Across the Mersey (40 page)
‘When this is finally over, if we both live to see it through, will you marry me, Grace?’ asked Seb. His voice was unsteady, his gaze full of love.
‘Yes. Yes, I will,’ Grace answered him, exhaling on a deliriously happy breath of anticipation when Seb took her in his arms again.
The twins couldn’t wait any longer. Despite their mother’s stern warning that they were not to interrupt, Sasha pushed open the door and looked expectantly at them.
‘Are you and Grace going to be married?’ Lou demanded excitedly.
Seb looked at Grace.
‘Yes,’ he told them softly. ‘Yes, we are.’
* * *
The country had already lived through well over a year of war. No one knew what might lie ahead, or how much longer the war would last, but for now, for a precious handful of minutes, the war could be forgotten and their love celebrated.
Of course, Seb had to wait for Sam to return home in order to ask him that all-important question that every young man had to ask the father of the girl he loved, and of course, Sam, as a loving father, had to point out to him that Grace was young, that there was a war on, but as Jean had already said to him, how could they stand in the way of their happiness, when that happiness was all the more precious
because
there was war on? And so it was agreed that they could be engaged at Christmas.
The most special Christmas of her life, as Grace whispered to Seb in the jeweller’s shop not far away from Lewis’s when the salesman had discreetly disappeared to let them both admire the shiny sparkling diamond engagement ring they had chosen together.
Ellie Pride
Connie’s Courage
Hettie of Hope Street
Goodnight Sweetheart
Some Sunny Day
The Grafton Girls
As Time Goes By
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Published by HarperCollins
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2008
Copyright © Annie Groves 2008 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 September 2008 ISBN-9780007283736
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