Alfie was embarrassed. ‘You two do the dancing,’ he said. ‘I’ll do the watching.’

Rosie gave a little chuckle. ‘Will ye look at that?’ she told Molly. ‘He’ll fight the world and have a thousand people cheering him on, but he’s too shy to dance with his own folk, so he is.’

Molly gave him a reassuring wink. If Alfie didn’t want to dance that was all right by her; so long as they danced cheek to cheek the next time he took her to the Roxy.

For the next few minutes all was forgotten as Michael filled the room with music of a kind that came from the heart. The two women danced with all their hearts, Alfie cheered them on, and when the tune was done, everyone laughed and clapped and it was time for supper.

Breathless, Rosie reached up to the mantelpiece for her husband’s photograph; he had posed for it in his naval uniform only weeks before she had received news that he was lost at sea. ‘Bill was shy, too, where dancing was concerned,’ she told the others. ‘“Don’t force me, Rosie,” he used to say. “You know I’ve got two left feet.”’

When the tears threatened, she looked at Molly with a bright smile. ‘You know about our Alfie, don’t you?’ she asked. ‘How he didn’t come home from school one day. He was over two hours late and I’d no idea where he might be. I was almost out of me mind so I was! The naval recruitment officer brought him home. “Come back in a few more years,” he told him. “We’ve not taken to signing on fourteen-year-olds yet.”’ Rosie laughed, ‘The little sod wanted to fly the planes, so he did.’

Crossing the room, Molly sat on the arm of Alfie’s chair, her hand in his. ‘I’m not surprised at anything he does. When Alfie makes up his mind, there’s no stopping him – I know that.’ She also knew from what Alfie had since told her, that he adored his father and cherished his memory.

‘Huh!’ Alfie wagged a finger at her. ‘I know somebody else who’s just as stubborn!’

Rosie made a suggestion. ‘Ye can stay a while longer if you like,’ she told Molly, ‘but you’d best go and tell yer mam where you are first.’

‘Amy will know where she is.’ As he held his fiancée’s hand, Alfie’s eyes swam with love as he gazed on her homely features. With her untidy tousle of hair and strong features, Molly could never be described as physically beautiful, yet she was beautiful of nature, with a good heart that found the best in everyone. ‘Stay?’ he urged. ‘I’ll go along and tell yer mam you’ll not be long.’

Molly’s blue eyes softened as she looked down at him, but she shook her head and gave her answer to Rosie. ‘Thanks for the offer,’ she said gratefully, ‘only I’d best get back and help Mam with the kids.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You know what Dad’s like if they’re not abed when he gets home.’