Before hanging the new curtains, she and Ellis had redecorated the bedroom with a wash of pale blue on the walls and then had a cream carpet laid. Something Colin would never have countenanced. ‘Cream?’ he would have said. ‘That’ll never take any wear!’

On a further shopping spree, and while browsing the antique shops in Petworth, they came across a new art gallery that had recently opened and they both fell in love with two beautiful watercolour seascapes. These were now hung either side of the new bed and softly illuminated at night by new bedside lamps.

It had been fun having a project to work on with Ellis and going by his enthusiasm for it, he’d enjoyed himself as much as she had. The next room she wanted to tackle was the smallest of the five bedrooms; she wanted Ellis to have it as his own dressing room. It currently housed what he had brought with him from next door. The bulk of his things was still in storage, Waterside Cottage being a partly furnished property. In the coming weeks, Ellis would decide what he wanted to keep and what he would sell or give away. The owners of Waterside Cottage, a couple Naomi had never met, but who lived in Kent, had yet to find new tenants for it. Or perhaps they had other plans for the property.

Now, as Naomi sat up in bed next to Ellis, the curtains pushed back and the voiles swaying gently on the sea breeze at the open French doors, she sipped her first cup of tea of the day while listening to the cry of the gulls, and thought how perfect life was with Ellis here. This time last year she would never have believed she would fall so happily in love again.

After that depressing hour spent in the solicitor’s office in Chichester, Naomi had feared she might lose Ellis with her honesty about not being able to face the fuss of a wedding. The look of disappointment on his face had been unbearable, but he had brightened up when she had explained that she much preferred the idea of being officially engaged to him for the rest of her life. Two days later they had gone ring-shopping together. In one of her favourite antique shops in Arundel, she had spotted a stunning topaz ring. It had even fitted her without having to be altered.

‘It’s as if it was meant to be,’ Ellis had said, taking the ring from her and paying for it. He had then kept hold of it until that evening, when they were strolling along the beach in the setting sun, and he had suddenly gone down on one knee. ‘Corny as hell,’ he’d later remarked, ‘but it had to be done.’

Holding up her left hand now to admire the ring with its large topaz stone, Naomi said, ‘Have I told you recently how much I love my ring?’

‘Not since … hmm … let me think. It might be as long ago as yesterday,’ he replied with a smile.