There was no time to hang about: next Val drove to the school to collect Nicole. All the time she kept waiting for something to go wrong. Had Tony discovered the missing check? Would the bank have called to alert him to her cash withdrawal? Had he worked out which school Nicole attended? As she walked into the playground, she kept looking over her shoulder, scared that his hand would land on her shoulder at any moment, followed by his right hook exploding into her cheek.

Nicole came hurrying out with her usual flurry of news, but Val was too distracted to listen. They drove to a Rozelle garage, where she went to the office, ignoring the girlie calendar on the wall, and asked the boiler-suited manager if he would buy her car. She had all the papers with her and crossed her fingers as he came out to inspect it, checking the bodywork, opening the hood, getting into the driver’s seat to turn over the engine.

“I’ll give you three hundred dollars,” he said, and Val spluttered.

“You’re kidding me! It’s worth at least a thousand.” She had seen them advertised new for five thousand, and it was only a couple of years old.

He gave an exaggerated shrug. “Take it or leave it.”

“Five hundred,” she countered, but he wouldn’t budge. She tried to bluff that she would go elsewhere but knew without checking that she was running out of time.

“OK, three hundred it is, if one of your men will drive me and my daughter down to White Bay with our luggage. We’re off on holiday.”

He looked her up and down. “Fair do’s. Come to my office and we’ll sign the papers.”

She sat there under big-breasted Belinda, May’s pinup, certain that she would have gotten at least twice the price if she were male. Nothing could be done about it. She was thankful that at least Tony had put the car papers in her name for insurance purposes so she didn’t need his permission to sell it.

Until they reached White Bay, Val hadn’t told Nicole that they were going on holiday, but after the mechanic dropped them off with their suitcase, she pointed at their ship, the Coolabah, towering like a mountain against the sky.

“Guess what? We’re going to China to see your grandma. Won’t that be fun?”

“Is it a joke?” Nicole asked, looking from Val to the ship and back again. “How do we get on? Where will we sleep? How long till we get there?”

Val peered back at the approach road. Still she feared that Tony might discover her plans. Perhaps he would manage to bully the information out of Peggy and turn up at the quay, tires screeching, to grab her and stop her leading Nicole up the gangway.

“I’ll tell you everything when we’re on board,” she promised.