‘You’ll take her with you to Singapore?’

‘I’ll try and persuade her to see a specialist. Someone who might be able to help her.’

‘I expect getting her away from here will be a big step on the road to recovery.’ As she said the words they sounded false, insincere to her. If she were to speak the truth it would be that Veronica Leighton could go to hell or be locked away in an asylum for all she cared. Instead she said, ‘You’re doing the right thing, Arthur.’

He grunted. ‘Good old Arthur. Always reliable. Always ready to do the right thing.’ His eyes were anguished. ‘When all I want to do is the wrong thing. All I want to do is hold you in my arms again and never let you go.’

‘Please. Don’t talk that way. You’re making it worse for us both. After today we must never again speak of this. We need to pretend we’ve never said what we’ve said. Never felt the way we feel.’

‘What’s said can’t be unsaid and what’s felt can’t be unfelt.’

‘But we can make sure we say no more.’

He got up and began to pace up and down.

‘When will you leave?’

‘Within the next few days.’

Her heart lurched. ‘Why so fast?’

‘There’s a lot to do. I’m going to be involved in a new joint liaison committee. They’re planning to up the military presence in the Straits. Don’t know how much or when, but there’s talk of a new man coming out later this year to coordinate the Allied forces. We need someone to make it clear to London that Malaya needs more defences.’ Arthur shook his head again, frowning. ‘It’s impossible to get decisions out of them at the moment. Now that Churchill’s taken over and things have hotted up in Europe, no one in Whitehall wants to think about Malaya.’

Evie didn’t want to talk about the war. She didn’t want to talk about anything. All she wanted was to be held by Arthur, but her duty was to Douglas, Jasmine and her unborn baby. She bit her lip to force herself not to give in to tears.

Arthur moved to her and drew her to her feet. He stood, holding her against him. She could feel his chest rise and fall as he breathed, could hear the beating of his heart. Her eyes filled with tears but she swallowed them and eased herself away from his hold. ‘You’d better go.’ Looking over his shoulder, she saw Aunty Mimi at the kitchen window watching them. How much had she witnessed?

Arthur went to take her in his arms again.

‘No! Aunty Mimi can see us. Please just go, Arthur. Go.’

He looked into her eyes, his reflecting his visible pain.

‘Goodbye, my darling. I love you. I’ll always love you.’

Evie turned her head as he walked away, then went down the garden, away from the kitchen windows, so that prying eyes wouldn’t see that her heart was breaking.