A Perfect Christmas by Lynda Page

but to make her own way in the world when she was the same age, and had done well for herself. Now it was time for Cait to do so too instead of always relying on her parents. She had thought at the time that this statement was not entirely true as her mother had had her inheritance to fall back on whereas there was no mention of settling any money on Cait to give her a start. Before she could make any sort of response to this unexpected and shocking announcement, her father had summoned Nerys and without hesitating she had leaped up to see to him.
    Cait had been left feeling terrified about how she was going to fend for herself on the money she could expect to earn as a typist. Her mind had turned somersaults, trying to work out how she was going to manage. There was one obvious answer. Whether or not she wanted to tie herself down so young, she had no other choice that she could see but to find a husband to support her.
    Through going to the local youth club she met several likely candidates, but they all proved unsuitable. For them marriage was something far away in the future, after they had grown tired of having a good time and sowing their wild oats. With her eighteenth birthday just over a year away, Cait was starting to panic that she’d never find herself a husband before her parents’ deadline arrived and she found herself cast out on her own.
    By now she had teamed up with Gina and Clare, using her usual method of buying their friendship by paying for most of the drinks and their entry into the dance halls they would all visit together twice a week. Though they had no idea why Cait was so focused on finding a husband, her forwardness with young men was extremely useful to her friends. When Cait spotted a likely prospect and was busy charming him, his mates often turned their attention to her companions and both young women had secured themselves quite a few dates that way. Like all of Cait’s other relationships, though, these flirtations were short-lived because most young men couldn’t stand her smothering ways and marriage wasn’t of any interest to them until way into the future.
    It was on a night out with her friends that Cait first noticed Neil. She had just entered the Wine Lodge in the marketplace, a dive of an establishment which still sprinkled sawdust on the floors and sported strategically placed spittoons, but the drinks were cheap and that was why the younger generation were willing to mix with the older clientele whose drinking hole it had been for decades. There was one young man present who stood out from the rest. He was tall, good-looking, had an intelligent air about him and was smartly dressed. Cait was immediately attracted to him.
    Heading straight for the part of the bar where he was standing, she purchased drinks for herself and her two friends and she turned purposefully towards him so that she could break the ice by asking him to excuse her. Her ploy worked a treat and moments later she was deep in conversation with him, her two friends with two of his associates. Within twenty minutes Cait had gleaned Neil’s name, how old he was, what he did for a living, and was able to calculate his future prospects. She also learned that he lived with his parents in a good area and, the most important bit of information to her, that he had no girlfriend at present. To her relief, she knew she had at last found her man, someone suitable and also someone with whom she knew she could fall in love. She couldn’t believe her luck.
    Before the two groups of friends went their separate ways Cait had charmed Neil into asking her out on a date the next evening. All she had to do now was pray he fell in love with her and wanted to make her his wife. She knew a proper woman pandered to her man, made him feel like the most important person in her life, was constantly at his beck and call, organised every aspect of his life for him. Well, that was the way her mother treated her father, and he lapped up the