Josephine Cox Sunday Times Bestsellers Collection. Josephine Cox

me.’

      ‘Well, thank you, I’d be honoured, sir.’ Lucy laughed. She was thrilled. It was a long time since anyone had whisked her round the dance-floor. She thought of Edward Trent with a familiar flash of anger. All along she had loved him, and all along he had told her how much he loved her back. Like a fool she had believed him, and he let her down badly.

      Now, though, because of what he had done when she lay injured, she could walk by him in the street and not even turn a hair. Gently, unconsciously, she fingered the scar by her hairline where she had smashed her head against a rock.

      ‘That reminds me!’ Barney had completely forgotten. ‘First thing tomorrow, I need the pair of you lads to help me set out that wooden floor in the barn. It hasn’t been used since me and your mam had our twentieth wedding anniversary. With all the invites that have gone out, I’ve an idea we might need to make a couple or more extra squares.’

      The excitement mounted. ‘Christenings, birthdays and sailing off to a new land … whatever next!’ Vicky raised her wine-glass for the umpteenth time. ‘To the future!’ And everyone drank heartily.

      Everyone except Barney, who touched the wine against his lips and pretended to drink; Lucy, who saw him do it, wondered if he was hiding something after all.

      In that worrying moment he glanced up and smiled at her; and the smile was so beautiful and easy, it took her breath away. She smiled back and raised her glass. ‘All right, Barney?’ She mouthed the words. He nodded, raised his glass and took a sip. Soon he was laughing, and all seemed well.

      The christening went even better than planned.

      The sun came out to brighten the day and the service was simple, yet awe-inspiring. Even when the sacred water was poured over his forehead, Jamie did not flinch. He seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

      Barney picked him up and held him; Bridget and Adam swore to be godparents, and the child was blessed.

      ‘Now, how d’you feel about it?’ Barney asked afterwards, and Lucy told him she felt it had been the right thing to do.

      Vicky said he was now a child of God, and they drank to his future.

      Then, in all the excitement, Jamie wet his pants. Lucy changed him and he promptly fell asleep, exhausted from being the centre of attention, while family and friends held a simple little lunch. ‘We’ve still got the birthday party tomorrow to look forward to,’ Ronnie said, and Susie ran upstairs to check that nothing had happened to the pretty dress Vicky had bought her for the occasion.

      Later that afternoon, Adam was tidying up his porch when he caught sight of someone going across the headland. Convinced it was Barney, he put on his coat and climbed the hill towards him.

      When he got to the spot where he thought he had seen Barney, there was nothing there, not a bird or a rabbit, or anything, save for the winter-chill that swept across the land when evening came.

      ‘That’s funny!’ Adam was sure he’d seen someone up there. Cupping his mouth, he called against the wind. ‘BARNEY! Where the devil are you!’ but there was no answer.

      Puzzled, he made his way back to Casey’s Farm. ‘I could have sworn …’ He shook his head. ‘Adam Chives, you must be losing your marbles.’ But then, he chided himself, was it surprising he’d begun to imagine things, when his best and only real friend in the world had told him he would probably not live to see another Christmas?

       Further down the hill, the figure remained hidden until Adam had gone on his way, then furtively it emerged, to continue along the path in the direction of Overhill Farm.

      The two Davidson boys were in the barn and had been for the past hour. ‘No, no!’ Barney rushed forward, just in time to stop Ronnie from laying the section too close to the corner. ‘You need to leave room for the dancing,’ he said. ‘If you take it too far into the corner, there’ll be no space for folks to swing about.’

      Ronnie laughed at that. ‘Oh, so you do intend we’ll all be swinging about, do you?’

      ‘I hope so!’ Thomas brought forward another two sections. ‘I’m bringing the prettiest girl ever, and I’d be real disappointed if we weren’t able to dance!’ He winked at Ronnie who told him he was fortunate, because so far, he himself didn’t have a partner.

      ‘You’ve got Lucy,’ Barney reminded him. ‘And if you think she can’t dance then you’d best think again, because from what me and your mammy have seen, she can cut a rug along wi’ the best of ’em!’

      In fact, he had often caught Lucy when she was playing the gramophone and dancing on her own across the parlour. ‘What’s more,’ he added, ‘she’s a fine-looking young woman. You should be proud she’s agreed to dance the evening away with you, my lad.’

      ‘How many more sections do you think I need to make?’ Thomas had been making wooden-slatted squares all morning, and now it seemed his father was right and there wouldn’t be enough of a dance-floor to cope with all the folks that were invited.

      Barney walked the area with him. ‘We’ll need it right up to there,’ he said, pointing to the barn wall. ‘That’s where the food will be. Then it needs taking to within three feet of the far end. That’s where the benches will be set out, and folks can sit if they’re not dancing.’ He scratched his chin and mentally calculated. ‘I reckon if you could make another two, that should do it.’

      As Thomas went back outside, Barney informed Ronnie, ‘That’s your job when once you’ve finished laying the floor. We’ll need at least four long benches for folks to sit on.’

      ‘I like the way you say “we”,’ Ronnie quipped. ‘I haven’t seen you lift a single thing yet, Dad!’

      ‘Cheeky young divil!’ Barney wagged a friendly finger. ‘Some of us have more to do than prepare for a barn-dance. There’s plenty of other work wants seeing to.’

      Just lately, Barney had found it increasingly necessary to delegate the work he was physically incapable of doing. Thankfully, so far he had managed to hoodwink everybody. ‘Stop your moaning and get on with it, you young scoundrel. And be quick about it. Afore we know where we are, tomorrow will be here and so will all the folks.’

      By the time evening came the barn was ready, with colourful trimmings hanging from the rafters, a long table set up to hold the food and a whole wall of benches to accommodate weary bottoms. Much to Barney’s delight, the makeshift dance-floor was not only a job to be proud of, but large enough for the dancing of many partygoers. ‘You’ve done a grand job,’ he told his sons. ‘I couldn’t have done better myself.’

      Ronnie reminded him that the tables for the guests to eat at were not yet put up. ‘There’ll be time enough to root them out tomorrow,’ his father said. ‘If I remember rightly, the fold-up tables are buried under all kinds of rubbish at the back end of the wood-shed.’

      It was gone nine by the time Barney and his sons returned to the house. ‘That’s us done for the night,’ he told Vicky who, together with Lucy, was still taking trays of pork pies out of the oven. ‘It’s over to you now, girls.’ He was concerned at the late hour. ‘It might be best if Lucy and the child stayed the night,’ he suggested to Vicky. ‘She looks fair worn out – you both do. Leave it all now, and get up early in the morning. The party doesn’t start till evening. There’ll be plenty of time to finish off whatever needs doing.’

      ‘I’ve already asked Lucy to stay.’ With the back of her flour-speckled hand, Vicky wiped away a wisp of hair. ‘Bless him, little Jamie’s fell asleep hours ago … Lucy’s just about to go up.’

      Bone-tired and ready for her bed, Lucy washed her hands at the pot sink, said her good nights and climbed the stairs to be with her child.

      After checking little Jamie she stood for a while at the window, looking at the night sky and thinking how strange life could be. One minute she was footloose and fancy free; then along came Edward Trent, who promised her