Soon Ruby was feeding her son. She had been advised by the health worker to wean Andy at four months and feed him on bone broth. Her mother, Agnes, had supplemented this with some tripe, as she said it was high in iron and wasn’t rationed. Naturally, Ruby followed her mother’s advice.

There was a pattern to the week for the womenfolk of Ragley village and they wore a headscarf and a pinny as a form of universal uniform. Monday was washday, followed by ironing on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday involved lots of polishing and dusting, and Friday was the day the menfolk brought home their wages. Saturday was ‘Big Shop’ day, with possibly a visit to the cinema, and Sunday was a time for best clothes and church.

However, even though it was Wednesday, Ruby had nappies to wash. Also, it was rare for Ronnie to give her any money for housekeeping and the money from her part-time cleaning at The Royal Oak was barely enough to pay the rent and put food on the table. Times were hard for Ruby.

At eleven o’clock she recalled Miss Evans’s offer of a few Farley’s rusks and set off for school. Vera was a member of the Church Toys for Children Committee and she had passed on to Ruby a knitted teddy bear with long, straggly legs. Andy loved chewing one of the legs at every opportunity and Ruby was pleased it kept him both quiet and happy.

Vera saw her coming up the drive and went out to meet her. ‘Hello, Ruby, I’m glad you came. Come round the back to the kitchen door.’

In the kitchen, Vera collected the leftover rusks and brought them out to Ruby.

‘Perfec’ for our Andy wi’ a bit o’ warm milk,’ said Ruby. ‘Ah’m grateful, Miss Evans.’

With Andy chewing on his teddy, they walked back down the drive and Vera wondered what would become of this hard-working young woman.

At lunchtime John Pruett and Lily were inspecting the children’s hands before they sat down for their meal.

‘You’ll have to wash your hands, Malcolm,’ said Mr Pruett.

Dave always stood up for his diminutive cousin. ‘But they’ll only get mucky again, sir.’

John nodded sagely. ‘Yes, David, I expect they will … but we don’t want any germs, do we?’

Dave paused. ‘Germs?’ Then his face lit up with realization. ‘Ah, Germans … y’reight there, sir, ’cause we gave ’em a proper good ’idin’ in t’war.’

‘You shouldn’t say things like that, David,’ said Lily sternly.

Dave looked puzzled. ‘Yes, Miss,’ and he ran off.

John grinned. ‘Actually, he does have a point.’

Lily turned away abruptly and didn’t reply.

It was mid-afternoon when Ruby’s mother, Agnes, arrived home from the chocolate factory in York. She took off her coat, picked up Andy and gave him a cuddle. ‘How’s my little soldier?’ she asked.