She’d heard the timber wolves howling and seen a couple of black bears moving in the trees behind the house, and despite all her determination to fit in with this new and very different life, she couldn’t help but yearn for Cliffehaven and Beach View. She confided that there had been times when, like the wolves, she just wanted to howl at the moon.

Peggy gave a deep sigh. There was nothing she could do to relieve Ruby’s loneliness and fears for the future, and she could only pray that Mike’s parents would do their best to console her. At least, once her baby was born, Ruby would have someone to love and cherish, which would take her mind off her homesickness.

She decided she would write to her tonight and send her some baby clothes she’d been keeping in tissue paper ever since Daisy had grown out of them, and was about to put the kettle on when Frank came up the cellar steps into the kitchen.

‘Hello, Frank. I wasn’t expecting to see you until the rugby match,’ she said, dredging up a smile. ‘What can I do you for?’

Her smile faded and she dropped the teasing tone as she noted his sour expression, and the fact that he seemed to have dressed in a hurry, with mismatched socks and the buttons of his shirt all askew. She’d heard from Brendon that Frank and Pauline had been arguing furiously all week and that the atmosphere at Tamarisk Bay had become quite poisonous. No doubt he was here for some respite and a bit of pleasant company – which was the last thing she was capable of giving today after those letters.

‘You look like you could do with a cuppa,’ she said lightly. ‘Sit yourself down.’

He plumped into the chair and sat there in silence until she’d placed the cup in front of him. Taking a sip, he leaned back and began to roll a cigarette. ‘You’ve no doubt heard that me and Pauline haven’t seen eye to eye lately,’ he muttered.

They hadn’t agreed on anything for years, but Peggy let it pass. ‘Did this latest falling-out have something to do with her new promotion at work?’ she asked.

He looked at her sharply. ‘So you know about that?’

Peggy nodded. ‘She mentioned it in passing the other day when I bumped into her at the factory estate.’

He finished rolling the cigarette and, having lit it, reached into his coat pocket and drew out an envelope. ‘I came home from last night’s fishing to find this,’ he said, tossing it onto the table.

Peggy eyed the envelope with Frank’s name scrawled on it, and a feeling of dread washed over her. She really didn’t know if she could cope with any more bad news today.

‘Go on, Peg. Read it,’ he urged. ‘Dad and Brendon already know what’s in it, so it’s hardly private.’

She reluctantly took the letter and opened it to find a single sheet of writing paper covered in Pauline’s neat handwriting.