If she hadn’t been so frightened for the baby she was carrying, she might have acknowledged how pretty it was, and how cosy it could be inside the house with the range fire glowing. But all she could think of was the fact the doctor was miles away, and if things went wrong, he might not be able to get to her, and she’d have to rely on Mike’s mother, Claudine, for help.

Christmas came with Mike’s gift of pearls, and a rare two-way radio call from him and his father to wish them a happy day, but the atmospherics made it difficult to hold anything more than a very brief exchange, so it had been most unsatisfactory, leaving her feeling more isolated than ever.

As the New Year had approached, she’d been almost six months pregnant, but suffering from what Claudine called ‘cabin fever’, so she’d wrapped up in thick coat, boots, gloves, hat and woolly scarf to go outside and fetch some small logs for the fire.

The air had been crisp and dry, but so cold it almost took her breath away, and as she’d glanced at the barometer hanging outside the door, she’d seen it was twenty-nine degrees below freezing – and yet the sky was the clearest blue, the sun making the snow blinding white in the glare.

The stack of wood the men had cut to see them through the winter was piled against the house at the end of the veranda which had been heavily gritted by Claudine just that morning. She’d edged carefully along, but suddenly her feet skidded and slipped on an icy patch, and before she knew it, she’d fallen awkwardly and hit the railing hard before tumbling down the steep flight of steps to land face first in the snow, the wind knocked out of her.

She’d thought at first that the soft landing might have saved her baby, but she was suddenly wracked by a terrible stabbing pain and she’d begun to scream for Claudine, her cries echoing in the dull, dead silence of the thick snow and surrounding trees.

Ruby blinked and tried hard to dispel the horrific memory of that day, but she knew it would live with her always. It had taken six hours for the doctor to arrive by husky-pulled sled, but by then her precious little girl had been stillborn. Ruby still felt the inconsolable pain of losing her, which merely stoked her abiding hatred for the white wilderness that had brought it about.

She stubbed out her cigarette, got to her feet and squared her shoulders, ready now to face Peggy, and explain her reason for coming back.

Peggy had been feeling the after-effects of the wedding for most of that Sunday, even though she’d brought Cordelia and Charlie home shortly after one o’clock in the morning. The copious amounts of rich, imported food and vodka meant that neither Peggy nor Cordelia were very hungry, and even Charlie had been satisfied with just soup and sandwiches for his lunch before he went off with Ron to visit Frank.