‘It’s perfectly reasonable, Martha,’ said Mum. ‘And actually, Ellis and I planned to share our own news with you this evening. You see, he’s asked me to marry him and—’

‘Tell me you haven’t said yes,’ Martha interrupted abruptly.

‘That’s exactly what I said.’

‘But you can’t! How could you even contemplate marriage? What would Dad think?’

‘I’d like to think he wouldn’t want me to spend the rest of my life alone.’

‘But you’re not alone,’ Martha asserted. ‘You have us.’

‘And you girls both have your own lives to lead. Am I not allowed the same thing? Am I not allowed to have somebody special in my life too? And Ellis is special; he makes me happy in ways I haven’t felt in a long time.’

Martha scoffed at that; her expression unattractively severe as she narrowed her eyes and chewed on the inside of her lip.

Conscious that she should contribute in some way, that by remaining silent Mum might think she agreed with her sister, Willow said, ‘If you do marry Ellis, where will you live?’

Her mother looked at her with a small smile of gratitude. ‘Here, of course.’

Martha made another scoffing sound, but thankfully didn’t say anything.

‘You wouldn’t want to live somewhere new, then?’ Willow asked. ‘Where you could both start afresh?’

Now Martha did speak. ‘What Willow is trying to say is, wouldn’t you prefer to live nearer the two of us so you can spend more time with your grandchildren?’

‘No,’ Mum said with finality. ‘I love living here and I think your children will love it too, in time. Just as you two did. Now then, there’s something else you should know. The rental agreement runs out on Waterside Cottage next month and I’ve suggested to Ellis that he moves in with me.’

‘Lucky Ellis, he’s got it made, hasn’t he?’ muttered Martha.

‘No,’ said Mum with quiet dignity, ‘I think you’ll find it’s the other way around. I’m the lucky one.’

At the sound of voices approaching along the beach – male voices – Willow felt a bolt of alarm. She hurriedly downed what remained in her wineglass and sprang guiltily from the deckchair.

But it was impossible to spring – innocently or guiltily – from a deckchair and by the time she had scrabbled inelegantly from it in a pantomime of clumsiness, Rick, Tom and Ellis were heading up the garden. Without really thinking what she was doing, only that she had to get rid of the evidence of her illicit drinking, Willow tucked the glass out of sight behind a bush.

‘Not a word,’ she murmured to her mother and sister, who both looked at her as though she were mad. Well, it would be Rick who would be mad with her if he knew what she’d been up to.

Chapter Thirty-One

The next day, following a barbecue in the garden at Anchor House and a walk to Bosham and back, and after Rick and Willow had already set off for London, Tom happily handed over the car keys to Martha so she could drive them home.