A Diamond Christmas?

I am expecting an announcement. My eldest step-daughter, A, has been with her young man for ...crikey...seven years? and excitedly hinted to me the last time that we were together that a bethrothal was in the offing. Hardly unexpected, but thrilling all the same.

A's beloved is the most fabulous young man. A true Welshman from The Valleys, he has proven himself over the years to be everything her father could have hoped for his daughter - wise, kind, faithful, hard-working, honourable, familial and funny, but best,best,best of all, they so very obviously love each other. They have stood shoulder to shoulder through long separations whilst she was away at university studying to be the Lawyer he helped her to become, whilst he recently moved from the village where he had lived all of his life and the job he had held since he first went to work, to be with her.

A's parents divorce was protracted and bitter. Still reeling from the shock as a teenager, she at once accepted my place in her Father's life and even when I stepped on a mine in the minefield which is finding your way as a step-parent, our inevitable conflicts were softened by her inate kindness and willingness to extend her hand to someone she could so easily have tortured.

So - when the big announcement comes - I'm thinking Christmas - this step-mother will undoubtedly shed some very happy tears for the darling girl who deserves all the love and happiness in the World, and her delightful young man, who have enriched my once lonely life beyond my wildest dreams.