Dolly looked at me and raised her eyebrows and I felt heat flood my cheeks.

‘Exactly,’ she said briskly. ‘Just as I thought. So, there we have it. A mutual attraction which is going to ultimately, at some point, result in more than friendship.’

Beamish and I stayed quiet, not sure if we were supposed to confirm, deny or respond to what she was suggesting. I wasn’t sure what his heart was doing, but the thought of having more than friendship with the man sitting next to me had got mine skittering along at a right old pace.

‘However,’ Dolly went on, ‘what you both have to keep in mind, is that I haven’t got a lot of time and I certainly haven’t got a stretch left for pussyfooting about. By the time the pair of you have gone through the usual back and forth, the expected ups and downs and had the final will they, won’t they Richard Curtis moment, I could be six foot under.’

‘Dolly!’ Beamish and I chorused.

‘Well I could,’ she said, laughing at our shocked expressions, ‘couldn’t I?’

‘I suppose that is a possibility,’ Beamish conceded.

I tutted but I knew there was some truth in what she was saying. Unfortunately.

‘More than a possibility,’ she said, shooting straight from the hip. ‘So,’ she continued, sounding a little breathless, ‘I need the two of you to get on with it! I want the pair of you to be together, from this very moment. In fact,’ she added, nodding to the Christmas Wish List which was in its usual spot next to the fireplace, ‘if you look at the final page, you’ll see it’s my very last wish.’

I jumped up and reached for the list and sure enough, there it was, added in her familiar but now slightly shaky copperplate handwriting. I handed the note to Beamish but he didn’t look at it. He threw it down on the table, jumped up, pulled me into his arms and kissed me passionately on the lips.

‘There now,’ I heard Dolly say, sounding suitably satisfied, ‘we can tick that straight off!’

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Once Beamish had let me up for air and I had, laughing, grabbed him and kissed him back, Dolly was content that her work was done and announced that she was taking herself off for a bath and a very early night.

‘There’s only so much excitement I can handle,’ she said, smiling, ‘and I’m sure you two lovebirds would like a moment to gather your thoughts and catch your breath.’

I ran back up the stairs to draw Dolly’s bath, adding the lavender salts she loved so much while Beamish made a light snack which she could eat in bed.