‘Indeed we do, but now I’m expecting again, I shall soon be grounded by Roger, who seems to think being pregnant will make me extra delicate and unable to think straight.’

Stanislaw smiled, but his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. ‘You lost a leg, and yet you are flying again.’

‘It wasn’t easy,’ admitted Kitty. ‘I had a lot of very hard work to do before I could be passed fit enough.’ She grinned and sat next to him, deliberately letting her prosthetic lower leg show from beneath the cuff of her linen trousers.

‘But flying gets into the blood, doesn’t it?’ Kitty went on. ‘I just knew I couldn’t give it up, so I did everything I could to climb back into a plane and feel that adrenaline rush of taking off and soaring through the skies.’ She grinned. ‘There’s nothing quite like it, is there? Did Roger tell you that I flew us both away from our wedding reception?’

Stanislaw nodded thoughtfully, his gaze fixed on her leg. ‘How long did it take you to be passed fit?’

‘Almost a year, I think. It felt much longer, and I had some very bad days as well as good ones. But I never gave up, Stan, and it was all worth it in the end.’

Danuta watched as Stanislaw digested this in silence. Kitty was doing a brilliant job of jolting him out of feeling sorry for himself and opening up a whole world of possibilities.

‘Would it be difficult for a man like me with no legs to fly again?’ he asked quietly.

‘Douglas Bader managed it through the war until he had to bail out over Germany, and was taken prisoner,’ said Kitty. ‘I hear he still flies for pleasure, even now.’

‘But will someone employ such a man now the war is over?’

‘I’m sure that if he’s competent and has passed all the medical requirements, he’d be snapped up,’ said Kitty.

‘It is something to think about,’ he murmured. ‘Thank you, Kitty. You are an inspiration.’

He struggled to lever himself up from the chair and gave up with a roar of laughter. ‘Perhaps it is wise for me to learn to get out of chair before I climb into cockpit,’ he said, his eyes dancing with humour. ‘May I ask someone to be so kind as to unplug me?’

There was a great deal of laughter and joking as Stanislaw was hauled out of the chair and onto his feet, but he took it all with great humour. ‘I think now I must return to Cliffe. Thank you all for a most pleasant and informative morning.’

Danuta’s plan to spur Stanislaw out of his misery and give him something exciting to think about had worked. She was to discover over the following months that he was now determined to fly again, and she watched with admiration and heart-stopping concern as he used all that stubbornness and strength to push himself to the very limit of his endurance.