Counting my blessings

Cliodhna Cosgrove, 29, Belfast

Hopping in my boyfriend’s car after work, he looked at me in a funny way.

‘Something’s different about you, ’ he said. ‘You’re glowing!’

I laughed.

‘You flatterer, ’ I said.

I was a lucky girl, used to Marc making me feel special.

It was May 2020 and I’d met him a year earlier at a friend’s house party.

We’d fallen in love and, ever since, he’d treated me like a princess. Buying me little pressies, like cosy new PJs when he knew I had period pains.

He’d even surprised me with a proposal on my 27th birthday.

I didn’t think I’d