If Netta thought she could just waltz off with wee Gus into the sunset then she was in for a big surprise! He was beginning to get used to Peg’s handling him and singing to him. She loved the way he cocked his head like a sheepdog to listen to her voice while he dribbled out the last spoonful of Sister Laura’s gruel. He was beginning to roll over and crawl to the edge of his playpen where he howled to be let out.

The first battle came over Netta’s wanting to lift him out. Peg told her it would spoil him. It was dangerous for a crawling baby on a farmhouse kitchen floor. Netta complained when he was sat on his potty for hours until he performed, his bottom encircled with a red rim. ‘He has to learn obedience and good habits. It’s never too soon to begin,’ Peg argued. Did the girl not see that babies were wilful and needed to be tamed and trained by a strict regime? Peg knew that when she left the room Netta would rush to pick him up and cuddle him to stop his crying. He would struggle against her, his eyes on the door searching for Peg’s return, and it choked her heart with relief to be first and best in his world. No one needed her like Gus had needed her all those months. Nothing had prepared her for such a welter of emotions.

On New Year’s Eve the Hustons poured out of their little Austin Seven which was piled up at the back with a metal rack on which was strapped a collapsible go-chair. Peg had never seen such a contraption before and decided that Gus would be getting about in one of those. It could be shoved in the back of the farm van for trips into town. Eileen struggled out of the back seat with Morag on her knee from where they were sitting next to a crate of bottles ready for the celebrations.

Morag was dressed like a little princess in a pink woollen coat edged with swan’sdown, leggings and a matching peekaboo bonnet but she had been sick down the front of her coat and stank to high heaven. Nobody had ever warned Netta how foul a soiled nappy could be, especially one that belonged to somebody else’s child. Morag had a podgy face and piggy eyes, not the most appealing of little girls, and Peg was proud that Gus was so handsome with features that were defined and strong.

Eileen was surprised to see Netta. She had been told she was away on war work.