She smiled. ‘If by cosy you mean small, then yes, it is. But it’s easy to run and suits me now I’ve returned to work. I’ve come to love living here, and don’t really miss Havelock Road at all.’

‘I expect a lot of that has to do with your neighbour,’ he teased, jingling the change in his trouser pocket just as his father used to do. ‘Will I get a chance to meet him, do you think? Give him the once-over to see if I approve of this match?’

Doris gritted her teeth at the annoying racket of those jingling coins. ‘I don’t know about giving him the once-over, but you’ll certainly be able to meet him.’ She glanced up at the clock. ‘Have you had lunch?’

He shook his head. ‘I was rather hoping to take you out. Didn’t want to bother you with having to cook.’

‘That’s very thoughtful of you,’ she replied. ‘But I already have a luncheon engagement with John and his son at the Officers’ Club, and was about to walk there when you turned up.’

‘Jolly good timing, then, as I can drive us over there and save you the long walk,’ he said, peering through the window into the back garden. ‘I say, Mother, you have been busy. I didn’t know you liked gardening.’

‘It’s mostly John’s work,’ she admitted, coming to stand beside him. ‘I just do a bit of weeding and pruning and harvest the vegetables and fruit.’ She reached for his hand. ‘Tell me about Teddy,’ she pleaded. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve seen him.’

Anthony put his arm around her shoulders and smiled with pride. ‘He’s growing fast and becoming a bit of a menace, climbing on things and getting into cupboards. He and Suzie have coped with the move to Cambridge very well, and we’ve found an excellent nursery school which is just round the corner from our new house.’

He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. ‘I brought lots of snapshots which you can keep.’

Doris grabbed the envelope greedily and spilled the black and white photographs onto the kitchen table. She pounced on those of Teddy before turning to the ones of him and Suzie in the garden of a very smart detached house. ‘It reminds me of our old house,’ she said, peering at the snapshot more closely. Suzie was laughing at the camera, her hand resting protectively over her stomach. ‘Oh,’ she breathed. ‘Oh, I see.’ She turned to Anthony in bewildered hurt. ‘Why didn’t you tell me Suzie was expecting again?’