Mags felt the warmth that had entered her earlier deepen to love for Jerome. Reluctantly she lifted Beth off him and sat her down between them once more. ‘Come on, darling, there’ll be plenty of time for cuddles in the future. Now we’d better get on our way, or it’ll take us days to get to our new home at this rate.’

Jerome winked and started the car. Beth put her hand into Mags’s and snuggled into her.

By the time they reached Blackburn, Beth had been asleep for a couple of hours, and both Mags and Jerome were exhausted. Mags had taken the wheel for a while, when Jerome had said that his eyes were feeling strained; and this had further pleased her as he showed no qualms about women driving. He truly was made from a different mould to most of the men she knew, and was so like Montel in his thinking and actions.

‘How about you come home with me, Mags? Mother would love to see you, and there will be a meal ready, as she is expecting me. I telephoned her and gave her all the news, on having found you, and about you having a child. I told her I was bringing you back to Blackburn. And she said then that you were welcome, if you needed a bed for the night.’

‘That sounds wonderful, Jerome. Thank you. I don’t know how my house has progressed, and I would have to go to a restaurant to eat and then start to find bedding and make up beds. It is all so daunting that I was thinking of booking into a hotel.’

Dinner was lovely. Beth was fed and bathed as soon as they arrived at Jerome’s parents’ house, and was snuggled into a cot that had been brought down from the attic and put beside the bed that Mags was to sleep in.

Mags was feeling refreshed after a bath and having changed into a light evening dress, a simple straight satin frock that hung from her shoulders. The pale blue complemented her ivory skin. She’d brushed her hair and allowed it to fall in its own natural waves onto her shoulders. Pleased with the way it shone, and how the hints of chestnut amongst the darkness caught the light, she had the strange feeling of getting ready for a date, as she finished her outfit with a long string of pearls. She’d checked her appearance many times in the long mirror in the guest room that she occupied, and now felt happy with how she looked.

Mrs Cadley was a lovely person, and to Mags it was as if the years hadn’t happened and she was a little girl visiting with her parents. Nothing about the house had changed. Nor about Mr Cadley, though she was sure he’d mellowed a little, as she remembered him being an abrupt man. She wasn’t in his parents’ company for long before she could see that Jerome had inherited his mother’s gentle nature.