They were parked at the end of the terrace. There was nothing except the beach road between them and the sea. Did that mean that he had bought the last house in the row, the one that was as close to the waves as it was possible to get?

‘Is it that one?’ Melissa breathed, hardly daring to hope. ‘The end one?’

She caught Ray’s expression, at once both frustrated and slightly irritated.

‘No. It’s number 5,’ he said, and she saw now that the car was parked more outside number 5 than number 1.

Just for a second, Melissa felt her spirits sink. The end house would have been so perfect. But then she caught herself. What was she thinking? Number 5 was still amazing. And a mid-terrace was much warmer than one with three walls exposed to the biting north wind. She hoped that no part of her momentary disappointment had shown on her face. She couldn’t bear for Ray to think that she was in any way ungrateful.

She counted up the front doors so that there could be no further mistakes: 1, 3 and there was number 5. It looked like a child’s drawing of a house with a neat front door and big bay window on the ground floor and two symmetrical windows above. The rough pebble-dash render was painted a rich burgundy and the window surrounds were a warm buttery cream. It was lovely.

‘Oh!’ said Melissa, opening the car door and jumping up and down on the spot. ‘This one? The red one? Oh Ray, it’s gorgeous. I can’t believe it. You bought a house! You bought us a house!’

‘Shall we go in then?’ asked Ray. He was beaming, pride at having pulled this off without her even suspecting what he was up to just radiating off him.

Melissa unfastened the now wide-awake Leah from her car seat and lifted her out, hugging her tightly into her chest as if she too were part of the prize that she had just won, which, in a way, she was.

Ray pushed open the little iron gate and walked backwards up the path towards the front door, all the time smiling and waving the key at Melissa. When he reached the door he slotted the key into the lock, swung the door open and turned back to face her.

‘I believe,’ he said, ‘that I have to carry my bride over the threshold.’

‘You can’t do that, you idiot,’ objected Melissa. ‘I’ve got hold of Leah. It’s not safe.’ But she knew he would and hoped that the whole street was watching.

‘Then I shall carry my bride AND my daughter,’ he replied, sweeping the pair of them up, his arm under Melissa’s legs. He tottered a little under the weight and then took the few steps until they were inside, where he let them down again.

Then he took Melissa’s face in his hands and kissed her.