Oh, Ron, we’re going to be so happy here, I just know it.’

His sour mood fled as he saw the light in her eyes and the yearning for him to love it as much as she did. He kissed her softly. ‘Aye, wee girl. We’ll be as happy as turtle doves, so we will. As long as I don’t put my back out with all the work that needs doing.’

She slapped his arm playfully. ‘I have a remedy for bad backs,’ she murmured with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. ‘Let’s return the keys and put in an offer, then I’ll show you my magic cure.’