‘Remember what I said,’ Fanny told Bridget. ‘Me and our Billy will be at the canal every fourth of August to celebrate the childer’s birthdays.’

‘Meanwhile, you know where I am if you need me.’

‘Come with us, gal. It’s still not too late to change yer mind.’

‘No.’ Bridget shook her head, and Fanny understood.

They hugged again, and the children too. ‘Which way are you headed?’ Bridget wanted to know.

‘South,’ Fanny replied, looking up at the sky. ‘I reckon we’ll just follow the sun.’

A last embrace then Fanny slipped a small bottle of gin into Bridget’s hand. ‘Just a wee drop o’ the good stuff,’ she said with a wink. ‘Sometimes it helps to clear yer mind.’

Bridget laughed. ‘In that case you might need it more than me.’

‘Cheeky bugger!’ Fanny grinned. She slapped leather against the horse’s rump, and off they went. Bridget and Ruthie stood, hand in hand, watching the wagon roll away down the street.

‘Will we ever see them again?’ Ruthie asked tearfully.

‘Course we will, sweetheart,’ Bridget replied. But in her heart she was asking the same question. ‘Take care of yourselves,’ she murmured, ‘and may God keep you safe from harm.’

That night, Ruthie cried herself to sleep. Downstairs, Bridget sat at the table, her heart heavy. ‘Happen I were a fool not to go with her,’ she muttered. ‘After all, what is there to keep me here?’ She looked at the bottle which Fanny had given her. ‘You bugger, Fan!’ she laughed, and straightaway her heart was lighter.

Picking up the bottle, she turned it over and over in her hands. She opened the top and took the tiniest sip. She might have put the top back on, but the sip had made her feel warm all over. She took another sip, then another, and soon she was feeling so sleepy she could hardly keep her head up.

Replacing the top on the bottle, she folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them. It had been a long day, and at the end of it she had lost her dearest friend. She had no way of knowing if she would ever see her again, and now, even with her beloved Ruthie upstairs, she felt lonelier than at any other time in her life.

For no particular reason, her mind went back over the years, to Harry… Tom… the way it was. And she wondered how she had lived through it all.

But then there was Ruthie, and everything was worthwhile.

A knock on the door startled her. ‘My God! It’s Fanny come back!’ Feeling dizzy, she got up from the chair and went at an unsteady run down the passageway. ‘I knew you’d come back!’ she cried, flinging open the door, and her arms as well.

Bob was taken by surprise. ‘Well now, that’s a warm welcome if ever I saw one,’ he joked, realising from the astonished look on her face that she had expected someone else.