Ben’s mind went into overdrive. Home, the doctor had said, but where was home? He could no longer class Treetops as such. It would have been sold by now and he didn’t even know where his stepmother would be living – not that he would have expected her to welcome him with open arms even if he had. But common sense told him that she, Kathy and Livvy would never have gone far. Nuneaton was their hometown, so it was likely that they still lived there somewhere … with his children.

Since the young doctor had told him of the children’s existence, Ben had found himself thinking of them constantly. He hadn’t dared to ask where they lived but suddenly his mind was made up and he nodded.

‘Yes, I would like to finish my recuperation at home,’ he told the doctor.

‘In that case you can give the sister the address of your GP at home and we will write to him. He will then tell you when he considers you fit enough to return to your regiment. You may go as soon as you like, Branning, if you feel up to making your own way there? And good luck, old chap.’

Ben assured the doctor that he was capable of returning alone and after shaking his hand the doctor left the room, leaving Ben to put his possessions, which were pitifully few, into a bag that the ward sister provided.

Two hours later he was on a train headed for Nuneaton and as he stared from the window, he wondered what he would find there.

It was early in November and Sunday was counting the days because Livvy only had two weeks of her leave left. Since the day she had arrived so unexpectedly she had been such a great help to them all that Sunday wondered how they would have managed without her. The minute she had breezed in she had taken over the lion’s share of caring for John, who thankfully was improving with every day that passed. Though the doctor had warned him that he should take the stroke as a warning.

‘You’re not as young as you used to be,’ the doctor had said solemnly. ‘This time you’ve every chance of making a nearly full recovery but next time you might not be so lucky, so slow down.’

Now John was able to sit in the chair at the side of his bed for short periods and he had regained the use of his speech, albeit slightly slurred. His right side was slightly weakened too, although the doctor had assured him that with light exercise this should return to normal eventually, so all in all he had come off quite lightly.