Peggy brought the car to an abrupt halt by the office shed, and Danuta frowned as she saw almost the entire complement of crew and maintenance staff gathered there along with their families, Charlie, Anne and all the children. The only person missing seemed to be Kitty’s husband Roger.

She helped Cordelia out of the car and regarded her steadily, for there was definitely a naughty twinkle in her eyes. ‘What are you all up to, Grandma Cordy?’

‘I couldn’t possibly say,’ she replied, hobbling off to sit on a chair Anne had brought out for her.

Danuta looked across at the single DC-47, and her heart sank. It looked as if they really had found another pilot, and Stanislaw had missed out. She turned to Peggy to ask again what was happening, but she just smiled back at her and pointed to the east.

‘Look,’ she said, ‘Phoenix Air’s right on time.’

Feeling sick at heart, Danuta watched the small speck in the sky take shape, and soon the sound of the powerful DC-47 engines drowned out any further possibility of talking as it circled overhead twice and then came in to land with a gentle bump before taxiing towards the end of the long runway.

The man in the control tower rushed down the steps as the engines were switched off and the propellers slowly stopped turning. The ground crew ran forward to place the chocks in front of the wheels and open the cargo door which was behind the wings. A set of steps was quickly placed beneath it, and everyone made their way towards it across the runway.

‘Come on, dear,’ said Peggy, taking her arm. ‘You don’t want to miss this.’

Reluctantly, Danuta went with her, wondering why Peggy couldn’t see that this whole outing was turning into the most bitter of disappointments. Poor Stanislaw, she thought as she waited at the back of the eager crowd by the steps. He’ll be devastated to know he won’t be part of all this.

There was movement in the dark interior of the plane, and Roger ran cheerfully down the steps, and then all the men suddenly stood smartly to attention and saluted, making Danuta think that this new pilot must be someone very important indeed to warrant such attention.

Stanislaw walked awkwardly out of the shadows to stand in the doorway. His face was flushed and he had the broadest of smiles as he saluted back and everyone whistled and cheered.

Danuta nearly fainted. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. But there he was. Her Stanislaw – as large as life and twice as handsome in his Phoenix Air uniform, the peaked cap at a rakish angle over sparkling brown eyes, the gold bands of braid on his sleeve winking in the sun.

She met his gaze, felt someone nudge her forward and walked towards him in a daze. The rest of the world seemed to disappear until there were only the two of them, and as she climbed the steps and he reached for her hand, she was quite overwhelmed by love and pride.