She gasped as the full recognition hit her. ‘It’s you. It is you. Oh, good lord. I can’t believe it. It’s you, you’re here.’ She put out a hand to touch his arm, as if to make certain he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. ‘Oh, Freddy, where have you been? What’s happened to you? How did you get back? Are you all right? Your poor head. Do Ma and Pa know? How long have you been back?’

‘Steady on, old girl.’ Freddy’s face broke into an amused smile, revealing deep laughter lines at the corners of his eyes. ‘One thing at a time.’

She took in the sight of him, in his creased and faded blue shirt, trousers rolled up as if they weren’t his and didn’t quite fit, belt pulled tight because he was too thin for the waistband. This was not the dapper Freddy she remembered. What must he have been through to appear so changed? But she didn’t care. He was back; her beloved, aggravating, dearest brother was alive after all. She had dreamed of this moment but scarcely dared to hope it could ever come true. Now here he was, standing on the pavement of a residential street in northwest London.

‘Yes, sorry. Yes, of course. But all the same, how? When and what have you … no, I’ve a better idea,’ she said, trying to organise her tumbling thoughts. ‘There’s a decent pub around the next corner. Let’s go there. They’ve got a garden at the back and we can be cool there and you can tell me everything. Can you do that? Have you got time?’

He laughed. ‘As long as you’re paying. I’ve just about got what I’m standing up in at the moment. I’ll treat you next time, once they’ve sorted me out. I’m on my way to being debriefed – the War Office know I’m back, but I had to see you first before I’m sent back to my unit. I expect they’ll get all the information out of me first, before they give me a decent set of clothes and a bit of spare cash.’

He was smiling, but she could tell he was tired, that this was all a bit of an effort. She offered him her arm and together they rounded the corner and found the little pub, set back from the road, almost empty apart from a few older customers who had called in for a quick drink after their working day.

‘You go and find somewhere quiet to sit in the shade and I’ll get you a nice beer,’ she offered, but he gave her a look she remembered from their childhood that meant he wasn’t happy being told what to do.