Rita gazed around the room, which Pop had decorated with branches of holly he’d found on his rounds. There were home-made paper chains, which Violet had laboured over with Georgie, who was just old enough to help out. He and Nancy were here, as old Mrs Kerrigan had apparently said she couldn’t begin to think about celebrating Christmas when her poor Sid was still a POW. Nancy had complained that this was no reason to deny Georgie his fun and had joined her own mother’s party instead. Rita had to admit that Nancy was glowing, unusually cheerful and agreeable, her cheeks rosy with the warmth of the room, her hair beautifully styled and shining. Long may it last, she thought. Although, knowing Nancy as she did, her angelic mood meant there was probably something going on behind the scenes.

There was a rise of chatter from the far end of the room, where Pop was shaking his head. ‘Oh, go on,’ Sarah was saying, and it looked as if others were agreeing with her.

‘Yes, come on, give us a tune,’ Danny chimed in, and Rita noticed her youngest sister flashing a glance at him. ‘Our Kitty will sing the words, won’t you, Kitty?’

Kitty protested. ‘Danny, I’m going to help with the washing-up in a minute.’ But she was shouted down.

‘The washing-up can wait,’ Dolly announced grandly, for once in her life not jumping to her feet to clear everything away.

‘We’ll do it!’ shouted Michael. ‘Then Auntie Kitty can sing!’

‘That’s very kind of you, Michael,’ said Dolly at once, ‘but you don’t have to do that. Like I said, it can wait.’ She didn’t want Michael and Megan trying to tackle the mountain of dirty plates. They were too short to reach the sink and, while she didn’t mind too much if her own plates got chipped, she didn’t want any of the borrowed china to suffer. Besides, they were young and deserved their fun, this day of all days. ‘There you are, Kitty, the children want you to sing too.’

For a moment it looked as if Kitty would protest again, but then Frank came through the door, from where he’d been setting out the rum in the parlour. ‘Did I hear that right?’ he asked with a smile. ‘Kitty’s going to sing for us?’ He gave her a straight look and everyone turned to her. The thought flashed through Frank’s mind that this was the most natural thing in the world, to spend an uncomplicated day with Kitty and their families.