An hour later, Eric arrived home as sober as a judge.

‘There you are! Where have you been? I was worried sick, Eric,’ Molly gabbled.

Edna glanced at her brother-in-law to check the state he was in, before going out in the garden to join her nieces. She had male friends, lots of them, but would never trust another romantically after what David Futcher had done to her. Singing and playing the piano in pubs brought Edna far more happiness than men ever had.

Eric held his wife in his arms. ‘I’m so sorry about yesterday. It won’t happen again, Molly.’

‘It had better not, Eric, because now war has been declared, I couldn’t cope with you off the rails an’ all. I don’t know if I’m coming or going as it bloody well is.’

Eric put his arm around Molly’s shoulders and led her into the back yard. ‘Girls, Edna, I know today’s news is shocking, but I want you to know we’re all gonna be fine. I went to see my pal, Canning Town Keith, earlier and he reckons he can put a shelter up for us ’ere, in our own back yard. That’ll keep us all safe, eh?’

Queenie and Viv ran over to their father and hugged him. ‘Will Hitler not be able to get to us if we all sit in our shelter, Dad?’ asked Viv.

‘Nope. Hitler won’t be able to get at us in there.’

‘That means Aunt Edna will have to move in with us,’ said Queenie. ‘’Cause if the bombs start going off, she lives more than ten minutes away.’

‘I can run round ’ere in five bleedin’ minutes,’ lied Aunt Edna. ‘Anyway, we’ve all gotta carry on with our normal lives. There’ll be no food on our tables otherwise. Hitler don’t frighten me, ya know. I’ll be singing in the Prospect of Whitby tonight as usual. It’ll take more than a short-arse, pasty-faced kraut to stop me doing what I wanna do!’

As Queenie and Viv giggled like mad, Molly and Eric couldn’t help but laugh too. Edna didn’t only have a wonderful singing voice and a way with words, she also had the knack of turning a dark day into a positive one. Edna’s glass was always half full, never half empty. She truly was a ray of sunshine to be around.

And in the dark days of the war ahead their little family would need all the help they could get.

CHAPTER TWO

I wasn’t that scared at first. I flatly refused to be evacuated like lots of my friends. My classroom soon emptied as children were sent to live in different parts of the country.

It was sad saying goodbye to Aggie and Nelly Brown. They went off to live with a distant relative in a rural part of Wales. Viv and I had tears in our eyes as we said our farewells. We had no idea if or when we would see them again. Derek Lewis was evacuated too. He was sent to live with an elderly aunt in the countryside.