‘I know you don’t hold much truck with Christmas, my dear, but I’m still hoping you will enjoy some of our little customs and events. It will be a comfort to know that you carry some of the Wynbridge winter in your heart when you head off on that plane.’

All of a sudden, I thought I was going to cry. I must have been feeling even more tired and emotional than I realised.

‘I’m sure I will,’ I said huskily, before reaching for one of the fluffy towels Dolly had piled on to the end of the bed. ‘Would it be all right if I just have a quick shower to freshen up? I feel a bit grubby after my journey and I still haven’t properly thawed out.’

‘Of course,’ she smiled, ‘but it will have to be a bath. I still don’t have a shower. They’ve always struck me as being in too much of a rush.’

Later that evening I pulled my coat over my dressing gown – a fluffy affair borrowed from my host who was appalled to discover I didn’t have one of my own – and headed down the garden to message Jonathan again. I had barely reached the shelter of the apple trees at the end of the lawn when my phone began to ring.

‘Hattie?’ Jonathan called out the second I answered.

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, thank goodness. Are you all right? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours.’

‘I told you there’s no signal at the cottage,’ I reminded him. ‘I’ve had to come down the garden and I can’t be long because it’s absolutely freezing.’

‘You said you’d let me know when you were in a taxi,’ he said, sounding stressed.

‘I did,’ I told him. ‘I did send a text in response to the ones you’d sent me, but it mustn’t have sent for some reason.’

‘Oh well,’ he said, letting out a long breath, ‘as long as you’re all right.’

‘I am,’ I said, ‘and I’m ever so sorry,’ I added, even though it wasn’t my fault.

‘I kept checking the trains and I could see you were most likely caught in some hold-ups.’

That was putting it mildly, but given that he hadn’t wanted me to use the train in the first place, I didn’t say as much. If I hadn’t been so stubborn, I could have arrived far sooner and far drier.

‘It wasn’t too bad,’ I said playing it down, ‘and I’m settled now.’

‘That’s all right then,’ Jonathan replied, sounding calmer. ‘So, how’s Dolly? I’ve sent her a present. Has it arrived?’

‘It has,’ I told him, ‘and she’s absolutely thrilled with it. It was a really lovely thing to do, Jonathan.’