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Chapters (84)
  1. All the Days of Our Lives
  2. 1945
  3. 1931-1944
  4. I
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. 1946
  28. II
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. III
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. IV
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. V
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Thirty-Four
  44. Thirty-Five
  45. VI
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. 1948-1949
  49. VII
  50. Thirty-Eight
  51. Thirty-Nine
  52. Forty
  53. VIII
  54. Forty-One
  55. Forty-Two
  56. Forty-Three
  57. IX
  58. Forty-Four
  59. Forty-Five
  60. Forty-Six
  61. X
  62. Forty-Seven
  63. Forty-Eight
  64. Forty-Nine
  65. Fifty
  66. Fifty-One
  67. Fifty-Two
  68. Fifty-Three
  69. Fifty-Four
  70. XI
  71. Fifty-Five
  72. Fifty-Six
  73. XII
  74. Fifty-Seven
  75. Fifty-Eight
  76. XIII
  77. Fifty-Nine
  78. XIV
  79. Sixty
  80. XV
  81. Sixty-One
  82. Sixty-Two
  83. 1953
  84. All the Days of Our Lives

‘This is my pal Ruth,’ Molly said, indicating the slender young woman beside her. ‘We were in the ATS together, and she’s put up with me ever since. Ruth’s one of these clever so-and-sos – she’s at Cambridge doing science.’

‘Oh, shush, Molly, stop it,’ Ruth said, blushing. She smiled and shook Katie’s hand. ‘Nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind my coming – it’s just that we were both visiting this weekend.’

‘Of course not,’ Katie said. ‘The more, the merrier. Let’s go out to the back and I’ll make you all some tea.’

It was a lovely, lazy afternoon of conversations and meeting new people, and children free to romp around everyone, with the adults intervening or joining in when necessary. They all sat round eating and drinking in the warm breeze. Em disappeared inside to feed the baby and, as the sun sank lower, Sybil’s friends and their dogs began to drift away, first calling out their thanks and goodbyes.

When everyone had been well fed, Katie was free to sit and talk. She liked Ruth, who told her that now she had finished her science degree at Cambridge, she had stayed on to do research.

‘Does that mean you got a First, my dear?’ Sybil asked across the table. ‘One of my brothers went to Cambridge, but he came out with a disgracefully poor degree in the end. Went abroad instead and had all sorts of adventures.’

‘How exciting,’ Ruth said.

‘Oh, indeed it is – well, it’s exciting the first time you hear about it anyway,’ Sybil added wickedly. ‘He lives in Australia now. But you . . . ?’

‘Yes, I did get a First. I think research is my thing.’

Seeing that Ruth and Sybil were getting along well, Katie went to sit with her two old classmates at one end of the table in the shadow of the trees, so that they could all catch up.

Their eyes kept being drawn to the baby, who spent most of her time asleep in Em’s arms.

‘I still can’t believe she’s really here,’ Em said, smiling down at her. ‘All that time I was in such a state wondering what was wrong. In the end I gave up thinking about it, and decided we were lucky to have Robbie – and then out of the blue, bingo! And here she is. I mean, it would’ve been nicer if they were closer in age, but I’m not complaining – I’m just so happy to have her!’

Katie was overjoyed for her too. Over these years when they had met as often as they could manage, and had rebuilt their friendship, her own children had arrived with no trouble, first Tomas, then Dorothy, while poor Em was having no luck.