After the service at the small parish church, which was a stone’s throw from the grand hotel where Godfrey had paid for the wedding reception as his and Clarissa’s wedding present to the happy couple, they all sat down to a sumptuous five-course meal with champagne. By the time Clarissa and Godfrey took Mrs Walton back to Sunderland the elderly lady was tiddly and declaring it was the best wedding she’d ever been to. Ruby and Edward agreed with her. It had been a wonderful day. But it wasn’t until the taxi cab deposited them home to the place Edward had christened ‘the love nest’ above the shop that Ruby felt truly married. They were alone at last, and after all the twists and turns of the last years, the sorrow and heartache, the doubts and fears, suddenly the world made sense. She was Edward’s wife and he was her husband. It really was as simple as that.

Their wedding night was everything she could have hoped for and more. Edward proved himself to be a gentle but passionate lover, intent on making her first time as wonderful as it could be. And afterwards, when she lay in his arms and listened to the strong steady beat of his heart, she suddenly raised herself up and kissed him over and over again, thinking that if Daniel Bell’s aim had been slightly to the left or right, everything would now be very different. Against all the odds they were together, and she knew that what had been forged in the fire would last.

They would carve themselves a good life, based on a foundation of mutual love and respect, and what better foundation could there be?

It was up to them now.

Epilogue

1935

The last few years had been busy and productive for Ruby and Edward, in more ways than one.

Eighteen months after their wedding day, twin girls had been born, and two years later a bouncing baby boy had announced his arrival into the world with a bellow that had become characteristic of him when he was demanding a feed. George Edward had weighed in at a healthy and hungry ten pounds, and his diminutive sisters, Rose Ellie and Kate Olive, had been thrilled with their new live ‘dolly’. But the arrival of their children had only been part of it.