The fire was low in the grate and only Danny, Frank, Pop and Kitty remained. Ruby had dropped in to escort Michael and Megan back to the flat. Tommy had taken himself up to bed hours ago, but the others couldn’t sleep – Pop from anxiety, Danny because he felt too churned up, Frank because he felt some vague obligation now that Eddy wasn’t here to see this baby into the world, and Kitty from good manners at being the hostess and because, no matter how tired she was, she kept catching Frank’s eye in the fading firelight. The conversation had dwindled to a murmur as they all sat waiting. Frank glanced up at Kitty and she felt her heart turn over, the evening that they’d just shared seeming to sum up all that was right with the world. Their families were together and, for some reason, Kitty wasn’t sure why, the awkwardness between her and Frank had disappeared today. It was almost like the days before the war, in simpler times … before Frank lost his leg and things changed forever.

Frank seemed to mirror her thoughts when he asked her, ‘Do you remember when we had that dance Kitty, at Nancy and Sid’s wedding?’

Kitty smiled. As if she could ever forget it. ‘Of course, it seems like a century ago, everything was different then.’

‘Some things don’t change.’ He stood and moved over to the gramophone, removing a record from its sleeve. ‘Can you remember the song that we danced to, it was Gloria singing wasn’t it?’

‘That’s right, but what was the song …’ Kitty was only pretending not to remember, she knew that it was, ‘The Nearness of You’. She would never forget the last dance they’d had before Frank was called up.

‘It was this one wasn’t it.’ The opening bars drifted into the room and Kitty stood, almost without realising it and moved to stand next to Frank.

‘You remember it! Yes, this is the one. It’s a lovely song.’ Kitty and Frank were so close now they could touch. Frank closed the gap between them by coiling his arm around her waist and gently swayed her in time to the music.

‘I might have lost a leg, Kitty, but I can still dance a bit.’ Frank looked down into her eyes, and Kitty could not only see his smile, his kindness and his strength in his handsome face, but something else too. Something that she could feel in herself. Something that couldn’t be ignored. ‘You never did write me those letters that you promised,’ he said, mock teasingly.

Gone was the flutter from Kitty’s stomach and her usual confusion around Frank. All she felt now was his arm around her waist, the nearness of him and how good it felt – just like the words of the song said. ‘Didn’t I? Perhaps it was because things had changed Frank, after …’