Later, as Rupert snores softly and I start to drift off, reliving what has been the best day I’ve had in a long, long time, I chide myself for thinking that Rupert was anything other than the perfect man I saw when I first came to be interviewed as his housekeeper.

Christmas morning, and I wake up with a mild red wine hangover, to see Rupert leaning over me, an excited smile on his face. Honestly, I think, he’s worse than a child, but that doesn’t stop me from grinning back at him, my limbs aching from the previous evening.

‘Merry Christmas,’ he whispers, keeping the noise down so as not to wake his brother and Amanda in the next room.

‘Merry Christmas,’ I whisper back, forgetting to hold in my morning breath. I jump out of bed and hurry for the small en suite (imagine, growing up in a house where you have your own bathroom attached – I was lucky to get a space in the family bathroom at all when I was growing up) quickly showering and brushing my teeth before we head downstairs for breakfast.

Christmas is definitely as traditional as it comes in the Milligan household – Diana stirs a vat of scrambled eggs on the Aga, as Will butters toast and Amanda shreds smoked salmon, all while Eamonn sits at the table drinking coffee. We toast ourselves with Buck’s Fizz, and I am touched when Diana hands out tiny stockings to each of us, including me, that contain chocolate, small bottles of perfume or aftershave, a pair of socks each and an orange. I have to blink back tears as I accept it, retreating to the downstairs loo to blow my nose.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, my cheeks flushed with the early morning alcohol and the heat of the kitchen, I think about my mum, and about Mags, and wonder what they are doing, whether they are thinking of me this morning. I’d like to think they are, but the truth is they probably haven’t given me a second thought. I push away the image of Harry that creeps into my mind, unable to see him any other way than when I saw him last, as he squeezed my throat hard and I struggled for breath, and I thank God that I found Rupert. I think about Caro, and how selfish she was to throw herself off a bridge and leave this wonderful family behind. And then I think about how lucky I am, that she did do what she did, leaving this wonderful family for me to be part of.

Mid-afternoon, once we have eaten lunch and Eamonn has refused to turn on the Queen’s Speech, Rupert’s father claps his hands together and starts chivvying everyone along.

‘What are we doing?’ I ask Rupert in confusion, as we all pile up in the back hallway and Diana hands out pairs of wellies.