Now it was Kathy’s turn to look sad. ‘Oh, I hear from him regularly, although at least half of every letter is heavily censored,’ she said bitterly. ‘I know he gets terribly frustrated at the number of patients he’s unable to save. Still, this war can’t go on forever, can it?’ she said optimistically.

‘Let’s hope not,’ Sunday said with a heartfelt sigh.

At that moment, David was actually enjoying a temporary lull in the fighting as a truce had been called for Christmas Day. There were still the injured in the hospital to tend to, however, and as usual he was doing his rounds of the wards. The nurses had done what they could to make the wards look festive and more than one of the patients had a tiny bit of mistletoe hidden so that they could try and pinch a kiss from the young nurses.

When he had finished his rounds, David headed to the canteen for a well-earned cup of tea, trying hard to muster up some Christmas cheer. But he found it difficult after tending to so many injured men. Each and every one of them was someone’s son, brother or sweetheart and he had no doubt it was the same for the other side. He couldn’t imagine the German soldiers wanted to be out here in the desert any more than they did. With a sigh his thoughts turned to Kathy and he wondered what she and the children would be doing on this special day. God willing this time next year they would all be together again but only time would tell.

At Treetops the Christmas morning service at the church had to be abandoned because of the weather conditions but the atmosphere in the house was happy as the children laughed and played with their toys. Somehow despite the rationing Cook had managed to produce a Christmas dinner fit for a king. A local farmer had provided them with a plump goose, which was served with Cook’s homemade stuffing and fluffy mashed potatoes. There was also a selection of vegetables, crispy roast potatoes and thick, creamy gravy followed by a delicious Christmas pudding, which Cook had had soaking in brandy for weeks, and lovely sticky yellow custard. The children tucked in as if they’d never been fed and Peggy squealed with delight when she found the shiny silver sixpence in the pudding.

‘That’s lucky,’ Edith told her affectionately. ‘Close your eyes and make a wish.’

The child closed her eyes and for a moment they all felt sad as they saw her lip tremble. She was clearly thinking of Bobby and they could all guess what she was wishing for, but unfortunately, if they were right, this was one wish that would never come true. Bobby, like thousands and thousands of others, had lost his life because of the war and none of them could ever come back.