I buried my face in his chest. He still smelled of clove and vetiver, and I breathed it in. It had been so long; I had thought so often of this moment. Only I hadn’t considered that his parents would be watching.

They watched as he asked me about the train, the ship, as he put his hand on my waist and looked into my eyes. I felt certain he could see the truth there, the ways in which I had been unfaithful.

‘I can’t believe you’re real,’ he said. ‘I kept thinking that I’d dreamed you.’

‘Same,’ I murmured, standing on my toes to kiss him again, feeling his mother’s eyes on me the whole time. I thought of our first kiss, outside the house in Forest Lodge, of our kisses on the streets of Sydney, and I felt his belt buckle again through the fabric of my cotton dress.

As we walked to the truck Roy tried to draw us all into conversation.

‘Ma’s cooked a real delicious supper for us, Sarah, I hope you’re hungry. That’s why we’re late—she had to wait to get the pies out of the oven.’

‘Sounds wonderful,’ I said. ‘I missed breakfast this morning so I haven’t had a thing to eat.’

His mother looked at me with tight lips and muttered something about hemlines being longer round here.

Roy squeezed my hand. ‘Give her time to get settled, Ma.’

‘How are you?’ I asked, looking down at his stiff leg.

‘Oh, it’s okay. Lucky to still have two legs, I guess. Shouldn’t complain. But I’m not much good at catching hogs these days.’

At that his dad snorted. I thought he was mimicking a pig at first, but it turned out that was as close as the man came to laughing. Truly. I could see that they were not going to make for easy company.

That night after washing up, Mrs Jackson passed me an article she’d cut out of the newspaper. ‘I saved this for you,’ she said.

WHEN YOUR MAN COMES HOME

Don’t ask questions. If he wants to tell you anything of his experiences, he will in his own time. Be a good listener. Don’t let him feel that you think he has changed. And don’t expect too many compliments on your appearance. Don’t urge him to do things. Let him do what he wants in his own time. Remember that he has been shoved around and ordered about for quite a long time. Don’t expect him to meet people. See that his civilian clothes are ready for him and that his ties etc. are in the place where he remembers them. Let your sympathy mainly be unspoken.

Well, at least I was good at keeping silent, I thought. And I’d be lying if I said things didn’t feel safer that way.