Without thinking she took an involuntary step towards him and suddenly his arm was about her waist and his lips were on hers. Just for a moment she melted against him, responding to his touch, then self-consciously she took a step back, her cheeks aflame.

‘Crikey, all this war stuff is making us all sentimental,’ she said, suddenly her usual off-hand self again and he grinned, displaying a set of very white, straight teeth.

‘Yes, that must be what it is.’ The train had pulled into the station now and people were scrambling to get aboard. ‘I … I’d better go.’

‘Of course.’ She inclined her head and watched as he climbed aboard.

Once on the train he leaned out of the window. ‘Look after Grandad and the horses for me, and thanks for coming, Livvy.’

She nodded as the porter strode along the platform, blowing his whistle and slamming the doors. And then there was a loud whistle as the engine chugged back to life and slowly the train pulled away with Giles still leaning out of the window waving to her. She waved back till the train was lost to sight around a corner and then slowly her fingers rose to touch her lips where he had kissed her.

Don’t be daft, it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, it didn’t mean anything, she told herself. And yet as she walked despondently away, her heart was thumping so loudly she feared people would hear it and there were tears in her eyes.

Three days after Giles had left for training, Livvy came home from work to find Peggy at the lodge playing with the twins. Bobby was now allowing her out of his sight for short periods, so long as his little sister was with people he knew, which Edith took to be a good sign. The twins were always getting into all sorts of trouble, much to Peggy’s amusement. Their hair had grown and formed a halo of springy curls about their small heads and with their cheeky smiles and their deep-blue eyes everyone found them irresistible and spoiled them shamelessly.

‘They love having Peggy to play with,’ her mother remarked as she ushered her to the table for her evening meal, which she had been keeping warm for her. Kathy had slipped over to Cissie’s cottage to pick up some sweet little nightshirts she had made for the twins. They were growing out of the ones they had again.

‘Mm.’ Livvy began to half-heartedly push the food about her plate and Sunday frowned.

‘Livvy …’ she began cautiously. ‘You don’t seem yourself. Is something troubling you?’

Livvy licked her lips and keeping her eyes on the plate she said quietly, ‘There is actually. You see I’ve been thinking that I should be doing my bit towards this war.’

‘In what way?’ Sunday raised her eyebrow.