‘Aye, the last thing we want is them picking up an infection just after giving birth,’ Sister Mary Paul agreed, as she drained her cup and, groaning with effort, rose to her feet. ‘My back gets no better,’ she muttered.

‘You overdo it, dear,’ Ada fretted.

‘I wouldn’t miss popping in to see my favourite lass,’ Sister Mary Paul smiled. ‘Now I must get back: I’ve a ton of springs greens waiting to be chopped and boiled.’

Ada gave a knowing smile. ‘Sister Theresa will have done the job by the time you get back.’

Standing by the door, the old nun’s eyes swept around the immaculately clean kitchen.

‘Looks like you’ve settled in nicely,’ she remarked.

‘Oh, yes,’ Ada exclaimed. ‘I’m so very happy here in my sweet little cottage.’

Sister Mary Paul looked at her friend’s glowing face and sparkling eyes. ‘I’ve never seen you looking better,’ she said fondly.

‘If I could just see Jamie, I would be the happiest person in the world,’ Ada sighed.

Sister Mary Paul gave her a quick hug. ‘Try not to fret too much about Dr Jamie – he wouldn’t want you worrying yourself. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be home just as soon as he can,’ she assured Ada before she went on her way.

When her visitor had left, Ada strolled around her cottage garden, pretty with bobbing hazy blue delphiniums and foxgloves. As the peace of the quiet garden filled her senses, Ada inhaled the sweet mountain air that drifted down the valley, but, instead of smiling with pleasure, she was suddenly filled with guilt. Here she was, happy and safe in a beautiful part of England, while Jamie and millions of other men and women were out there in Europe, North Africa and the Far East fighting for the freedom she was enjoying. The ability to walk in peace and enjoy the natural beauty of the world seemed indulgent when she thought of others, some even younger than she was, fighting or dying for the privileges she took for granted. Almost three years into the war with the death toll inevitably rising and rationing getting harder by the week, the nation wearily wondered when it would ever end. Admittedly now that America had joined forces with the Brits there was a lot more military activity and national morale was certainly higher, but for how many years could this go on and at what expense to the nation?

‘No matter what we throw at the enemy, they manage to throw even more back at us,’ Ada thought gloomily, as she deadheaded her flowers. ‘When will we ever be strong enough to break the Nazis?’