The taxi creeps through traffic and I know that time is running out. Up ahead are temporary traffic lights and the driver pulls up the handbrake as he stops.

‘Maybe it’s best to just leave it as we’re never going to get there on time at this rate.’

‘We’ve come so far, we can’t give up now, Edie.’ He leans forward to talk to the driver. ‘How far away are we?’

‘As the crow flies, it’s just down that road to the right, but we’ve got to drive round the diversion.’

‘We’ll get out here.’ Douglas pulls his wallet out and places his card on the card reader before we exit the taxi. He grabs hold of my hand and he pulls me in the direction the driver was pointing.

‘Come on, we can make it,’ he says, pulling me along. ‘There it is.’

He stops and points at the registry office on the other side of the road and we take a moment to catch our breath. I spot Soph, and I pull Douglas back towards the shadows. She’s chatting excitedly with Verity, who’s dressed in the most beautiful, understated but elegant knee-length white dress that goes in at the waist with a full 1950s skirt. Joel’s walking just behind and as they reach the building, Verity turns back to him and straightens his tie before he puts his hand on her waist and they smile at each other as they go in.

I’d only just got my breath back from our mad dash to the registry office but the sight in front of me takes it away once more.

‘I can’t do this,’ I say, shaking my head.

‘Of course you can, they’ve only just gone in, you’re not too late.’

‘But I can’t do this. What was I thinking? If he had any feelings for me at all he wouldn’t be going through with this. He knew I’d received the email and he didn’t say or do anything.’

Seeing the affection as they looked at one another really brought it home for me. It might only be for a visa now, but what if they’re both two people scared of commitment who need a nudge like this for them to take the next step. Maybe Soph’s right, there is something there after all and I’ve chosen not to see it because of how I feel.

‘Edie, you’ve come all this way.’

‘I know, but I got carried away. I can’t … Please don’t tell him I was here. I don’t want him to know. Can you just pretend that you didn’t see me?’

Douglas looks pained.

‘I will if it’s what you actually want.’

‘It is. Please don’t let him know.’