‘I’m so sorry, Sarah. I had a feeling I was going to bump into him today. My mum always said I had the gift of foresight, but I never understood what she meant. She told me to always listen to my gut. Now I know what she was on about. I knew it, I bloody knew he’d be in there.’ Mo cursed herself for daring to be bold and ignoring her instinct. She wouldn’t make that mistake again, but now, though she hated feeling like a prisoner in her own home, there was nothing she wanted more than to get back to her room and wait for Samuel to return from work.

Chapter 24

Sarah could see the lights of the fair ahead. George had picked her and Tommy up in his van, even though she’d insisted they could walk to the park and meet him there. He’d found a convenient place to park, then turned to Sarah. ‘Wait there,’ he said, and got out of the van.

Sarah sat bemused as George walked around to the passenger side, then opened the door, and with a sweeping gesture of his arm, said, ‘Milady … If you’d care to join me.’

Sarah climbed out of the van and smiled. She hadn’t wanted to come tonight, but already she was enjoying herself and they weren’t even at the fair yet.

George opened the back doors and Tommy clambered out happily and exclaimed, ‘That was so much fun … I’ve never been in the back of a van before.’

‘If you thought that was fun, just wait ’til we get on them rides!’ George said.

Tommy squealed and grabbed Sarah’s hand as he yanked her towards the bright lights. ‘Hurry up, come on, Mum,’ he urged.

Sarah was walking as fast as she could and was looking forward to seeing Tommy’s face when he would have his first ever ride. She’d never been to the fairground herself, but she wasn’t as keen as Tommy. From what she’d seen, most of the attractions looked ever so big and fast. The fair had been built two years before for the Festival of Britain, but it cost sixpence to get in, and Sarah had never had the money. The Pleasure Gardens were free though, and she and Tommy had spent many hours being amazed and amused by the Guinness Clock. It was at least four times as tall as her, and decorated in wide black and white stripes. When it chimed, the clock’s performance would take at least four minutes to run through, with funny characters popping up and out of little doorways, and windmills spinning around. It would fascinate Tommy and he would try to guess what was going to happen next, but it always surprised him.