Georgio laughed in delight.

His elder sister Mary got up from the battered chair by the fireside and offered it to the thin pale girl her mother was practically dragging into the cramped room.

‘Christ, child, your hands are like ice.’

Sitting Donna in the chair, she began chafing the slim fingers between her own, as if Donna was five instead of eighteen and a half.

‘Jaysus save us, would one of yous shut your galloping traps and bring the child a cup of tea?’

Nuala, the youngest, tripped gaily from the room singing: ‘Georgio’s got a girlfriend, Georgio’s got a girlfriend! ’ He chased her out and playfully slapped her bottom.

Ten minutes later, Donna had been introduced to everyone, had a cup of scalding tea balanced precariously on her lap and a plate of sandwiches and cake on the wide arm of the chair. In shocked silence she listened as everyone talked at once, shouting over each other to be heard and arguing playfully about just about everything.

Then a tall man walked into the room with a large covered dish in his hands and everyone fell silent.

Placing the dish on the table he smiled at one and all, saying in broken English, ‘My first-born son has brought home a girl at last! I have made a large pan of Stifado, and downstairs there’s a beautiful crispy plate of Baklava, full of honey and nuts, to enjoy on this special occasion.’

Donna’s eyes were drawn to the large handsome man before her, and as everyone in the room turned to look, Pa Brunos put his ample arms around her waist and kissed her gently on both cheeks. Always near to tears, an emotional man by nature, he then pulled out a large white handkerchief and wiped his eyes.

‘Oh, Jesus save us!’ snorted his wife. ‘He’ll be roaring after a few Ouzos, child. Ignore him!’

Donna laughed with everyone, and in those few seconds, amid the rich garlicky smell of the food and the chattering voices, Donna Fenland fell in love once more.

Georgio she already loved. She had loved him for six months, from the first day she had clapped eyes on him in the Roman Road market.

But now she realised she had fallen in love with a whole family.

A real family, full of real people.

Georgio winked at her and tapped his pocket, where he had a ring ready to place on her slim finger. They’d picked it that day. She was going to marry the tall handsome man with the deep brown eyes and the deep brown voice, and because of that, she would also gain this family.

This family who were enveloped in love, who were warm, spontaneously affectionate, and close.

It was something she would thank God for more than once over the next twenty years.