After breakfast they packed up all their wedding clobber and set off in Ray’s car back towards the coast. Baby Leah, tired now of all the unfamiliar places, was starting to get a little bit fractious, but Melissa didn’t mind. Nothing was going to spoil her mood. She dug a dummy out of her coat pocket and gave it to Leah to suck on, which did the trick.

They followed the coast road into Whitley Bay and as they passed the entrance to the caravan park Melissa let out a little sigh. She loved her caravan. Yes, it was draughty and noisy and there wasn’t room to swing a cat in there, but it had done her proud. She would be sad to give it up. But not that sad, she thought, as a buzz of excitement zipped straight through her. A house! A real house of their own!

They drove along the promenade that ran alongside the beach for a little way and then Ray slowed the car down and indicated left. Melissa was suddenly too nervous to look. What if she hated it? What would she say? Ray had gone to all this effort to buy them the perfect home, but it might be hideous. She covered her face with her hands, partly to join in with the game that Ray was clearly enjoying, but mainly because if she couldn’t see then she wouldn’t be disappointed.

Melissa felt the car come to a halt, heard Ray turn the key in the ignition and the engine stop. Still she kept her eyes hidden behind her hands. Her heart was in her mouth. She hardly dared breathe.

‘Here we are!’ said Ray, a note of triumph in his voice and then, when she still didn’t look up, ‘Well, do you want to see this house or not, Mrs Allen?’

Did she? Melissa still wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t sit here forever. Gradually she pulled her hands away from her eyes. She was looking at a wide street which ran at right angles to the beach. Up one side sat a string of two-storeyed terrace houses, many with their render painted in pretty shell colours. On the other was a playground and what she assumed, from the sounds of children playing, was a primary school.

Melissa turned to look at Ray, her eyes wide in expectation. Which house was it? Where were they going to be starting their new life as husband and wife? Ray grinned, his shoulders hunched up towards his ears as he rubbed his hands together with glee.

‘Well?’ asked Melissa, her voice anxious. She couldn’t decide whether she felt excited or just plain sick. ‘Which one is it?’

Ray cocked his head and she turned hers in the same direction.