Peggy roused herself and went to check on the potatoes which were on the point of boiling dry. ‘I sincerely hope so,’ she replied, adding some more water to the pot. ‘But if the winter’s this bad here, how on earth is poor Ruby coping over in Canada? I do wish we had more news from her – that baby’s due around now – but the mail is clearly not getting through yet.’

‘She’ll write when she can,’ said Cordelia, lifting her cup with both cruelly swollen hands and taking a sip. ‘By the way, Doris telephoned earlier to say that John will be transferred to Cliffe Memorial at the end of the week to begin his course of intensive physiotherapy. They’re both hoping he’ll make as good a recovery as Ron did when he had that operation on his spine. But of course it’s still early days yet.’

‘I’m just glad John sent that rotter of a son packing,’ said Peggy, testing the potatoes with a fork. ‘It’s tragic, really, but Michael only has himself to blame.’

‘The whole episode was most unsavoury,’ said Cordelia with a sniff. ‘But it did prove that John has Doris’s best interests at heart by signing the entire house over to her.’

Peggy grinned. ‘Yes. It came as quite a shock to her that he’d do that, but at least it means she’s secure and I don’t have to worry about her.’

Charlie came thudding downstairs just as Peggy was about to lift the heavy stew pot out of the oven. ‘Let me do that,’ he said, taking it out and placing it carefully on a trivet to protect the new worktop.

‘You’re a good boy, thank you,’ murmured Peggy, leaving him to dish it up while she drained and mashed the potatoes.

The back door slammed and Danuta pushed her way into the kitchen carrying her nursing bag and a large, bulging holdall. She dropped the holdall on the floor, clearly not in the best of tempers. ‘Sorry I’m late, but Stanislaw asked me to fetch this from Cliffe, and we had a long disagreement which took up much time.’

Peggy frowned. ‘He’s not been drinking again, has he?’

Danuta shook her head and began to peel off her scarf, hat and gloves. ‘It is worse than that,’ she said darkly. ‘He is leaving Cliffe first thing tomorrow to go on a retraining course at Biggin Hill.’

‘But that’s—’

‘Exactly,’ snapped Danuta. ‘He is not anywhere near ready to fly again, but he has the head of a mule and will not listen to me. I tell him he is a fool – that he cannot even climb into the cockpit without help – and is a danger to everyone. But he laughs at me and says I must trust him as he knows best.’

‘Most men think they know best,’ said Cordelia acidly. ‘But it’s all a bit sudden, isn’t it? Why the urgency?’

Danuta took a shallow, quavering breath. ‘Phoenix Air needs another pilot now Kitty is very pregnant and Charlotte cannot fit in much flying with having to cope with the twins. There is too much work for Roger and Martin, and Stanislaw is convinced he is the man for the job.’