The wedding photos told their own story: Rose looking pert and joyous in a white half-circle hat, with a big coat hiding the bump because she'd fallen pregnant some months before, while George was in a bad suit twiddling his fingers, and with his eyes elsewhere.

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Now, after two-and-a-half years of planning and seven months of stitching the coat, Mrs O'Connell is considering a career in textile art.

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But in the morning you half expect to see him sleepwalk into a room with the hanger still in his coat.

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