‘Yeah but you’ve got all this.’ She cast her hand around the flat, indicating my glass wall overlooking Tower Bridge, my state-of-the-art Bang and Olufsen speakers, and the early Damian Hirst that I’d bought last Christmas for the exposed-brick wall above the reclaimed fireplace. ‘I’d feel like the poor relation, taking you to mine. I used to have my own little place, which was nice enough – nothing like this, obviously – but … well, I had to sell it.’

I nodded, assuming she couldn’t keep up with the mortgage payments. It’s not exactly uncommon. I took her in my arms, squeezed her tight and then let her go, feeling a stab of love for her as I saw that tears were brimming in her eyes.

‘I inherited the money to buy this flat, and the business, from my father, as you know,’ I said. ‘I work hard, but all this was pretty much handed to me on a plate. And I doubt I’d have managed to hang on to it if it wasn’t for Olivia and the other people around me who are much better at all this stuff than I am.’ I put an arm around her again and kissed her forehead. ‘You’re building your business up from scratch. In my book, that’s much more impressive than having a smart place to live.’

She smiled weakly. ‘I love you,’ she said, burrowing her head into my chest.

I grinned. It was the first time she’d said it. ‘I love you too,’ I replied. I’d been dying to tell her for ages.

After that, things between Ria and me moved quickly. Olivia disapproved – there were a lot of sly references to gold-digging and the like – but I was in love and Ria loved me, I was sure of it. And even if she didn’t, as far as I could see, Ria was as good as I was ever going to get. For me, that was enough. I loved her. I’d be a good husband to her, she would be a good wife to me and … well, that’s about everything you could want in a marriage, isn’t it? I’d never been as happy as I had since Ria came into my life and there was no way I wanted things to go back to how they were before. I wanted to marry Ria, have children with her, buy her things, and make her happy. That was what I wanted from life and it was none of Olivia’s business.

I was nearly forty by then, Ria almost the same age, so if we wanted children, there was no time to waste. Six weeks after we met, I took her to Paris and proposed at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It might not have been the most original idea, but she said yes, which was all that mattered.