‘If Kathy is happy then so am I,’ she assured him.

‘In that case we’ll go and see the vicar at St Peter’s in Mancetter first thing in the morning and organise it.’ David guessed that this was where Kathy would want to be married because her father was buried there. He was just sad that Tom wasn’t there to give her away. And so, before the party was even properly finished, they were organising another one and as Sunday saw the radiant glow on her daughter’s cheeks, she couldn’t have been happier about it. The twins spotted David just then and they leapt all over him, smothering him with kisses as Skippy bounded about with his tail wagging furiously.

‘You won’t go away again, will you?’ Thomas asked solemnly when they finally drew apart and David smiled as he ruffled the child’s thick, dark hair.

‘No, I won’t be going anywhere. In fact, in a few days’ time I’m going to be your new daddy. How do you feel about that?’

The smiles on their faces gave him their answer and Sunday slipped discreetly away to give the new little family some time to themselves. It truly had been the most wonderful day. All they had to wait for now was news of Giles, and should it be good news then everything would be just perfect.

The next morning the happy couple borrowed John’s car and used up some of his precious petrol to drive to Mancetter to set the date for the wedding and when they came back the glow on their faces told its own story. ‘In three days’ time you’ll be Mrs David Deacon,’ David told Kathy happily. Suddenly the smile slid from his face as something occurred to him. ‘Crikey! In all the excitement I hadn’t given a thought as to where we’re going to live!’

‘I think I can help you there,’ Sunday told them. ‘You’re more than welcome to live in the lodge. We all lived quite happily there and only moved here because it was safer for the children when the bombing was going on. It might need a good clean and an airing though. It’s been empty for some time now. Of course, now that I have the money back that Ben stole, I’d be quite happy to buy you a house if you’d sooner live somewhere else?’ Sunday offered.

Kathy and David glanced at each other and shook their heads.

‘Actually, I intend to carry on working at the hospital, for now at least,’ Kathy explained. ‘And David will be going back there too so it would be wonderful if we stayed here because we’d still have all of you to keep your eyes on the children. They love living here anyway and I think it would be a wrench for them if we were to take them away.’