‘When you were holding the baby – his baby – you were looking down at it with such love in your eyes, as if – as if you were longing that it was yours . . .’ His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. ‘Yours – and Danny’s.’

Kate felt a flood of tenderness for him as she cupped his face in her hands and gently lifted his head to make him look at her. ‘Once, that would have been true. But not now, not since – you. Yes, I love that little baby – as my nephew. I still love Danny – and I always will – but in the way I should have done all along, as my brother!’

‘Really?’

‘Really. And that’s because of you. If I hadn’t known you, I would still be clinging to Danny, hating Rosie and probably bitter against a poor, innocent baby. Oh, there’s a tinge of regret and sadness, I admit. You can’t kill the past, obliterate it as if it had never happened. It did happen; Danny and I fell in love before we knew of our relationship and we were devastated. But time and other people – you and Rosie – have helped to heal the wounds. The scars are still there, probably always will be. But now we can, both Danny and me, go forward. In the last few months, I’ve done a lot of growing up.’ She sighed and added musingly, ‘It might sound daft, but – but it was as if I was locked into being a seventeen-year-old, clinging desperately to what might have been. They all tried to tell me – me mam, Dad and even Danny’s mother, but it wasn’t until I – I found I could love someone else that I began to realize and understand that they were right.’

She sat back on her heels and said softly, ‘There’s only one thing I’m so sad about.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I may never get the chance to tell Danny all this.’

Now it was his turn to reassure her. ‘You will. I know you will.’

‘Philip, I do love you. I don’t think you’ll ever really understand how much you’ve helped me, and come to mean to me.’

‘Oh my dear – do you realize that’s the first time you’ve actually said it?’

‘Is it?’ she said in surprise. ‘I hadn’t realized.’ Then she giggled deliciously. ‘But then I always did believe that actions speak louder than words.’

‘You’re wicked. Do you know that? Deliciously, gloriously wicked!’

She was glad to see he was smiling again and that their easy friendship was restored.

‘The Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,’ Mavis trilled, dancing up and down the hut. ‘Now we’ll show ’em just who’s going to win this war. With our Lancs and their bombers, we’ll really sock it to ’em!’