They continued to Daisy’s house which turned out to be a two-up, two-down terrace with a small back yard. Daisy herself was an older and somewhat wearier version of her younger sister, but she had a ready smile and quick wit and after a while Rose felt as though she’d known her for ages. After a cup of tea and a teacake, Rose and Amy took the two older girls and Betsy to the park where they played happily for a couple of hours, but all the time, whatever she was doing or saying, Rose was thinking about the market stall. She would be doing something she loved, she told herself, which was halfway to making a success of anything, and she wouldn’t mind how hard she worked or the number of hours she had to put in. She would be independent, answerable to no one but herself.

Once they had taken Daisy’s girls home, they walked back to the inn in the late-afternoon sunshine, Amy regaling her with the wedding dress she and her mother were already making in any spare time. ‘It’s bonny,’ Amy said dreamily, ‘and Daisy’s three are going to be my bridesmaids. They’ll look so sweet in pink, won’t they? Me da wanted me to wait till I was eighteen to get wed but I’ve persuaded him for next spring when I’m seventeen. Like I said to him, there’s no point in waiting if you know you’ve got the right one and I’ve loved Frank since he started at my school when I was nine. Him and his mam an’ da and brothers had just moved here from Hedley on the Hill cause his da was starting at the ironworks, and I saw him that first day and I just knew. He said he felt the same. We were inseparable after that and although my mam an’ da and his used to take the mickey, we’ve stood the test of time, haven’t we? He still makes me go weak at the knees every time I see him.’

Rose smiled. Amy was nothing if not dramatic.

‘Honestly, he does,’ Amy insisted. ‘Was it like that with you an’ your husband?’ And then realizing she hadn’t been exactly tactful in the circumstances, she added, ‘Oh, sorry, lass, sorry. Me big mouth running away with me.’

‘It’s all right. No, it wasn’t really like that with me and Davey, at least, not for me. He said he knew right away I was the girl he wanted to marry but I took a bit more time. I’m naturally cautious, I think,’ she said almost defensively, feeling suddenly she’d let Davey down in some way. ‘But we got married within a few months of meeting so I suppose it was quick. His parents thought so anyway.’ She grimaced. ‘They didn’t like me.’

‘No?’