She shook her head at herself. She was being silly, she had so much to be thankful for but nevertheless, it would be lovely to have Jinny on hand. Jinny was one of her own kind, that was the thing. She’d realized very shortly after coming to live at Highfield that what she termed as being friendly and informal with the servants wasn’t encouraged by the family or the staff themselves. They saw it as over-familiarity and it made the servants uncomfortable. She felt instinctively that Jinny wasn’t like that, and that the girl would neither feel awkward if she talked frankly with her nor take advantage of it. She had found a friend.

She turned over in the big soft bed, trying to find a position that was more comfortable for her swollen stomach and wishing Alexander was with her. Keep him safe, God, she prayed silently. In all the madness, keep him safe. Let him live to see his children. Bring him home to me.

Chapter Thirty-One

Alexander stared at his commanding officer, his face expressing his relief and surprise at what the colonel had just told him. His leave had been granted on compassionate grounds.

‘I see no reason why you can’t disappear for a week or two, m’boy,’ the colonel continued, puffing on his pipe. ‘There isn’t much happening here, let’s face it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re dug in for the winter so you make arrangements to get yourself off home to that pretty little wife of yours.’

Over the last weeks a continuous line of trenches, full of weary soldiers, had been dug to stretch from the North Sea to Switzerland, but with little movement since the Germans had failed to reach Paris. It was now the middle of November and a stalemate existed amid the mud and barbed wire, with reports from the front talking of little else but ‘alternate advances and retirements’. Nobody on either side had yet developed a tactic to break the deadlock.