Thank you, once again, for all your lovely comments!
In no particular order...
Nan: I hope you felt well enough to cope with the Christmas preparations and to enjoy the holiday.
Superoo: "Kwanza"? Can you explain? This is a new one on me.
Incognito: I'm very happy to know that you thought the story was perfect for Christmas. I confess, I had my doubts somewhere around the middle. I couldn't help but fear that the story was getting to be a bit on the bleak side for a holiday story!
David: No, I'm not scared. Just a bit surprised.
Besides, being a whole world away from you does make stalking very unlikely!
Ann: Thank you! Your feedback all the way through this story has been a delight. Thought provoking, detailed and so, so complimentary!
I'm pleased that readers liked the appearances of Patrick and Kilmartin in this last part. I don't think I could have kept them out if I had wanted to.
BTW, the thing about wanting to end the story with the bell tolling... I actually had a couple of paragraphs of the ending sketched out very early on... but when I can to the end of the story, I realised that they didn't quite fit. (I did end up using them in a very edited form, but...)
Meanwhile, as I got to the end of the story, my brain was turning to mush and I was exhausted. So I honestly did wonder whether I needed the epilogue. I
wanted one, but I didn't have much energy, and I didn't know how best to write it. I had three ideas, you see, and couldn't decide which, if any, would work.
So I asked Wendy.
Who, as I mentioned, threatened me... and said, why didn't I use two out of the three. And, basically, that's what I did.
And then I threw in the angels for good measure.
Rachel, Gerry, Karen, Susan, Betina, Crystal1463, Maria, Snarla, Jose, Irene, JackieK, SNL and Nicole... and anyone else I've inadvertently missed out, thank you also.
Chris <rather relieved it's all over>
