And now it was easier to talk, as if they had more fully come home to each other. In low voices they told each other something of the past years. Norm talked about his squadron, about the terror of flying at night, how one of his mates, Rodney Mapple, had come down over the Med, never to be seen again. But he also told her about the good times, the jokes and pranks, and that somehow, poor and war-torn though it was, he had liked Italy.

‘There were some nice people,’ he said. ‘We’d give ’em food or fags or whatever we could, when we could. And they’d ply us with the old vino, teach us how to say things like buongiorno and grazie. Some of the lads got quite good at it – much better than me. I wouldn’t mind going back some time – seeing it when there’s no war on.’

Em told him about the family, about how Molly had gone off and joined the army and seemed to be thriving.

‘Molly Fox?’ Norm said, surprised. ‘Blimey – I wouldn’t’ve thought she’d’ve lasted five minutes in the army, the state of her. Mind you, they’ve probably seen worse. Maybe it was good for her. I’ve seen quite a few lads licked into shape.’

‘She’s in Clacton now,’ Em said. ‘I had a postcard.’

Mostly, though, she told him about Robbie, about his birth and little stories about him. She knew she’d written some of them to Norm before, but he still liked to hear them. It was a way of getting to know his son, as a baby and as a growing boy.

‘Sometime back – in the spring, I think it was – Mr Perry had the first lot of bananas in that we’d seen in years. Course Robbie had never seen one before, so I brought one home to give him. And I said, “D’you know what this is?” It was a bit green, mind. And he looked at me and said, “Is it a gun?”’ They both laughed.

‘One of them dirty Jerry tricks,’ Norm chuckled. ‘Guns disguised as bananas!’ He turned and kissed Em yet again. ‘Oh, I can’t wait to see him in the morning!’

It was well into the small hours when they finally slept, but what felt like only seconds later, Em was wakened by the sound of Robbie crying upstairs. It took her a few seconds to work out where she was. The sound didn’t seem to have wakened Norm and she sat up, gently moving his arm away from her, and went up to her little boy. He had woken to find the bed empty when she had always been there before.

‘It’s all right, pet . . .’ She sat and cuddled him until he calmed. ‘Mom’s here, ssshhh – you go back to sleep now, darlin’.’

But he wouldn’t settle again without her getting in and holding him, and Em, though longing to go back downstairs to Norm, climbed into bed and lay down with Robbie, holding him close. She had pinched the pillow to take downstairs, so it was not very comfortable, but despite that she found herself falling asleep beside her son’s warm body, leaving her husband on the floor downstairs.