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not. Her feet were firmly on the ground and while everyone who met her warmed to her, she was a strong woman with firm ideas of her own. Not classically beautiful, she had a dazzling smile and twinkling blue eyes hinting at the humour that was so much a part of her personality.
    â€œShe reminds me of sunshine,” Alexander declared after he had proudly walked her down the aisle to Max six months later, “and that’s what Max needs in his life, sunshine.” As usual Alexander either liked very much or didn’t like at all. He liked Sarah and always would.
    Douglas Hood, who had been instrumental in Max becoming a special constable and then a regular policeman, was best man and after something of a false start, his adult life began again.
    Heather and Jules grew up as brother and sister and twins Jane Eloise and David Xavier completed the family. Max and Sarah bought a large, old house primarily because it faced onto Oak Hathern Village Green and spent years pouring money and love into it.
    Max looked at the house. It was the finest on the green now and a meeting place for all family members, his mother and uncles who still lived at Top Cottage and the youngsters who had now moved on to live their own lives.
    â€œWhat are you thinking about?” Sarah asked, rubbing her cold hands together.
    â€œI was just admiring our lovely house and thinking how lucky we are to own it.”
    Sarah nodded in agreement, “Yes, but I wish we were lucky enough to be in our lovely house where it’s nice and warm. I shouldn’t be surprised if we get snow today.”
    The race was an important event in the area having first taken place some 60 years earlier when an argument during a lunchtime drinking session on New Year’s Eve had seen four drunken men run, walk or stumble around the green for a wager. By the time they had completed their disorderly course, half the village folk were out watching the amusing spectacle. No-one now remembered who the men were or who won but certainly by the next New Year they were in the pub once again challenging one another. Over the ensuing decades the event evolved from a quarrel among drunks into a respectable tradition with a trophy for the winner.
    Competitors came from surrounding areas, some serious contenders others just joining in for the fun of it. The local boy scouts manned checkpoints en route to prevent any short cuts through the woods and the landlord of the pub where it all began served hot punch and meat pies through the pub window.
    Sarah anxiously kept watch. It was only a race, but David needed even a small win in his life to negate some of the failures he had notched up recently. Having played more than he worked, he had just scraped through university and then come to a grinding halt. It was difficult not to compare him to his twin sister Jane who had gained honours in history and politics and landed a plumb job in the British Embassy in Berlin.
    Max despaired of his son’s casual attitude and after several unpleasant altercations about what he was doing and where he was going, at Sarah’s insistence, they had called a truce. Not an easy task since David was living at home again.
    The older children, Jules and Heather, were both happily married and had families of their own. Heather’s husband, Stephen Young, was a local and they owned and lived behind the village garage with their five-year-old daughter, Helen. Jules and his wife, Anna, lived in London, but they and their sons, Christian and Jonathan, always anxious to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, were regular visitors to Oak Hathern.
    Max fell into conversation with the local police constable, who, flattered by the attention of the famous ‘Red Max,’ chattered amicably. Sarah supposed it was inevitable, but she had wanted him to clear his mind of work just for one day.
    Suddenly, a cheer went up and much earlier than expected, a runner came in sight, but it