‘Can’t you, at least for Kathy’s sake, try to look as if you’re enjoying yourself and be civil,’ she hissed when Giles turned away to help someone else.

‘Huh! What with that pompous oaf rubbing salt into the wound because he’s in our house!’ Livvy stamped off into the dining room and Sunday gave up. She was more than a little tired of Livvy’s prolonged bitterness. She herself now visited Treetops to take tea with John regularly. Only the week before she had spent the afternoon helping him decorate the Christmas tree because, by his own admission, he was useless at such things, and she did have to admit it had been time well spent. It looked magnificent.

‘My wife always saw to that sort of thing,’ he had told her helplessly and she had taken pity on him. Most men were useless at that sort of thing – her Tom included. Thoughts of Tom sent a little shaft of pain piercing through her. It was so sad that he hadn’t been here today to see his grandchildren christened. He would have been so proud, but then she pushed the sad thoughts firmly aside. She was going to have her hands full trying to stop Livvy causing a huge argument, and she didn’t have time for these maudlin thoughts. So, plastering on a smile, she followed her daughter, determined to keep an eye on her.

It wasn’t long before George, who had been looking increasingly uncomfortable in his suit and tie, left to go and check on the horses and despite the sullen look on Livvy’s face the rest of the day passed pleasantly as the guests all billed and cooed over the stars of the day. Almost everyone Sunday cared about was there. The Locketts had braved the weather as well as Flora and Jamie and their two teenage daughters from the village, and Constance and her husband and baby, who’d been born a few months before the twins. A number of Kathy’s friends, including David and some of the nurses she had worked with at the hospital, had also come along and Sunday noted with amusement the way they were eyeing Giles up. But then he was a very attractive young man. She just wished Livvy could see it but there seemed little chance of that happening now. Livvy had spent the day studiously avoiding Giles and at the earliest opportunity, she left.

Eventually David drove Kathy and the babies back to the lodge, insisting that she shouldn’t walk down the drive in the snow that was still falling thick and fast, and soon the guests began to depart, eager to get back to their firesides before the afternoon darkened.

Both Cissie and Sunday stayed behind for a while after everyone had gone to help tidy up and as Sunday was carrying a tray of dirty pots into the kitchen, she passed Cissie in the hallway.