Roz sank down in the seat opposite Joyce’s. ‘They’re the horrible family that I lived with; it was Callum who threw me out.’ She took Joyce’s hand in her own. ‘Lilith …’

Wiping her nose on a handkerchief that Adele had passed her, Joyce muttered, ‘That old bag …’

Roz pulled an awkward grimace. ‘She died in the blitz … I know because Mabel’s family, the Johnsons …’

Joyce’s head snapped up. ‘Donald and Elsa?’

Roz nodded. ‘You know them?’

‘Elsa was the one who helped me run away from Callum in the first place; she even got me a job working for an elderly lady down south.’

Roz gaped at her. ‘So Suzie didn’t know, and that’s why she thought you were dead …’

Joyce stared back, horrified. ‘What on earth would make her think that?’

The cottage door opened and Suzie stood in the doorway. ‘Because you disappeared without a word. When we woke up the next morning I seen your bed was empty. Dad was already up, and looking proper shady.’

‘You thought your father had done me in?’ said Joyce, scarcely able to believe the words that were leaving her own mouth.

Suzie shrugged. ‘He’s got a temper, everyone knows that, and none of us knew where you were. We couldn’t even mention your name without Dad losin’ his rag. I asked Gran about it, and I could tell she thought the worst.’

‘I can see why,’ Joyce admitted. ‘He was always giving me a thick ear for one reason or another; sometimes it seemed I only had to breathe and it was the wrong thing to do.’ Her eyes locked with Suzie’s, and it was clear to see the remorse which lay within. ‘I’m sorry that you thought the worst, luv, but I couldn’t come back, else he really might have done me in.’

‘So you left me with him and Gran,’ said Suzie accusingly. ‘Thanks for putting me first!’

Rising from her chair, Joyce attempted to put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders but was instantly shrugged off.

‘I couldn’t take you with me,’ said Joyce reasonably. ‘I couldn’t look after myself, let alone a child.’

‘I’d have been better off with you than I was with them,’ said Suzie, her bottom lip trembling.

‘I know you think that, Suzie, but your father wouldn’t have laid a finger on you, and he could put a roof over your head and food in your belly, and that’s more than what I could have done at the time.’

But Suzie wasn’t in the mood for listening, especially with Roz hearing every word. ‘Instead you’ve been out here living it up with your pals,’ she snapped, ‘a terrible place for a child to grow up, I must say.’