Everyone wanted to buy us a celebratory drink. As Ned was driving, he stuck to Coke, but I was happy to have a beer. With a drink apiece we found a table and sat down, both grinning like loons. Ned took my hand and squeezed it and I felt drunk before I’d even had so much as a sip of my pint. Yes, I was giddy with love but there was something else that had shifted deep within me during the ceremony on the beach and I felt like a whole new person. It was a strange, but wonderful feeling.

‘Hey!’ said Liam, rushing over, ‘I’ve just heard the news. I’m so pleased for you both.’

Chelsea was right behind him.

‘What did I say, weeks ago?’ she said, giving him a nudge. ‘Didn’t I say they’d be together before Christmas?’

Liam rolled his eyes. ‘You and everyone else,’ he laughed.

‘But I said it first,’ she insisted.

‘Well, thank you,’ I said. ‘We’re really happy.’

Ned leant over and kissed my cheek.

‘And we’re really pleased to see you both, too,’ he then said to the pair. ‘Because we’d like to officially invite you to the plantation tomorrow for a chat. If you can spare the time. If not, we can see you in the evening instead.’

Liam looked worried.

‘It’s nothing to stress about,’ I quickly said.

‘The opposite in fact,’ added Ned. ‘You should be excited, Liam, and you’ll be happy too, Chelsea.’

‘In that case,’ said Chelsea, ‘we’ll come over when I finish my shift at the care home.’

‘I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?’ Liam frowned, still not convinced that he wasn’t in trouble.

‘No Liam,’ I insisted. ‘In fact, you’ve done everything right.’

He looked happier after that and followed his mum over to the bar. I watched them go, content that not only had I settled my differences with my old adversary, but that I was also now able to help her son with the next stage of his life.

It was quite a turnaround, but then everything that had happened since I’d arrived back at Wynter’s Trees had been a total change.

Ned and I were both touched the next day when Liam and Chelsea arrived and Liam took off his coat to reveal a shirt and tie. I offered everyone coffee and then we sat facing each other on the chairs Ned had rearranged in the office. It was Chelsea who spoke first.

‘Can I just ask that you hurry up and say whatever it is that’s on your minds,’ she pleaded, ‘because he’s been like a cat on a hot tin roof since we saw you in the pub. Put him out of his misery for pity’s sake.’

‘Don’t,’ Liam hissed, looking mortified.