She blinked and tried to cast her eyes towards the chink of light. Was it still daytime? Maybe that was the sun shining. Perhaps that meant rescue was at hand. She knew there would be teams assigned to each area, ready to spring into action on occasions such as this, just as there were in Bootle, where Pop played a part both in salvage operations and with the ARP. She would cling to that thought – that a London equivalent of Pop would come and find her. How she wished he were here now. He would save them all. In a flash of panic she wondered if she would ever see him or any of them ever again.

Stop it, she told herself. Panic won’t help. She had to stay in control. She would continue moving her toes and the fingers of one hand, to make sure her circulation kept flowing, but nothing more in case she dislodged any more bricks, or whatever it was that pinned her in place so firmly. Now she was more alert she realised she was being held down by a heavy weight and it was very uncomfortable. ‘Frank,’ she called again, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. ‘Frank! Are you there?’

She shut her eyes tightly shut, forcing back a sob. Frank had to be still alive. She couldn’t bear it if he wasn’t. How stupid she had been, angry that he’d picked another Wren in preference to her for this trip, wasting time being cross when they’d had all day together yesterday on the train and today going round the city. They could have enjoyed each other’s company, talked properly, not pretended to be formal and indifferent.

Life wouldn’t be worth living if he wasn’t there too, she realised. He was everything she looked for. He was funny and clever, he was the best-looking man she knew, and yet he meant so much more than all of that. He made her body sing just to look at him, and on the few occasions when they touched, her skin reacted as if he’d lit it with a dusting of magic. She was drawn to him by something so fundamental she couldn’t put a name to it. If she was honest with herself, she would have to admit that she’d never felt like that with Elliott, even though she had been extremely fond of him and had begun to think of a future with him. She felt a connection with Frank on another level entirely. She’d known it for years, ever since they’d had that brief dance long ago. Up till then she’d still been like another one of his young sisters. He’d awoken something in her and then he’d had his accident and things had changed between them. Was she really never going to have the chance to put that right?