Olivia beamed with pride. ‘Training in Innswo—’ She got no further before being engulfed by Maude who was jabbering ‘Me too, me too!’ excitedly.

‘What wonderful news!’ said Nana. ‘Liv was hoping you’d be stationed together.’

Eyeing his granddaughter, Pops removed the wooden pipe from between his teeth and peered into the bowl. ‘Are you going to tell your father?’

Olivia shrugged. ‘I would if I thought he was interested, but he told me not to bother going back.’

Nana looked dismayed. ‘He didn’t mean it, Liv. You said yourself it was his way of making you stay without saying he wanted you to.’

‘I’m thirty-one years old,’ said Olivia stiffly, ‘which is too old to be playing silly beggars – not that that stops him, mind you. Perhaps this will teach him a lesson that he needs to think before he speaks.’

Maude looked at Olivia with surprise. ‘You don’t really expect him to change, do you?’

‘No, I don’t,’ said Olivia, ‘which is why I’m not going to waste my time going round there.’

Nana tutted in a disappointed fashion. ‘I think it’s a shame when a family falls apart.’

‘Don’t tell me, tell him!’ said Olivia irritably. ‘He’s the one acting like a child.’

‘Two wrongs don’t make a right.’ Nana poured the water from the kettle into a large earthenware teapot. ‘Besides, your father has always acted like a child in these matters; it’s up to you to be the adult.’

‘Fine!’ said Olivia. ‘Only I’ll tell him in a letter, because I’m not giving him the satisfaction of slamming the door in my face, or hanging up on me.’

Her grandmother smiled appreciatively. ‘Good girl, Liv. You know it makes sense, and it would make your mother happy to know that you’d taken the moral high ground.’

‘I know she would be,’ said Olivia, giving her grandmother a fond smile. ‘You remind me of her at times.’

‘It’s all part of becoming an adult, Liv.’ She set the teapot down on the table. ‘Now who’s up for one of my fruitless scones?’

Chapter Three

July 1940

Olivia and Maude stood in line as they waited to be kitted out. ‘I can’t wait to get my uniform,’ Maude said excitedly. ‘A brand-new start away from Sally and that cheating pig.’

Olivia smiled. Maude was gradually easing off on the insults towards her ex-best friend and ex-fiancé, which Olivia took to be a sign that her friend was moving on.

‘I don’t much care what uniform they put me in,’ Olivia sighed. ‘I’ll still end up looking like one of the balloons.’

Maude wagged a reproving finger. ‘Don’t be daft, you’ll look lovely.’