Though now Mrs Jamie Reid, Mary Vale’s Senior Staff Nurse was always referred to as Sister Ada Dale. Thinking of her husband, Ada’s eyes sparkled as she pictured Jamie’s dear face: tawny golden hair that constantly flopped over his brow, bewitching hazel eyes with golden flecks, a firm full mouth, and a strong rangy body that she had grown to adore. How she missed him. The smell of his skin, the warmth of his smile, the pleasure of his soft lips. Married less than a year, they had seen each other only when Jamie was granted leave from the Front Line medical clearing station where he worked. On each visit Jamie had begged that they stay in the farmhouse where they had spent their honeymoon. ‘Darling,’ he had written,

Much as I love Mary Vale, I really don’t want to spend all of my precious leave in a single bed in your nurses’ quarters. I want to be in a room of our own, with a big double bed and a spectacular view of the lakes out of the bedroom window.

So Ada had each time booked them into the old-fashioned farmhouse in the Borrowdale Valley, which she knew for sure had a very big bed and a breath-taking view from the window of Watendlath Tarn and the majestic mountains surrounding it. It was there on his last leave that Jamie had lovingly examined her rapidly changing body. Wriggling in his strong arms, Ada had protested, ‘I’m not one of your patients, Dr Reid.’

Holding her fast, Jamie had kissed her pouting lips. ‘No, you’re my darling wife,’ he had insisted. ‘And I am examining you.’

Lifting Ada’s nightdress over her head, Jamie gazed adoringly at his wife’s beautiful young body before running a cool hand over her growing belly.

‘If you keep your hand there a bit longer, you might feel Baby kick,’ Ada had whispered excitedly.

Sure enough, after waiting patiently, which he was quite happy to do, Jamie thought he felt the lightest flutter of movement.

‘How wonderful,’ he sighed as he kissed her tummy. ‘I’m not surprised you’re pregnant,’ he chuckled. ‘We hardly got out of bed the last time I was home on leave.’ Holding her tight, Jamie murmured, ‘God, I hope I’m here for the birth.’

Though Ada desperately wished for the same thing, she was realistic enough to know that men called up to fight for their country were rarely given leave to return home just for the birth of a child.

Suddenly anxious, Jamie gripped her hands. ‘Darling, what if I don’t get back in time?’ he whispered.