‘In that case, I’m right behind you. But I think it would be good to do two birds with one stone, and if we leave it a few months, I should be able to get enough time off to go to Scotland, even if it’s just for a few days.’

‘I can’t wait to see you again,’ said Olivia, ‘even if our visit proves to be a bit turbulent, what with seeing Dad for the first time since I stormed out.’

Ted’s voice was reassuring. ‘No matter what happens, he can’t stop us being together. I know you believe him to be set in his ways with no hope of change, but he’s a lot older now and I daresay he’s had enough of the whole matter. He’ll probably be pleased you’re willing to let bygones be bygones.’

Olivia, however, was far more sceptical. ‘I think he’d cut his nose off to spite his face. He’s being doing it all his life, so why break the habit of a lifetime?’

‘Because he’s on his own in that big old house with nothing to do but dwell on his mistakes – what could have been and what should have been,’ said Ted. ‘So just you see when you can get some leave, I’ll do the same, and we’ll arrange to meet up.’

Olivia wanted nothing more than for her father to show some emotion, maybe even a flicker of approval that she had done a good job with her life despite his doubts. She mentally crossed her fingers. He might not let her back in after her last outburst, but when he’d shouted for her to wait, there had been a pleading in his tone she had never heard before. She had been too angry to speak to him at the time, for fear she might say something even worse than she already had. She nodded thoughtfully. She’d have to give him one last chance, if for no other reason than she knew her mother would have wanted her to.

Chapter Eight

June 1943

It had only been a few months since Ted and Olivia had become official, but in that time a lot had changed.

It had all begun on a day which had started off so calm. The girls had winched out the balloons and all had seemed well; there was a slight breeze but nothing to cause alarm. When the wind began to pick up, Olivia had been sent to check the weather report and had come back stating that all was well, and there was nothing out of the ordinary to announce.