The house was dark and cold when he opened the door, until he stepped into the kitchen.  Inside, Molly, Penny and Percy greeted him, the two teenagers throwing their arms around him and hugging him tightly.  Molly – and a young girl he assumed was the home help – seemed a little more standoffish, but he hugged her anyway.  A pang of guilt, as sharp as a knife, echoed through him as he remembered everything he'd done with Rose.

“Welcome home, dad,” Penny said.  She pushed him towards a chair, then produced a sheet of paper.  “I did very well on my exams.”

“Well done,” Kurt said, grinning like a madman.  His kids were fine, his wife ... well, she wasn't entirely fine, but at least she wasn't shouting and throwing things at him.  “And you, Percy?”

“I’m going to apply to the Academy next year,” Percy said.  “I can go, with your permission ...”

Kurt swallowed.  “Later, son,” he said.  He knew it wouldn't be easy to convince Molly to agree – and he wasn't going to write any permission slip without her consent.  “Later.”

The home help stuck out a diffident hand.  “I’m Gayle,” she said.  She was tall and muscular, reminding him of a handful of female servicewomen he knew.  “I’ve been looking after your kids for the last two months.”

Kurt frowned.  Hadn't there been another girl?

“She's practically been living here,” Penny said, crossly.  “I can't get away from her.”

“Good,” Kurt said, unsympathetically.  He ignored the whining about how Gayle put a crimp in Penny’s social life.  Constant supervision was probably good for her, even if she wasn't going out and having fun with her friends.  “You have to get high marks in your exams or your social life will take a disastrous fall.”

Penny looked sulky, but cheered up when Molly brought out the cake.

Afterwards, when the teenagers were in bed, he spoke to Molly.  “What happened to their schooling?”

“The school said that it wasn't going to expel children from military families,” Molly said.  “But I don't know how we’re going to keep them there.”

She shook her head.  “Penny acted quite badly for months,” she explained.  “I had to practically thrash her bottom red to stop her driving the teachers mad – and that was with supervision.  I don't know what I would have done if she’d been expelled.  As it is, we don't even have the money to keep them there past the end of the year.”

Kurt smiled.  “Prize money,” he said, and produced the cheque from his pocket.  “We can keep them there for a few years, if necessary.”

Molly stared at the cheque, then shook her head in disbelief.  “Where are you going now?”