When she came back with a pot of tea, she noticed a present on the table – a small box, carefully wrapped. ‘What is all this about?’ she asked guardedly, taking off her apron and sliding into the seat opposite him. ‘Why are you smiling at me like that?’

‘Can’t you guess? I was going to wait until we’d finished eating, but I don’t think I can stand the suspense. Go on – open it now.’

She did as he asked, surprised by how badly she wanted the present to be what she thought it was. Here, next to the tree, the sweet scent of pine held its own against the stronger aromas of coffee and bacon, and she felt suddenly like a child on Christmas morning. The ring was beautiful: an amethyst – her birthstone – surrounded by eight tiny pearls and set in yellow gold. When she looked up, he was already out of his seat, and she noticed that the other diners were beginning to stare over at their table. ‘Johnny, you’re not going down on one knee …’

‘Of course I am. I want to do this properly. Violet Carter, will you marry me?’

It wasn’t the first proposal the tearoom had seen, and Violet had always felt sorry for the woman put so publicly on the spot, but now she found she didn’t mind. She threw her arms around him, and a cheer went up from her colleagues. ‘Of course I will, you daft bugger. Who else would have you?’ 37She pulled him back to his seat as the customers began to applaud. ‘You arranged all this behind my back? And they were all in on it? Mrs Ridley as well?’ He nodded. ‘You were taking a risk! What if I’d said no?’

‘You wouldn’t do that to me.’

‘No, you’re right – I wouldn’t.’ She was going to tell him how much she loved him, how happy his love had made her, but she knew it would embarrass him; in spite of the grand gesture, he wasn’t one for too many words. ‘What on earth will my mum and dad say? That’ll teach them to have five girls. They’ve only just finished paying off Julie’s wedding, and now mine’s on the horizon.’

‘Not too far on the horizon, I hope. And your dad couldn’t have been more pleased when I went to see him.’

‘I don’t expect he could. He worships the ground you walk on.’

‘Which is a damned sight more than my own father did.’ He smiled to take the edge off his words, sorry to have spoilt the moment. ‘I shouldn’t have said that. This is our day, and I want it to be special.’

‘It is special, but you’re bound to be thinking about your dad,’ she said, reluctant to let him change the subject so easily. ‘Christmas does that to all of us, and he hasn’t even been gone a year yet.’

‘I just wish I’d said more to him. Done more to make him proud of me … but it’s too late now.’