Roz placed her hand over his. ‘I’m fine as I am, Felix, honestly I am. If there’s one thing I’ve learned today, it’s not to care what others think, and you taught me that.’

‘I really don’t mind—’

She shook her head decidedly. ‘I’m not embarrassed about who I am, and my clothes shouldn’t be a reflection on that. Besides, I rather like having you and Mabel as my little secret, something the Haggartys know nothing of.’

Felix looked down at her, his eyes twinkling affectionately. ‘I think I like the idea of being your secret! Makes me feel special.’

‘You are special!’ Roz cried. ‘Goodness me, Felix, you’ve been with me since the beginning of our journey. You’re the only one who knows what it’s like to flee your home and country just so that you might be safe …’ she cradled his hand in hers, ‘… and you’re the only one who knows what it’s like to have family still in Germany, and that makes you very special indeed.’

When Roz had begun to tell Felix how special he was to her, he had hoped she was going to say that he was special in the romantic sense of the word, but as she continued to speak it became apparent – to Felix at any rate – that Roz saw him as nothing more than a friend. Albeit a very good one who had experienced the same traumas as herself. He sighed inwardly. Sometimes, when people are thrown together through a twist of fate, things can become so intense that a deep-rooted friendship forms, similar to having a sibling. We came together at the wrong time, he thought dejectedly. Roz will only ever see me as an older brother. He sighed audibly. She might never see him the same way he saw her, but he was still determined to look after her.

Hearing him sigh, Roz looked up expectantly. ‘What’s up?’

‘Just mulling over what life could have been like had we met under different circumstances.’

She shrugged complacently. ‘We wouldn’t. I lived in Frankfurt, you in Berlin. Had it not been for the Nazis, our paths would most likely have never crossed.’

Typical, thought Felix: no matter which way he looked at it, the woman he loved was always going to be out of his reach. It obviously wasn’t meant to be.