Oblivious to the family, and even the waiter until he interrupted, Barbara listened wholeheartedly to Rose. Their story was sweet and wonderful, but in their own special way rather than carbon copy of what the advertising firms said was romantic and special.

Barbara chuckled. "I proposed initially. I asked him to elope with me one evening but he convinced me that our parents, not to mention Howard and all of Ian's siblings, would not take very well to it." Rose was giving her a rather startled look, and Barbara backpedaled a little. "We'd discussed marriage - it wasn't out of the blue! After going through so much together for so long, we knew that there was no possible way we could live without one another."

She went on to explain how Ian got down on one knee in a park by his home one evening, but was caught by some of his students who took it upon themselves to join in once he'd asked The Question. They shouted out many reasons as to why she should say yes, and after a moment Barbara was giggling too hard to say anything at all, so she merely nodded her head. Howard was then waiting for them with a bottle of champagne and flowers when they got back to Ian's flat. It was, by far, one of the best experiences she'd had since coming home.