Confused, disappointed, and yet sure that he’d meant something more than the simple words themselves, she took out her key and let herself in to the warm comfort of her noisy family home.

Kitty paused to look out of her office window at the darkening sky and what was visible of the city skyline. She’d been working in the Tactical Unit, allied to Derby House, and was the last to leave. New Year’s Eve. She cast her mind back to the previous one, when she’d still been down at the south coast. She’d had the afternoon off and had managed to meet up with Marjorie, and they’d had a chilly but bracing walk along the coast before finding a café serving an amazingly luxurious real hot chocolate, rich and sweet. She savoured the memory of the taste, better by far than any champagne or cocktail. Though maybe if Laura had been there she wouldn’t have agreed.

Kitty sighed as she straightened the small pile of paper; it would need to be attended to as soon as possible. She and Laura had exchanged Christmas cards, but neither of them had heard from Marjorie. They’d again reassured each other that no news was good news, but Kitty was beginning to lose faith in the phrase. She dreaded that the worst had happened. And how dreadful it was for Laura, to have finally come out of the horrible limbo of not knowing Freddy’s fate, only to be faced with an almost identical situation with one of her closest friends.

Nothing to be done about it, thought Kitty grimly, putting on her overcoat and picking up her bag. She didn’t particularly feel like celebrating with Marjorie’s fate hanging unresolved, but Tommy would expect her to join in the fun. After all, she told herself firmly, she should be glad of everything that had gone well in the past year. The course of the war, for one. The tide had well and truly turned and the Allies had continued to sweep through France. The end might finally be in sight. She wanted that more than anything, so that if Tommy did suddenly change his mind and sign up with the Merchant Navy, at least his life wouldn’t be in danger, or no more than it would normally be in peacetime.