And yet as she stared at her beloved friend, she wasn’t so sure. This latest tragedy seemed to have broken Sunday completely and Cissie was concerned for her. She was also worried about how the news had affected Livvy. She was close to the birth of her own baby now and heartbroken at the loss of the girl who had been brought up as her sister.

The funeral took place two weeks later on just the sort of day Kathy would have loved – bright and sunny – which made it all the harder. She was laid to rest not far from Tom and Ben, with all the people she loved gathered around, and the next day the baby was allowed home from hospital. David named him Edward and, having taken indefinite leave from work, insisted on caring for all the children himself. His parents had travelled from Yorkshire to help and they fell in love with their new grandchildren immediately. And so, it was no surprise when David visited Sunday one bright, sunny morning to tell her, ‘I, er … I’ve made a decision and I need to speak to you about it.’

Sunday stared at him from dull eyes.

‘The thing is … I’ve spoken to my parents and they’ve asked me to go back to Yorkshire so that the children and I can live with them. Mum will take care of them when I go back to work. I hope you can understand, there are just too many memories here for me and we’ll have a fresh start there.’

Sunday sighed; she had half expected this. The twins’ adoption had been finalised some months ago and so Daisy and Thomas were now legally his.

‘Don’t worry, I shall bring all the children to see you as often as I can,’ David rushed on, feeling guilty. Poor Sunday had lost her daughter and now she was about to lose her grandchildren too. But surprisingly she nodded.

‘It might be for the best. We old codgers are past caring for them properly now and, as you say, they’ll have a fresh new start there.’ And then suddenly they were in each other’s arms crying for the beautiful young woman they had both loved so much.

Two weeks later, on the day before they were due to leave, David took the children to place flowers on their mother’s grave.

‘I miss Mummy,’ Daisy said tearfully.

‘I know you do, sweetheart, we all do,’ David said gravely as he cuddled baby Edward close to his chest. ‘But she’ll always be with us in our hearts and we still have each other.’

They stood for a few moments letting the peace of the place wash over them as they listened to the birds in the trees, then slowly they all made their way back to the car.