Daisy held her tighter. ‘Ta, Ma. We all need you, you knaw. Forget how it’s been. I promise you that I’ll write only the truth to you from now on. Well, that is, as much as I can, as we have to be careful what we say.’

Betsy sighed. Turning into the hug that Daisy gave her, she snuggled into her eldest daughter, and had the strange feeling that her own ma was holding her.

An engine noise in the distance got her pulling away. A hush descended over the huddle of folk. Far outside the harbour, a light could be seen coming closer. And then another. Neither of them told her that these boats included the lifeboat, but at least she knew there could be news.

When the news finally came, it was grim. The lifeboat had been lost – blown sky-high by a torpedo. Betsy felt her legs start to give way, but a moan from Susan filled her with strength. ‘Come on, lass. And you, our Daisy. We might be needed. Let’s get nearer to the landing station.’

With a heavy heart, Betsy pushed her way through, consoling and encouraging the gathered lasses as she did so. ‘Let us through – Daisy here’s a nurse, she might be needed.’

When they reached the landing station, both boats pulled in and someone called out, ‘Help us unload these men – they’re injured, but we left a life-raft out at sea, so we have to go back to it. There’s ten men in it.’

The sea was surprisingly calm now, lit by streaks of bright moonlight, and Betsy would have said it was beautiful to behold, if the circumstances had been different. She scanned the faces of the injured, but there was no Angus or Rory. Her heart dropped, but she was determined to hold on to her emotions.

Someone else shouted, ‘The inn’s open, take them there.’

‘Right, that’s where we’re going an’ all.’ Turning Susan round, Betsy held her hand. ‘We can do this, lass. We can help them as have made it back, whilst praying that our men are on the raft.’

Once inside the inn, Betsy was surprised and pleased to see Daisy take charge. ‘Ma, go and get our Florrie and Rosie. Tell them it’s urgent.’

Betsy didn’t hesitate. As she left the inn, she saw injured men, but didn’t know any of them, and assumed they were from the lifeboat that had been blown up, as all of them were badly hurt and many of them had burn injuries. The rescuers would have brought them in first, which indicated that those left in the raft were less in need of urgent care. Just as she got to the door, she saw Roderick. And thanked God that he was back safely.

‘Ma, we’ll need an ambulance – it should have been on standby.’