Penny chuckled at her mother’s description of her father being her exact opposite. Complete understatement of the millennium. But when Anna went on to describe Ned for the apparent gentleman he was – opening car doors, kissing her hand, taking her to the cinema, the whole shebang, Penny felt herself feeling somewhat envious. Her dad was obviously besotted with her mother, much like Rob was besotted with Elle, and she felt herself ever so slightly jealous of both of them – she couldn’t remember the last time a man had kissed her hand – or treated her like something precious. In fact, that had never happened. In her love-life, she was always the one doing the chasing or making the effort. Forgetting her own thoughts for the moment, Penny read on.

June 1, 1975

So the ‘M’ word was mentioned today. And not by me. It was Ned who asked if I had ever thought of it. Marriage, that is. He kind of caught me unawares, truth be told. After all, we have only been going out for a couple of months.

But I would be lying if I said that I had never thought about it. Especially recently as things have been going so well. So, I told him the truth. That I had thought about marriage and it was something that interested me – something that I saw in my future. Something that I wanted in my future.

He nodded and smiled – and then, being Ned, started humming a song, together with lyrics about arms that longed to hold me and keep me by his side. Of course, I have come to understand by now the meaning of this little tic of his – Ned seems to find it easiest to express emotion via music lyrics, and this particular insight is from the Beatles song From Me to You. I think it’s lovely and find it full of promise. So I think this might be it. I think he’ll ask me soon. Either himself or in the words of Lennon/McCartney. Either way is grand with me.

Penny read the last paragraph again. It was the first time that her mother had openly acknowledged Ned’s curious penchant for quoting Beatles’ lyrics. And she put up with that willingly even back then? Penny asked herself, scratching her head.

To her mind, it was easily the most frustrating thing about her dad. Everyone knew of course that both Elle and Penny had been named for famous Beatles songs but she didn’t realise that her mother had been so complicit.

But it appeared that Anna didn’t only put up with it – she also seemed to find it endearing – cute even.

She continued reading. A bit like modern day poetry, her mother gushed in another entry, and Penny’s eyes glistened, captivated and moved all at once by this insight into the early days of her parents’ romance.