From a detached house in Esher with no mortgage, she had seen her parents in less than a decade reduced to living over their increasingly run down shop. Finally she had helped her mother move to a low priced back to back terrace in Yorkshire when their home went in the early 1990s. Her father who had so proudly voted for the government that introduced the tax had died heart broken the month before.

Now it was she and her husband that were facing bankruptcy. There had to be a better way.

Seemingly far off in the distance, she heard herself speak. "I definitely need a job. Providing it can be fitted in with the needs of my family, I would love to work with you. If you would drop me off at Kingston town centre, I have some groceries to get."



It was 11 o'clock before Sarah arrived back home. Worryingly, there was no chorus of complaints from children and husband. No chaos created out of inexperienced efforts to cope with boiling up some beans or ironing sufficient clothes for the next day.

An unnerving quietness reigned as she closed the door behind her. Tears pricked at her eyes and, through waves of dispirited tiredness, She tried to remember which nearby hospital was the one with a casualty unit.

The pretty dark haired girl that was in the kitchen wore a reassuring smile, jeans and an apron. She was cleaning up the kitchen after the family's meal. She called Sarah 'Mrs Thompson' and explained that the kids had been read their story, had gone to bed quite happily and were now asleep. Mr Thompson was in his study finishing off some paperwork and she would let herself out when she was finished in about five minutes.

The small motto on her apron said 'Calm your Crisis with JennyCare'. She was the second person that day Sarah could have kissed with relief.

The door to the twin's bedroom was ajar and Sarah quietly pushed it open. Clowns and model steam engines bedecked walls and duvets. Clean pressed clothes had been put near the bottom of their beds ready for the morning. She knelt down between their beds and watched them as they slept. They looked so at peace. A lazy eye slowly opened and a sleepy voice emerged from under the duvet.

"I love you mummy."

"I love you too darling", whispered Sarah, a catch in her voice. "Go back to sleep. Everything's going to be all right" Opening the door to the office, she quietly made her way through the semidarkness to the pool of light that illuminated David's desk. Tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck, she slid onto his lap.

It felt so good to be close to him again after the horrors of the day. She felt a huge rush of affection and attached her lips to his in a deep long drawn out kiss that she wanted to go on forever.

Some minutes later, he protested he needed air.

"I really am so sorry I'm late. But what a wonderful man you are", she said, "how did you manage. I was expecting chaos at the best".

He harrumphed a bit, the way men do when they have solved a problem they don't think is their responsibility, but he was pleased with himself that his last minute arrangements had worked out.

"Just took advantage of a leaflet through the door. The young lady has just started up her business and as soon as I called she was around like a shot."

He gazed at her to see her reactions.

"So what's been happening to you?" he asked curiously.

She gazed affectionately into his hazel eyes. Just being with him was enough. It made all the fighting and struggling worthwhile.

"I love you", she said, softly. "Come to bed and I'll tell you about my new job. We need to make some plans and have that girl help us a bit more. I may need to be away for a few days. But first things first - there are some very special plans I have in mind ... just for you ... right now."

Like a limpet, she attached her lips to his again and then squealed quietly as he came to his feet still holding her in his arms and carried her off in the direction of the bedroom. It felt good to have his arms around her.

As they passed the light by the door in the bedroom, Sarah flicked it off.

"You'll have to feel for me in the dark", she said with a giggle - but the real reason was that she didn't want him to see the marks on her.

Momentarily, as he stretched his lean naked body alongside her, she felt uncomfortable as memories returned of Peter's large frame pressing against her in the café. But now she was with the man she loved and he was holding her tightly.

Kissing each other deeply, they moved closer and closer then, seemingly after an eternity of sensation, her contented sighs mingled with his. For a while, the £50,000 she owed and the anger that burned inside her were replaced by dreams of children playing, long lawns and happy family visits to the countryside.



In the days that followed she had hoped Tim Cruikshank would contact her but he didn't and following several increasingly unpleasant letters from the bank, regretfully Sarah had decided to turn again to her plans for Peter.