‘I forgot until now,’ he groaned.

‘Never mind, darling,’ she said tenderly. ‘People of our age become forgetful.’

‘Our age?’ he echoed, affronted. ‘Are you suggesting that I’m old?’

‘Of course not. You could be a hundred and you still wouldn’t be old.’

‘Thank you, my dear.’

She couldn’t resist adding cheekily, ‘But give me my present before you forget again.’

He gave her a look, then switched on the little light by the bed and fumbled in a drawer, producing a small object that he hid behind his back. ‘Close your eyes and hold out your hands,’ he ordered.

Smiling, she did so, until she felt the soft touch of fur in her palm, and opened her eyes to find a small teddy bear. She gave an excited squeal and rubbed him against her cheek. ‘Now, that’s a real present,’ she said. ‘Much better than diamonds.’

There seemed little in the toy to explain her delight. Six inches tall, with beady eyes and nylon fur, he was like a thousand other cheap trinkets, but Dee was overwhelmed with joy.

‘Do you remember the first one I gave you?’ Mark asked fondly.

For answer, she reached under her pillow and produced another toy bear. Once, long ago, he might have been like the new one, but now all his fur had worn away, he was shabby and mended at the seams.

‘He’s still here,’ Dee said, holding him up. ‘I never let him get far away.’

‘You talk as though he was alive and trying to escape.’

‘He is alive, and he knows he can never escape me,’ she said, looking at her husband with meaning. ‘That night you said you’d given him to me so that I didn’t forget you. I loved you so much that nothing in the world could have made me forget you, but you didn’t know that.’

‘I took too long to understand,’ he agreed. ‘So many things I didn’t see until it was nearly too late.’