Sibbie clung to her Aunt Mags.

‘Oh, my darling girls, I’m so glad you are here. We have missed you.’

As Sibbie came out of her aunt’s hug, her Uncle Jerome took her into his arms. ‘So happy to see you, dear Sibbie; and you, Marjella. Now, don’t keep us in suspense – you said you had news?’

‘Yes. We have had orders to report to London. And that’s it really, except that we were given two weeks’ leave, with immediate effect, and told to visit all of our family. They indicated that we will be working near London, but that our work will be so intense and top-secret that we won’t be granted much – if any – time off that will be of a duration long enough to make visits.’

‘Oh? I wonder what they have in mind for you. Code-breakers? Interpreters? Translators? Anyway, whatever it is, I imagine you will be kept very safe, as your work will be of the gravest importance. So it is worth the sacrifice of not being able to see you often.’

Sibbie hoped it was none of these things. When the order to go to London had come through, it had come via their senior officer, and he had said they were going to be tested for their suitability to carry out special operations, but that they were to say nothing of this to their family; only that the work they would be doing would severely limit their visits home, if not curtail them altogether until the end of the war.

‘Yes, sounds boring, though. Still, if that is what they call us to do, ours is not to reason why. I’m just so glad that the date we have our initial interview is two days after Daisy and Florrie leave, so that we can see them off and spend a little time with Rosie, who will need our support.’

‘But have they not given you any indication of what you will be doing? And you are sure it will be in this country?’

‘Mags, darling, you know better than to question them.’

Sibbie smiled at her uncle. Jerome, a reluctant doctor-turned-vet – due to his love of working with animals, and of the land – was a lovely man. She’d always loved him, and he had accepted her in the same light that Mags looked upon her and had been like a father to her. Always ready with advice, without interfering in her decisions.

Sibbie thought how lucky she was to be surrounded by so many who cared for her. Rory, her stepfather, a shy man, was also a stable father-figure for her to look up to.