Ruby felt awful as he sipped the sugarless tea and then bit unenthusiastically into the toast. She’d let things slide, and he must think she was absolutely hopeless at housekeeping. Eyeing the heap of curtains on the armchair and the bare windows, she remembered she’d left the other curtains on the line. If only Mike had warned her he was coming early she’d have made sure everything was perfect – as it was, he had to put up with toast and evil-tasting marge, and tea the colour of gnat’s …

‘Stop worrying,’ he said, interrupting her thoughts. ‘I came home for you, not fancy meals and a place so tidy I’d feel awkward.’ He drew her close and kissed the top of her head. ‘All I want is time with my girl, to hold her and love her and tell her all the things I’ve been wanting to say since I got here.’

Ruby realised nothing really mattered but the fact he was here, and that he still loved her despite her failings, and she relaxed against him as he took her hand and looked at the ruby and diamond engagement ring he’d given her before he’d been sent to Scotland.

‘It feels like a lifetime since I put that ring on your finger, Ruby,’ he said softly. ‘Do you still want to marry me and come to Canada?’

‘Of course I do,’ she breathed. ‘I’ve never stopped loving you, Mike, from the moment we met at the Memorial Hospital.’

‘I feel the same way, and today has proved to me that we were meant for one another.’ He drew back and smiled down at her. ‘I know my turning up today has thrown you a bit, but things have moved on much quicker than I expected, and it means my leave has been cut short.’

She sat up and regarded him fearfully. ‘But you wrote and told me you got permission for us to marry before you were shipped home,’ she said breathlessly.

‘And we will do just that,’ he replied firmly. He gripped her hands. ‘Just a bit sooner than we expected. We’re due at the Town Hall on Wednesday at two o’clock.’

‘To arrange our wedding?’

He grinned and shook his head. ‘To have our wedding.’

She thought she’d burst with happiness as she threw herself into his arms – and then reality hit, and she gasped in shock. ‘This Wednesday? But that’s only four days away and I haven’t got a frock, or sorted out my hours at work or any kind of reception.’