Rita was no relation but had been part of her family since she was a tiny girl. Following her widowed father’s call-up and the fire-bombing of their home, she’d moved into Beach View for the duration of the war. Now her father, Jack, was home from the fighting across the Channel, they’d moved into the bungalow he’d bought from Cordelia, but Rita had come to Beach View for the night so she could share her special day with Peggy and the girls she’d come to regard as sisters.

Peggy finished cleaning her face of the ruined make-up and began again with fresh powder, mascara and lipstick. It was important to look her best and show nothing of her inner anguish, for like all the evacuees who’d come and gone from Beach View over the war years, Rita was one of her chicks – and always would be, no matter where she was in the world. Regardless of how she felt right now, Peggy was absolutely determined Rita would have her party and the wedding she’d always promised her.

She took a deep breath to steady her hand as she applied her lipstick, vowing to smile and join in the fun – and tomorrow she would do it all again and give little Rita the warmest and sunniest memories of this special time to carry with her to Australia.

The tears threatened again as she thought of how soon Rita might be leaving for her new life with Peter on the other side of the world, but she refused to let them fall, realising they were merely tears of self-pity at the thought of losing her. She would miss little Rita as much as any daughter, but she and Peter were embarking upon an exciting adventure and Peggy was immensely proud of them for being brave enough to do so.

In a way, she admitted silently, she rather envied them the fresh start away from the doom and gloom of a battle-weary and grey England where rationing was tighter than ever and the reminders of war could still be seen in the numerous bomb sites. The idea of such an adventure had made her wonder fleetingly if she and Jim should do something similar once the war was well and truly over.

However, she’d soon come to her senses, realising Jim had probably seen enough of the world to last him a lifetime – and the reality was they were in their middle years and far too settled in Cliffehaven with their family to go searching for adventure beyond these shores. Adventure was for the young, the ambitious, the energetic and free – and Rita and Peter were made of the right stuff to thrive and make a success of a new and very different life under the Australian sun.

Peggy dabbed a last puff of face powder on her nose, nodded with satisfaction at a task well done and clipped on her earrings. She’d had her dark, curly hair shampooed and set that morning at Julie’s Salon in the High Street, and the over-enthusiastic application of hairspray meant it had remained rigidly in place throughout her crying jag.