‘For God’s sake, Will, I can’t hang around the telephone in case you choose to call me! You said you’d ring before I went to bed. It’s not even nine yet!’

‘Sorry, babe. It’s just that I really miss you. You seem so far away, and I hate it. We’ve never been this far apart before.’

‘You sound like a big kid.’ Softening a little, she said, ‘How’s it going?’

‘Okay, I suppose. It’s not the nicest thing I’ve ever had to do, but Matt is a rock. I’m so thankful that he offered to come. Still, once tomorrow’s over, I’ll be thinking of getting home to you.’ He paused, waiting for a response that didn’t come. ‘I did see Sophie today. She is the image of Eva. It’s quite uncanny. Oh, and she is going to ring you, if she hasn’t done so already? She adored your picture. Snapdragon is her favourite, so it was an inspired choice on your part.’

‘Oh, good,’ she said without enthusiasm.

Since she said nothing more, Will went on to tell her that the Fauve family were going to continue to care for Sophie, with a view to formally adopting her at some point in the future.

Now she did sound animated. ‘Really! What lovely people. And they actually told you that, did they? They said they wanted her permanently?’ Her tone had changed completely.

‘Well, yes. They asked if I was planning on bringing her back to England to live with us.’ He heard a slight intake of breath. ‘I told them it would be very difficult for us and they nearly broke open the champagne.’

‘Yes, yes, you were quite right, darling. It would be no good her coming here, no good at all. And of course, she has her friends, her school, the support of the air force. Everything she needs is right where she is now.’

For a moment he wanted to argue. It wasn’t Whisper Fen that was out of the question. It was Kate. Stifling his retort, he changed the subject. ‘So what have you been up to today?’

Eagerly, she listed the tasks that she had tackled already and those that were lined up for the next day. If she were missing him, Will thought, she was certainly showing no signs of it. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. Then she added, ‘Oh, and Liz called round. Do you know, Matt has lived on this stretch of the fen all his life, and they are researching it! Isn’t that exciting? She brought me some photos of Holland House in the twenties. They’re awesome.’