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Shauna’s jaw dropped. ‘Dan, I—’

‘Don’t say yes or no yet, you’d have to do a screen test. I need the rest of the production team to buy into the idea of a non-professional, but you have a … certain poise and a calm centredness that is just what this part needs …’

Shauna felt she was dreaming when her new agent, recommended by Dan, negotiated a fee that was more than she’d earn in ten years as a location assistant. Her screen test had gone well, after a shaky start. With Dan teasing an understated and naturalistic performance out of her, she had felt herself slip into the persona of her character, Maraid O’Gallagher.

She still found it hard to get her head around this new Shauna Jackson person that she didn’t really know yet. She couldn’t even bring herself to tell Roxy of the incredible opportunity that Dan had singled her out for, it felt too good to be true. She left it until she was on location in Galway before dashing off a quick letter to break the news.

Though Dan maintained a consummate professionalism throughout the shoot, Shauna knew her feelings for him were moving beyond the deep admiration she’d always had for him as a director. She could feel the tug of a deeper emotion drawing her to into his orbit, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to resist.

Dan had dealt with Harris’s wild behaviour with a patience and sensitivity that meant the actor gave one of his best performances. The cast and crew all felt that they had been part of something truly special and there were whispers of Oscar nominations for Dan and Richard.

After the shoot finished, there was time for her to take a short break before heading off to start on post-production back in LA. Shauna decided to spend the time visiting her family. She was surprised when Dan offered to drive her there. ‘It’s God’s own country,’ he told her. ‘I’d be a fool not to enjoy it.’

Shauna could tell that her mother was slightly flummoxed by the appearance of this handsome and debonaire Englishman, and that she was desperate to work out his part in her daughter’s life. It didn’t take long for Dan to win her over, and Da was soon regaling Dan with tales of his uncle who had been sent to prison for his part in the Irish Uprising of 1916 and who had been lucky not be hanged for it.

Nevertheless, as they said goodbye to her parents at the end of the visit, her mother couldn’t resist a dig. ‘It will all come to nothing, Shauna, this acting lark. It’s bad luck to give up your own name.’

‘Hush, Kathleen,’ her father had said, but Dan had put his arm around Shauna.

‘You should be very proud of your daughter, Mrs O’Brien,’ he told her. ‘She’s a wonderful actress, and everyone in Enniscrea will know Shauna Jackson’s name one day.’

Maybe that was the moment when she knew she had fallen in love with Dan. He made love to her that night for the first time, in a small hotel that looked out over Galway Bay. He told her that she was beautiful, and that he would take her dreams and keep them safe with his own. His lovemaking was slow and unhurried, and brought her passion to life again, Shauna knew then it didn’t matter when she had fallen in love with him, only that she was in love.

Dan had become her soulmate, his career was part of the fabric of his existence, and Shauna was like a thread that had been woven into it. She knew that he loved her with every part of his being and she felt the same way.

That first film with him, One Day in April, won him his first Oscar and he told her she was his good luck charm. Her role, though small, got her noticed. Although there were no awards nominations for her, she received glowing reviews in both the Irish and the American press.

Refusing Dan’s entreaties to attend the Oscar ceremony, Shauna opted to stay at home and watch it on TV with only a Chinese delivery for company, not quite ready to put herself under the scrutiny of the flashing bulbs of the red carpet, although Roxy had badgered her to.

‘I’m terrified – they’ll ask me questions and I’ll give stupid answers and I’ll look silly.’

‘You should have let me make you a dress,’ Roxy told her on the phone from Milan.

‘I’m sorry, maybe next time.’

‘You’d better promise!’

She had cried when Dan had won, knowing how much it meant to him, but also knowing that it would take him into the stratosphere. Would this mean that he would drift away from her, that their lives would now be too far apart and he would find someone else more suited to his Hollywood royalty status?

Instead, Dan had shown up at her apartment at 3 a.m. looking the worse for wear and reeking of booze. She’d laughed and tried to help him out of his tuxedo, which was harder than it should have been as he wouldn’t stop talking about how long and boring the ceremony had been, and how he was glad he’d smuggled in a hip flask of brandy because they weren’t allowed to leave their seats for long periods.

‘You’ll have to come with me next year, Shauna – it’s too tedious to bear alone. You will say, yes won’t you?’

‘Put me down as a maybe,’ she’d said, as she struggled to get him out of his trousers.

‘But you’ll be my wife then, so of course so you’ll have to.’

‘Now I know you’re drunk,’ she laughed.

‘No, I’m not. Look …’ He’d fumbled drunkenly in his pocket and pulled out a small box which had the unmistakable stamp of HW – Harry Winston, jeweller to the stars. He proffered it to her. ‘Go on, open it.’

Shauna took the box from his fingers and gingerly opened it. She gasped. Inside was the hugest solitaire she had ever seen, the many facets of its cushion cut throwing a rainbow kaleidoscope across her bedroom ceiling as it caught the light from the vintage Art Deco lamp by her bedside.

‘Dan …?’

You will say yes, won’t you?’ He swayed in front of her, his face a mixture of drunken love and a touch of anxiety.

‘Oh, Dan – yes, yes, yes!!’