OK, this is it, people. Thanks so much for reading. I have learnt a lot about writing after a very long break. So thanks for the confidence boost!

Now I have 3 options:

a/ go back to being a good wife and mother and give my husband a break from raising our daughter single handedly

b/ continue the Mallie from where this leaves off

c/ start their romance again as if this story was never written

Of course, I know you all have lives too, but any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Fi xx

Epilogue Part 1:

Grace, Jo and Stevie were all sitting at their desks one day about a week after the conclusion of the Jenson case. Something Jo read in an internal email made her smile.

"Now isn't that interesting?" she remarked to the room. "DS Carter is taking a month's holiday. Now, I heard just today that a certain PC Millie Brown is doing the same thing. Coincidence do you think?"

Eddie entered the room just in time to hear her.

"No such thing as coincidence Jo. Everything has an explanation," replied Eddie.

"So what's your explanation then?" asked Jo.

"Lerrrve," said Eddie. "Big and funky."

"Big? Ah ha, I'd forgotten about our discovery about Max," said Stevie with a grin.

"That's right, I never told you did I?" said Eddie. "That condom wrapper we discovered? Nothing to do with Max and Millie. Had someone else's DNA on it all together."

"Oh dear. Who's going to tell Max and Millie that someone else had been shagging in their love nest?" asked Jo with a laugh.

"Oh I will." said Stevie. "But still, I am a bit sad. Millie is obviously insane, after all."

"Come on you lot, we've all got work to do," Grace piped up from her corner. She then covered her face to hide a smile.

Epilogue Part 2:

Millie stamped her foot, "Max!" she said. "Come on, we'll be late! We have a lot to do today."

A grumpy Max appeared from the bedroom. Millie had to smother a laugh at the sight of him in shorts. "I don't see why we can't just order breakfast up here and have it in bed. And then lunch in bed. And dinner in bed…"

"Because," Millie walked over to him and grabbed him by the wrist and started to pull him out the door, "we are here to experience another culture. You don't come to the South of France to spend all day in your hotel room. You come here to explore."

"I'm perfectly happy to just stay in the room exploring the South of Millie," Max muttered as Millie led him down the staircase holding his hand.

Millie smiled at him before they entered the dining room. "Later darling, later," she said kissing his forehead.

They found a table and sat. Max maintained his sulky expression, and Millie rolled her eyes.

The waiter approached and smiled. "Madam," he said.

"Mademoiselle," Millie corrected him with what Max regarded as far too charming a smile. "Merci," she said as the waiter handed her a menu and walked away.

"Trollop," said Max, with a twinkle in his eye. "I saw you making eyes at him."

"He was very cute though - so young - and probably sexually inexhaustible."

"That's so unfair!" said Max indignantly. "You're the one who separated us from the privacy of the hotel room." He stood up and grabbed Millie's arm. "Come on, I'll show you who's sexually inexhaustible."

"Behave yourself, or when he comes back I'll refer to you as mon frere." Millie smiled and pushed him back into his chair.

"By the way, my mother phoned while you were in the shower. Wondered why I suddenly had a piano in my house."

"And what did you tell her?" asked Millie.

"Um, that I was minding it for a friend…"

"Coward!" said Millie.

"What do I tell her then?"

"The truth; that your lover is staying with you until she finds a new flat."

"I don't see why you have to leave…"

"Max, we don't want to rush into things do we? I know this relationship business is all new to you, but I don't want to find out one day that the Jenson affair is the only reason we ever got together, OK?"

"You know it's not. Well, I do anyway," said Max looking slightly wounded.

"I know too," she reached over squeezed his knee. "I just want to make sure."

"Anyway, the sex was far more my motivation than Jenson, oww! You're pinching me!"

"Sorry, it was an accident. And did your mother mention how Cleo is settling in with her?"

"That's working really well. I can't understand why that cat took to her so immediately, but just refused to bond with you."

"You pooh poohed my theory about cats and witches, but you have to admit..."

"How dare you! My sainted mother!"

"OK, I'm sorry, you know I was joking," said Millie. "Castrating old hag..." she muttered behind her menu.

"Did you say something, my love?"

"No I just coughed. Ah, the waiter's coming back now, so be nice to him. And behave!"

"Monsieur, Mademoiselle," the waiter said. "You will be pleased to know that today we have for you a complete cooked English breakfast."

"Great!" said Millie. Then something occurred to her. "Are you sure you have plenty of sausages?" she asked.

The waiter looked surprised, "Of course!"

"Don't worry about that, Millie," said Max loudly. "Whenever you have the need, you know I'll always give you my sau..."

Millie covered his mouth with her hand. "Don't say it," she said.