It had always been her biggest ambition to get married and have children – lots of children. She didn’t want to be alone. She wanted a family of her own, a dog, a little house and a husband who’d be her partner until the very end. Just knowing that Eddie had gone to the trouble of making that ring for her, well, it was probably the best Christmas gift he’d ever given her and he didn’t even realise it. Even thinking about it made her feel a rush of love for him; he really was the best.

She hadn’t told a soul – not even Maya. Well, how could she? It was meant to be a surprise, even for her! She’d found the ring one afternoon in the workshop, quite by accident. It was her ring. It was everything she’d ever dreamed of, tiny emeralds shooting across a narrow golden bar. It was a miniature of those shooting stars that had filled the sky the night Rachel had slipped away. If she’d sat down and drawn it for him, she wasn’t sure she could make it more perfect.

Automatically, Liv put her hands to her neck, but of course, Rachel’s locket had gone missing years ago. It wasn’t that it had been expensive, but to her it was completely priceless. It had been their grandmother’s, passed to Rachel and then to Liv. It was a strange thing, but she still missed it, still felt its loss, as if with it she’d lost some little connection to Rachel.

She’d dropped a tear when she spotted the ring Eddie had made for her. He’d managed to make the perfect ring, bringing together the future she hoped for and still including Rachel in it even if she wasn’t here to share it with her. But that was Eddie – sometimes he made her happy without even thinking about it. Perhaps it came from having a mother who was, Liv thought for a moment, what was the word? Difficult? Exacting? She thought of that old saying: the man who’s good to his mother will be good to his wife. Well, that was Eddie all over. He’d spent a lifetime trying to keep his mother happy. In Liv’s mind, it meant that one day he’d do the same for her – hadn’t he already started by secretly making the perfect engagement ring?