Betty didn’t dare let on that Kasey had spoken so intimately about his commanding officer, it might get him into trouble, but she wanted to make contact with this man. She could report whatever she learned back to Kasey. The two of them talked about absolutely everything.

‘So if you didn’t hear from your own blokes,’ she queried, ‘who was it that told you about our place?’

‘A couple of officers from Kissing Point Fort,’ he replied dutifully. ‘I’m billeted down that way, a private house in Mitchell Street.’

‘Oh really, which one? Whose house?’

The girl wasn’t going to give up. She was extremely distracting, and Samuel tried not to sound just a little testy. ‘Hayden House, it’s called, the owner’s a very nice lady —’

‘Amelia Sanderson,’ Betty said with a distinct ring of triumph.

‘Yes, that’s right. Mrs Sanderson is —’

‘She’s a close friend of my mother’s,’ Betty trumpeted with an even greater ring of triumph.

‘Really.’ Samuel tried to appear as if the fact held even the remotest shred of interest.

‘Yes, everyone knows everyone in Townsville.’

‘Apparently.’ He smiled in a way that he hoped was warm and pushed a note across the bar. ‘Keep the change, Betty, and thank you for your excellent Gershwin.’

‘Golly,’ she picked up the one-pound note, it was an excellent tip, ‘thanks.’

By now, Rupe had segued into Duke Ellington’s ‘I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues’.

‘Enjoy the beautiful music,’ she called as Samuel, beer in hand, walked off to stand near the piano. Betty knew she’d been a source of irritation to the captain, but she wasn’t in the least bothered. She only regretted that she hadn’t been able to glean a little more inside information to share with Kasey. No matter, she’d be able to make a funny story about how annoying she’d been to the poor man, ‘When all he wanted to do was groove to the music,’ she’d say. She loved making Kasey laugh.

She caught Kasey’s eye now and they exchanged intimate smiles, a language of their own. He’d be waiting for her when she knocked off work in a couple of hours – the bar was never open for very long – and they’d go for a walk. Their relationship had escalated dramatically over the past days. But all love-at-first-sight relationships do, don’t they, Betty thought knowingly.

Not for one minute did Betty question what she felt was true love. Nor did she question the degree of Kasey’s love. They were both head over heels and they both knew it. This was undoubtedly the real thing. They’d even shared a kiss during their last walk – down by the creek, away from the crowds – it had naturally been she who had initiated the kiss.

‘Nobody’s watching,’ she’d whispered. She could tell he was guarded, wary – because she was white, of course. For all Kasey’s boldness, he was very conscious of the looks people gave them. No doubt on her behalf. But he needn’t be. She didn’t care what people thought.