Felix looked down at his shoes. ‘You don’t have to live close in order to find your folks again. As long as Mr Jones knows where you are, I’m sure he’ll tell the people at the Liver Building and …’

‘And you can’t rely on other people,’ said Roz frankly. ‘This may not be my ideal, but I’d be silly to turn it down.’

Adele nudged Felix gently. ‘She’s right, you know, and even though I’ll miss her as much as you, I think this is what’s best for Roz. Besides, we can always write.’ She looked to Roz, who nodded.

‘Fourteen Ranelagh Street, Liverpool,’ said Roz. ‘According to Mr Jones, it’s in a very smart part of the city.’ She looked towards the door which had opened behind her.

‘Are you ready?’ asked Reggie.

She smiled. ‘As I’ll ever be.’

‘We’ll walk you out,’ said Felix, who wanted an excuse to see the foster family for himself as well as spend as much time with Roz as he could.

As they approached the foyer, Lilith, Callum and Suzie were waiting by the entrance.

Felix cast an eye over each of them separately before muttering from the corner of his mouth to Roz, who smiled at his comment. ‘I see what you mean.’

Roz put her suitcase down and hugged Adele first, then Felix. ‘Don’t forget to keep in touch, and thanks for everything.’

He looked over her shoulder to where Suzie Haggarty was eyeing him with interest.

‘Time we were off,’ said Callum gruffly.

Roz picked up her suitcase and made her way to the entrance, calling back to her friends, ‘Good luck with everything, and don’t forget to write.’

She gave a last wave, then turned and followed the Haggartys out of Dovercourt to her new life in Liverpool.

Roz found the journey to Lime Street Station arduous, not least because of the multitude of changes they’d had to make, but mostly due to the company, or rather lack of it. Apart from when Callum had asked Roz if she had anything valuable she would like him to look after he hadn’t contributed to the conversation, pointedly placing his cap over his eyes as soon as he sat down, whilst Suzie seemed to keep choosing the seat farthest away from Roz. Only Lilith made an effort to talk, and even then she had steered the conversation away from the Haggartys, asking questions about Roz’s life before she left Germany. It was something Roz wasn’t keen to talk about, since she felt as though the older woman was asking for the wrong reasons. Lilith wasn’t sympathetic when Roz spoke of the Nazis and how they were treating the Jews. It seemed to Roz that the older woman was only interested in knowing what sort of house Roz and her parents had lived in, whether they owned or rented, how they had made their living and the lifestyle that they had led, which seemed irrelevant to Roz given her current situation. Lilith wasn’t keen to hear about the accident, or Roz’s opinion on what had happened to her parents, dismissing any idea of Roz being reunited with them out of hand.