She had composed herself by the time Edward returned, dressed for outdoors in a thick greatcoat and hat and scarf. Once in the taxi, Edward kept the conversation flowing, asking her about the shop and Alice and how her mother had adapted to their new environment, and she was content to follow his lead. Both of them knew the next hour or two would be momentous, but talking about it wouldn’t help.

When the taxi drew up outside the shop, Edward surprised her by putting his hand over hers for a moment. ‘Thank you, Olive,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll never forget what you did today, however this turns out. I couldn’t see the wood for the trees, that’s the truth of it.’

She smiled. ‘The shop will be closing in a minute or two – do you want to wait a few moments until Ruby’s assistants have left?’ But even as she spoke, the door opened and two young girls came out, laughing and talking, and they caught sight of Ruby in the doorway as she turned the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’.

Edward was out of the taxi in a heartbeat. Olive caught sight of her sister’s face as she saw him and it told her everything she needed to know. Leaning back in the seat, her smile widening, she said to the taxi driver, ‘You can go now.’

Ruby had become transfixed as she watched Edward walk towards her through the falling snowflakes. The door was slightly ajar but for the life of her she couldn’t open it fully; it was as though she was frozen. It wasn’t until he said her name that she was able to respond, pulling it wide as she whispered, ‘Edward, Edward . . .’

Even while he had been making conversation of sorts with Ruby’s sister, a different section of his mind had been planning what he would say when he saw her. Now he simply took her into his arms, kissing her as he had always dreamed of doing, long and hard and endlessly, lifting her right off her feet and kicking the door shut with one foot before he carried her over to one of the plush easy chairs and sat down with her on his lap, his lips never leaving hers for a moment.

Her head was swimming and she was gasping by the time his mouth left hers long enough for him to mutter, ‘Oh, Ruby, I’ve been such a fool. Can you ever forgive me, my sweet? I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if you’ll have me. Will you? Will you marry me, my love? Tell me it isn’t too late, that you still love me.’