Charlie came back with the children an hour later, Ron and Harvey following closely behind them. Harvey greeted Doreen and Peggy and then rushed to Cordelia and put his cold nose up her skirt which made her jump.

‘Harvey!’ she exclaimed, pushing him away. ‘Naughty boy. You don’t do that.’

Harvey slunk off, but soon decided to hinder rather than help Ron bring down Doreen’s large suitcase. Dashing round his feet, he almost got trampled on and earned a sharp admonishment from Ron. ‘Gerroff, ye heathen beast,’ he rumbled, dumping the case in the hall. ‘To be sure, you’re a ruddy nuisance at times.’

‘It takes one to know one,’ said Cordelia, twiddling with her hearing aid. ‘That animal takes after its master, if you ask me.’

‘To be sure no one did,’ Ron muttered before going back into the hall to lift the large pram down the front steps to the pavement.

With the sand washed from the children’s hands and clothes, and a fresh nappy on Archie, Doreen was ready to leave. She embraced Charlie, thanking him for being so lovely with her children. ‘And for goodness’ sake, stop growing,’ she teased. ‘You’ll be taller than your father at this rate.’

She turned to Sarah who’d come downstairs to say goodbye. ‘Take care over there,’ she murmured. ‘I do hope things go well for you and your sister – and when you see Jim, which you’re bound to, tell him to write to me. I haven’t had a letter in ages.’

Then she hugged Cordelia. ‘Goodbye, Cordy,’ she said affectionately. ‘It’s been lovely seeing you again.’

Peggy hated saying goodbye to the people she loved, for she’d seemed to be doing it too many times over the past six years. She pulled on her jacket, strapped a protesting Daisy into her pushchair and followed Doreen and the children down the steps to where Ron was keeping an eye on the pram and the case.

With the older girls skipping along in front of them, and Harvey watering every lamppost he came across, they slowly walked up the High Street towards the station where Stan was on the platform waiting for them.

‘Here’s a little something to enjoy on your journey,’ he said, handing over a paper bag. ‘I made them this morning.’

Doreen smiled in delight at the sight of the eight lovely rock buns that glistened with brown sugar. ‘Thank you, Stan,’ she sighed, giving him a hug. ‘That was very generous of you. I hope things pan out all right for you and your niece, and that you have a wonderful retirement. I expect your allotment will benefit from it.’

The train pulled in, and Stan returned her hug then hurried down the platform with Ron to unload Archie and put the pram and suitcase in the guard’s van.

Ron returned with Archie in his arms, their smiles equally wide. ‘He’s a grand wee wain, so he is, Doreen,’ he enthused, giving the baby a smacking kiss on the cheek which made him gurgle in delight. ‘I’m thinking he’ll be Charlie’s size before you know it.’