For the last forty-eight hours, even though Ella had been run off her feet, she’d had the best time. In seven hours’ time all of her hard work, with the help of Roman, would be showcased to everyone who attended The Lakehouse, and she couldn’t wait. Roman had spent the morning setting up all the sound equipment whilst Ella had organised the huge screen behind the stage which would project images from the past sent in by the villagers of Heartcross. The whole place looked beautiful, and reminded Ella of a magical winter wonderland. Dolores’ favourite white flowers filled the corners of every room and the top of the grand piano was dotted with tea lights. Fairy lights were draped over the bay trees which looked beautiful at each end of the stage, and bottles and bottles of champagne were chilling in the huge fridges in the wine room at the back of the restaurant. All of the special guests supporting Dolores with her ‘Trip Down Memory Lane’ were arriving late afternoon. Flynn had put them all in the finest deluxe suites up at Starcross Manor and they were to be ushered across to The Lakehouse with the utmost high security.

‘How are Dolores’ nerves holding up?’ asked Roman as he kicked off his shoes and draped his legs across the coffee table.

Ella jokingly pointed at Roman’s feet. ‘Make yourself at home, why don’t you?’

‘Well, we have been dating for a couple of weeks now,’ he grinned, ‘so, you know…’

Ella shook her head. ‘Dolores has no nerves whatsoever. I called in just before we sailed across to The Lakehouse this morning, and she is absolutely itching for the night to begin. However, she is feeling more anxious about this afternoon. She’d spent ten minutes deliberating about what to wear for her meeting with Charlie.’

‘I think I’d be nervous too. Fancy meeting your true love after all these years! I mean, what if Dolores is disappointed and thinks she wasted all those years hankering after someone she couldn’t have, and now she wishes she hadn’t?’

‘Aren’t you a true romantic? For your information, they have written to each other for years and kept in touch, but I’ve no idea why they were kept apart. Maybe we’ll find out this afternoon. I’m absolutely intrigued. Changing the subject… How’s Megan?’

‘So far so good, another two weeks to go, and fingers crossed she’s turned a corner. The hardest part about all this is, I can only support her from afar, there’s no outside contact allowed, no technology, no social media. She has to focus on learning to love herself again.’

‘And she will, I’ve got a good feeling about it all.’