“You two were quite the naughty girls together, playing tricks on the other nurses, I gather,” she teased Emma, and she laughed.

“We had fun.”

“Pru was always fun, even as a little girl,” she said. “Those were happy times. Life is much harder now, but hopefully it will be over soon.”

Emma said she had to leave, after breakfast. She didn’t want to overstay, and she said she needed to start the journey back or she wouldn’t get to the base, and she was flying the next day.

Lady Pommery hugged her before she left and looked at her with a warm smile. “Thank you for coming, my dear, and thank you for that incomparable gift. Nothing could have pleased me more. Promise me you’ll come back and visit soon, and stay longer next time.” Emma nodded with tears in her eyes. No one had ever been as kind to her, except Pru. Emma thanked her for letting her spend the night, and Max drove her to the station. She didn’t see his father again. Max said his father got up late now, to avoid the children in the kitchen at breakfast.

They were both quiet as they drove to the station.

“I had a really lovely time,” Emma said softly. “Thank you.”

“I’m so glad you came, and didn’t just send the journal by post,” he said, and looked as though he meant it. “I’m glad I met the famous firebrand.” She almost seemed like a gift from Pru. They both laughed at what he said, and he hugged her before she left. There was a train waiting in the station. She bought a ticket and got on it. He waved as it pulled away, and she leaned out the window and shouted back to him.

“Merry Christmas!”

“And to you, Emma!” he shouted back. They were both smiling as the train left the station. It had been a perfect Christmas, Emma thought, thanks to Pru.

Alex had a letter from Dan Stanley, which arrived on Christmas Eve. She hadn’t heard from him since he went back to the front, and he couldn’t tell her where he was. He sounded friendly and in good spirits in the letter, and said he had been thinking of her. Alex thought she might not hear from him again, since she hadn’t in so long. She was happy when she did. It had been five months. So much had happened since he left. Pru and Audrey had died. The war was raging on, although Paris had been liberated.