John had been a little afraid of doing the exercises the doctor had recommended, for he was worried they might bring on another stroke, but Livvy had been strict with him and ensured that he did them every single day. Edith and Mrs Gay had been cooking him good nourishing food to help build up his strength again and Livvy bullied him into eating every mouthful that was put in front of him, and her endeavours were paying off.

‘We’ll miss her when she goes back,’ Cissie sighed as she and Sunday sat in the kitchen one morning with a pot of tea in front of them. ‘She’s certainly took a great weight off our shoulders, bless her. And I don’t mind telling you that I’m finding it harder to do as much as I used to these days.’

‘She’s always been a hard-working girl,’ Sunday said proudly as Livvy appeared bearing John’s empty tray.

‘I don’t know what you’ve said to perk John up, but he seems to be improving by the hour,’ Cissie told her.

‘That’s because he has hope.’ Livvy placed the tray down and helped herself to a cup of tea from the pot. ‘I’ve told him that I don’t believe Giles is dead. Oh, I did at first admittedly, but now I feel in here that he’s still alive somewhere.’ As her hand rested on her heart, her mother frowned.

‘And since when did you care so much about Giles? If I remember rightly you two were always at each other’s throats before you both joined up.’

‘We were, or at least I was always at his,’ Livvy admitted with a guilty flush. ‘But then when we found we were both based at the same station we got to know each other better and the long and the short of it is …’ she hesitated before plunging on. ‘I love him. It’s as simple as that but I didn’t realise it until it was too late to tell him.’

Sunday was so shocked that she spurted the mouthful of tea she had been in the process of swallowing all across the table. ‘Well, that’s a turn-up for the books,’ she spluttered as she hastily dabbed at the spillage with a tea towel. ‘And I just pray that you’re right and he is alive somewhere even if he is in one of those dreadful prisoner-of-war camps.’

‘They’re not all dreadful,’ Livvy pointed out. ‘Look at the one they’ve opened up in the grounds of Arbury Hall for the German prisoners of war. The Germans there are actually rebuilding Chilvers Coton Church and the local people seem to have quite taken to them. Not all Germans are bad.’