For Ella Evans, marriage was never on the cards. But early in her relationship with Grant, she recognised they had a future together

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At the beginning of 2000 I moved to Christchurch in Aotearoa New Zealand to study midwifery. I had been a volunteer firefighter before, so I decided to live in my old hometown of Lyttelton while I was studying so I could join their local fire brigade.

It had been more than 10 years since I had lived there but not much had changed. It still had that small-town vibe where everyone knew each other. I fronted up for training night at the brigade and recognised quite a few faces, still the same, just a bit older. There was a very tall, handsome young guy standing at the back who I recognised as Grant. He looked very shy and serious but when he smiled it was like turning a light on. His mum and my mum had been friends when we were younger, but we didn’t hang out in the same circles; I was seven years older than him and we went to different schools.