Once inside, his hand fumbled at the buttons on her uniform and, once he had undressed her and laid her on the bed, she gave herself to him willingly. She had dreamed of this since she had been a little girl and for now no one else in the world mattered but him.

Chapter Eight

‘Have you seen the papers this mornin’?’ Cissie asked Sunday when she entered the kitchen one cold and blustery morning in October with George close behind her. He did love his cup of tea before he started work.

‘No, I haven’t.’ Sunday yawned. She had barely had time to wake up let alone read the papers.

‘That Wallis Simpson has divorced her husband, Ernest.’ Cissie shook her head in disgust. ‘Didn’t I tell yer she had designs on the king?’

Sunday smiled as George winked at her with an amused grin on his face. ‘She may well have but the prime minister has already told him that he will not be allowed to marry her while he’s king,’ she pointed out.

‘Huh! The man is smitten,’ Cissie snorted. ‘This won’t be the end of it, you mark my words.’

Cissie was proved right when in December, witnessed by his three brothers – the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent – the king signed an instrument of abdication at Fort Belvedere. Prince Albert, the Duke of York, then became King George VI.

‘It’s disgraceful,’ Cissie raged. ‘The whole country must be up in arms about it! An’ to make matters worse he’s cleared off to Austria wi’ that Wallis Simpson. You just mark my words they’ll be wed before yer know it.’

‘Actually, I think it’s quite romantic,’ Sunday said. ‘He must love her very much to give up the throne for her, and times are changing, Cissie.’

‘They may well be but not fer the better,’ Cissie grumbled as she expertly flipped the sausages she was frying. Then she remembered something and changed the subject. ‘By the way, when I went into the butcher’s yesterday, he mentioned that the bill hasn’t been paid this month. I got the same in the grocer’s.’

Sunday frowned as she fetched some knives and forks and began to lay the table. ‘Oh dear, Ben must have forgotten to settle them up. Perhaps I should talk to him again about letting me take over the household expenses. He’s been so busy with the stables I bet he forgot all about it.’

‘That’s all very well but I don’t mind tellin’ yer I was embarrassed,’ Cissie huffed. ‘There were a queue o’ people behind me an’ all. What must they have thought of us?’