As for Bella’s mother and father, it had been a surprise to them all when Vi had announced that Edwin had asked her to move out to his house at Neston, so that the two of them could start again, which meant that Bella now had her mother’s house to herself, something which delighted her, with Jan on a long leave.
Jean looked around at her family, her heart filled with pride and love.
Somehow they had won through, somehow they were all safe: Grace and Seb with their twins; Lou and Kieran with their plans for the future; Sasha and Bobby, who had made a place for himself with the Salvage Corps and who got around so nimbly on his artificial leg that you’d almost never know it wasn’t real; Fran, happy now with Marcus and little Claire; Jack with Emily; Bella with Jan, their expected baby such a relief to Bella, Jean knew, after her fears that there might not be one; and, of course, Luke and Katie.
Jean had been so pleased when Luke had told her that he and Katie were going to give things another try. Katie had come to the twins’ wedding, helping out with that same quiet kindness that was so much a part of her, and looking at Luke with her love for him shining in her eyes, just as she was doing now, and Luke looking back at her in just the same way, just as he too was doing now.
‘Those two were meant to be together,’ Jean murmured to herself.
‘Have you made your mind up yet?’
Katie turned her attention away from Grace’s gorgeous sons to look at Luke.
‘About what?’ she began teasingly, before stopping and telling him lovingly, ‘You know I have, Luke. In fact I made up my mind, that afternoon in Sloane Square, when I was lying underneath you, wondering where that doodlebug was going to land, that given the chance I wasn’t going to let you escape a second time.’
Luke laughed. ‘If one of us was worrying about the other escaping then it was me. The minute I read what you’d written about Eddie I knew that I had to find a way of convincing you to give me a second chance before some other chap stepped in ahead of me.’
There was a small pause and then he asked, ‘So you will marry me, then?’
‘Yes,’ Katie confirmed, both of them laughing as somewhere close at hand someone opened one of the bottles of champagne Fran and Marcus had brought with them as part of their contribution to the party.
The war was over. It was time to move on – and forward into the future.
Acknowledgements
Susan Opie, and Victoria Hughes-Williams, my editors at HarperCollins. Yvonne Holland, copy editor extraordinaire, who, as always, has done a magnificent job.
All those at HarperCollins whose hard work enabled this book to reach publication.
Tony, who contributes so much to my books via the research he does for me.
Also by Annie Groves
The Pride family series
Ellie Pride
Hettie of Hope Street
The WWII series
Goodnight Sweetheart
Some Sunny Day
The Grafton Girls
As Time Goes By
The Campion series
Across the Mersey
Daughters of Liverpool
The Heart of the Family
Where the Heart Is
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2010
FIRST EDITION
Annie Groves asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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EPub Edition © JULY 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-35215-9
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