‘How’s it going, sis?’ Paul asked, as he broke into a yawn.

Rosie shrugged. ‘Not too bad. Henderson said he was coming by car, so we should be able to carry everything we want.’

‘That’s good,’ Paul said, as Hugo did the splits and crashed off the end of the bed, hitting the floor with a thud.

Rosie rushed over to pick him up. ‘I told you that would happen if you went crazy,’ she said pointedly.

The youngster had banged his knee quite badly, but he didn’t want to admit that Rosie was right so he fought off the urge to sob.

‘All right, bossy-boots,’ Hugo groaned, as he dived face first on to his bed of old sofa cushions. ‘You’re no fun!’

‘You’re like a rubber ball,’ Paul grinned. ‘We could drop you from the top of the stairs and you’d probably bounce.’

‘Why have you two got to go?’ Hugo asked seriously, as he rolled on to his back and brought his leg up to inspect a graze on his knee.

Rosie had explained already, and whilst she liked Hugo, he did tend to get on your nerves by the end of the day. ‘Because,’ she said firmly. ‘Now go to sleep.’

‘But why go?’ Hugo moaned. ‘I’ll have no one to play with.’

‘Hugo,’ Paul said firmly. ‘Everyone belongs somewhere. We belong in England. When your daddy comes back from being a soldier, you’ll belong with him.’

‘I don’t want him back,’ Hugo said, looking thoroughly disgusted. ‘I can come on the boat with you.’

‘But what about Yvette and Father Doran?’ Rosie said, as she closed her suitcase. ‘You like them and you like running around in the fields. And there are other boys in the village you can play with.’

‘I hate those boys,’ Hugo said.

Paul laughed. ‘How do you know that? You’ve never even met them.’

‘They’re smelly,’ Hugo insisted. ‘I like you two better.’

Rosie sensed that Hugo was going to end up crying and decided to change the subject. ‘I tell you what,’ she said. ‘It’s probably going to be our last night together, so why don’t you cuddle up with us?’

The six year old didn’t need a second invitation and he dived under the blankets at the bottom of the bed and then wriggled beneath the covers until his head emerged between the pillows at the top. Paul and Rosie smiled at each other, both wishing they were still young enough to get their kicks so easily.

Rosie turned to her brother as Hugo messed with the pillows. ‘I’m sorry about earlier,’ she said awkwardly. ‘I shouldn’t have ripped your drawing. You must have spent hours on that.’

‘I guess it was pretty sick,’ Paul said. ‘And sorry I called you fat. You’re not – obviously.’