When Freddie was about to blow out the candles Lily crouched down beside him. ‘You should make a wish, Freddie … something nice.’

Freddie closed his eyes, then smiled and blew them out. ‘I hope it comes true,’ he said.

Lily stroked his hair tenderly. ‘Don’t tell us what it was, because then it might not.’

Freddie stared at the guttering candles. ‘I hope it does, ’cause it was about Dad.’

For a few moments there was only the crackling of the fire as Lily hugged Freddie and a preoccupied Florence cut the cake.

Late that evening John Pruett was sitting in his favourite armchair reading a novel. The dying embers of the fire gave a solemn light to his sparse sitting room and he put down his book on the table. It was the recent novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, which had taken the book world by storm following last year’s publication. John was enjoying the story and could relate to the issues of innocence, belonging and loss – never more so than on this lonely night.

On the small table by the window his new pot plant stood on a saucer. He had watered it thoroughly. Miss Golightly had said it would be fine if it was looked after. Perhaps I care too much, he thought.

He stared at his poinsettia and sighed as a scarlet leaf fell gently to the carpet beneath.

Chapter Seven

A Christmas Secret

It was Friday, 19 December, the last day of the autumn term, and the world had changed. When Lily looked out of her bedroom window more snow had fallen and the land was cloaked in silence. The countryside was still as stone and the prints of a midnight fox had patterned the smooth crust on the garden. In the distance the boughs of a mighty oak shook in the bitter wind.

She shivered in her dressing gown. There was so much on her mind – issues from her past, hidden now, a new man in her life and a job that she had begun to love. Freddie appeared settled and was content at Kirkby Steepleton Primary School. He had made friends and seemed a happy little boy. Meanwhile, another difficult journey to school lay ahead and she hoped William Featherstone’s bus could negotiate the hazardous roads.

The final school day of 1952 in Ragley promised to be a special treat. There was to be a Christmas party and the children had been invited to bring in games to play during afternoon school. Lily looked in her wardrobe for her bright-red dress and Christmas cardigan. It was important for the children to see her looking cheerful. As she stared at her clothes she heard Florence’s voice calling to Freddie. There was always an underlying tension in her mother. Lily felt there were problems that could never be resolved.