In the arms of her beloved son, Ella could feel the heart of his father pulsing inside him. As Paulo pulled from her, he looked into her eyes. ‘Mama, I love you. We will get France back. We will all return to our home one day.’

‘I know, my darling.’

‘Mama, if you get to England, will you tell Sibbie how much I love her?’

‘You do? Oh, Paulo, that’s perfect. When . . . I mean, how long have you known this? And does Sibbie know? Because she loves you, my son. She has loved you for a long time. I have often wanted to awaken you to her love.’

‘Really? Did she say so?’

‘She did to me, Paulo.’ Flors stepped forward and put her arm on Paulo’s shoulder. His face was now shining with the biggest grin Ella had ever seen him give. His happiness shone from him.

‘Really? Sibbie loves me? That’s wonderful. I could skip and dance.’

A little tinkling laugh from Lonia filled Ella with both the sadness and joy of the moment.

‘Paulo, though we are pleased for you, we must hurry you all. It is important that we get across the open fields before the sun is fully up and the gendarme patrols begin to monitor the road.’

The moment was spoilt at these words from Cyrus – necessary words, and from another very brave man, who now faced knowing that one of his sons, the beloved and gentle Randolph, was probably in a prisoner-of-war camp, just as Cyrus himself had been in the last war.

Ella sighed; she had captured the moment and put it with her other memories, and she knew that was all she would have for a long time – memories of how life used to be.

‘Come on, little one. It’s time for us all to go on the next leg of our adventure. Kiss Papa and Paulo goodbye. And give them your very best smile,’ she said, taking Lonia’s little hand. Turning away was the hardest thing Ella had ever done. But when she looked back and saw that her beloved husband and son had gone, her heart split in two.

An arm came round her, and she looked into Flors’s lovely face, where she saw once more the courage of yesteryear. ‘We did it once, and we can do it again, Ella. We’re together in this, as we were back then in Brussels.’

‘Let me take Lonia. I can give her a piggyback.’ Cyrus’s voice shook with contained emotion as he said these simple words.

‘Oh, say yes, Mama.’

Helping Lonia climb onto Cyrus’s back lightened the moment. But when he galloped away with her, pretending to be a horse by neighing, and the air filled with Lonia’s laughter, Ella broke down.