‘Oh, Doris, how awful. But how did he do it?’

‘His foot caught in a rabbit hole on the golf links and he fell awkwardly, aggravating an old injury. I’m sorry, Peggy, but I’ll have to ring off. The doctor’s receptionist promised he’d telephone the minute he finished morning surgery.’

‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do,’ said Peggy, and put down the receiver.

Doris was clearly in a terrible state, which was hardly surprising as their wedding was only a week away. Peggy could only pray that John’s back healed in time, and they weren’t forced to cancel.

Her thoughts fled as there was a knock on the front door. Opening it, she found Sally and her husband, John, on the doorstep, their arms laden with cloth clothes bags.

‘Hello, Auntie Peggy,’ she said, stepping into the hall and kissing her cheek. ‘I’m not too early, am I? Only I thought it would be best to come now so that I’d have time to do any last-minute alterations to Ivy’s dress.’

‘Not at all,’ said Peggy, her fingers itching to open the bags and see what was inside. ‘Come in, come in, the pair of you.’

‘Sally!’ Rita came running down the stairs with an equally excited Ivy following more slowly. ‘Here, let me help you with those,’ Rita said, quickly taking charge of John’s burden before he let it slip to the floor. ‘And thanks for giving Sally a lift up, John,’ she added, glancing past him to the fire station truck parked outside. ‘She’d never have managed to carry this lot up the hill.’

‘There’s more to come,’ he said, shooting her a grin before he quickly ran down the steps and reached into the truck for two shoe boxes.

‘Oh, Sal,’ Rita breathed. ‘You did it. You really managed it when I honestly thought it would be impossible.’

Sally laughed. ‘John, you’d better give those boxes to Aunt Peggy. As you can see, Rita and I have our hands full.’

‘I’ll take ’em.’ Ivy snatched the boxes from John before Peggy could get her hands on them. ‘Don’t want to spoil the surprise,’ she said with a naughty wink to Peggy. ‘You’ll see everything all in good time, Auntie Peg.’

John left and the three girls giggled as they carefully carried the precious clothes up the stairs and into the large front bedroom. Peggy stood at the bottom of the stairs as the bedroom door was firmly closed behind them, and gave a frustrated sigh. One peek wouldn’t have hurt, surely?

‘Come on, Mum,’ said Anne with a smile in her voice. ‘You’ll be up there the minute Rita’s ready for you, so savour the anticipation and watch the girls for a minute while I go and get changed. I doubt Rita would want me turning up in these old trousers and twinset.’

Peggy went out into the garden to mind the children, her ears pricked for a call from Rita to come and help her get dressed. But there was still no summons by the time Anne returned, so Peggy went and got dressed in her finery, feeling more than a little put out that Rita didn’t seem to want her help.