He arrived at the boarding house shortly after breakfast and knocked on the door. Mrs Armitage appeared, with her usual warm smile, until she saw whom she was addressing.

‘Oh, Mr Hewitt.’

He nodded. ‘My wife and I decided it might be better if I stayed at my base last night. May I come in?’

She looked past him awkwardly, nodded and stood to one side. He was about to ascend the stairs when she called him through to a private room in the back.

Believing that Isobel had probably said numerous things to upset the landlady, he was about to apologise when she cut him off.

‘I’m ever so sorry, Mr Hewitt, but your wife left before breakfast.’

Ted stared at her in disbelief. ‘Are you sure?’

She nodded. ‘She said you’d settle the bill, and that she wouldn’t be returning.’

Ted stared at her for a second or two before pulling out his wallet and handing her some money. ‘Keep the change.’

‘Are you sure? She didn’t have any breakfast,’ said Mrs Armitage, counting the coins.

He nodded. ‘Positive, and thank you. I daresay she wasn’t the easiest of guests.’

The older woman drew a deep breath. ‘Liverpool’s not for everyone. I’m sure she’ll be a lot happier when she gets back to Plymouth.’

‘Let’s hope so.’

With that said, he left the house and headed back into town. He knew Isobel had been furious with him, but it wasn’t as if this was the first episode; she seemed to spend most of her time being furious with him over one thing or another. No doubt she was doing this to scare him, as a form of punishment. He shook his head sadly. Oh, to have his time over again!

October 1941

Despite their initial worries over the lack of facilities on site compared to Pucklechurch, Olivia and Maude soon got used to things, and were thoroughly enjoying the thrill of being the first to arms when it came to defending their country.

‘Much more satisfying when you’re doing it for real,’ Olivia said as she secured the winch. ‘Knowing that we’re making the Luftwaffe’s job a lot harder makes my heart sing.’

‘I worried we might make a mess of things as soon as Ralph left,’ Maude admitted, ‘but he did a grand job training us. We run like clockwork, and that’s thanks to him. What time’s he arriving, do you know?’

Olivia jumped down from the winch. ‘He said it’ll be some time later on this afternoon.’

‘Well, I can’t wait to tell him how well we’ve done without him here to supervise us,’ said Maude, ‘although I daresay you’ll have plenty of time to fill him in on all the goss if he takes you out to dinner.’