‘But… but… I left you to sell the house and take care of it, why did you sell it to that tart?’

William’s face flushed red. ‘Lavinia, I suggest you go now, before Mary Kate calls the police.’

‘I didn’t want to have to do this,’ said Mary Kate, ‘but you have five minutes.’ She looked at her watch, just the way Lavinia had with her on the worst night of her life.

Later that morning, when Joan and Deidra arrived, they almost ran down the drive. Joan was carrying her suitcase of belongings and holding Jet’s lead, and Deidra had a basket of provisions on each arm. They could barely contain their excitement.

‘I never thought I would walk over this threshold again,’ said Joan as she stepped into the kitchen.

‘You won’t be,’ said Mary Kate. ‘In future, you will have your own key and you will only enter or leave this house by the front door.’

‘The front door? I can’t do that!’

‘If I can, you can.’

‘What are you going to do about the nurses’ home?’ asked William. ‘Are you going to live here now?’

Mary Kate grinned, but before she could say anything, Mrs O’Keefe interjected. ‘Before you start on that, we definitely need a cuppa,’ she said. ‘Deidra, did you bring milk?’

‘I did.’ Deidra emptied the basket onto the table.

‘Good, there was only gin in that fridge.’

Jet jumped up, placed his paws on the table and licked Mary Kate’s face.

‘Jet, get down,’ she said as she playfully pushed him away.

‘Someone is delighted to be back home,’ said William. ‘Come on then. I can tell you have something up your sleeve – what is it?’

‘Well…’ Mary Kate smiled and looked from one to the other. They were all watching her. ‘I am going to stay at the nurses’ home. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll make new friends and there are six of us starting and living in. But I love this house too. I thought I could rent it out, but I don’t want strangers in here. So I asked Cat and the children to come and live here. They will make good use of the place and they even have Declan coming over for Christmas – can you imagine? Planned already. He’s been over this weekend to see them all.’

Joan clapped her hands. ‘Will we have children in this house again? Will we?’

‘We will.’ Mary Kate laughed. ‘A whole brood of them.’

‘Well, now that you’re settled in and there’s no threat to your life from Lavinia Marcus, I’d better get back to the surgery, or else Bella will be sending out a search party.’ William stood and took his hat from the hook on the back of the door.

‘Talking about parties, William, I think we should have one. Not yet – at Christmas. We could make it a second house-warming.’

‘Only if you’re up to it,’ said William. ‘You’ve had a lot going on.’