The evening had started so well. Gary had bought her the best food there was to be found, almost as if there wasn’t a war on: delicious beef, followed by a fruit pudding with an unbelievable amount of sugar whipped into fancy swirls all around it. Then they’d ordered drinks in their room, before sinking into the soft bed with its gorgeous linen sheets, and she’d showed him how much she loved him and how a real hero was to be treated. Her body had hummed with delight, and when they’d finished she felt as if she was floating on air. What he’d said next, however, had brought her down with a bump.

‘So, it’s time to say goodbye.’

She’d thought he was referring to his return to active service, but it soon became clear he meant it for good.

‘But why?’ Nancy couldn’t understand it. They were meant for each other, and he should be asking her to come back to America with him, not dumping her as if she’d been some toy he’d been playing with. ‘Don’t you want us to be together for ever?’

Gary had leant back against the pillows and stretched his arms above his head. ‘Now what makes you think that? Sure, we’ve had a swell time while I’ve been here in Liverpool. But anyone can see the fighting’s drawing to a close. I’ll be back home in America with my wife—’

‘Your wife?’ Nancy had exclaimed, going white.

‘Sure, my wife. What, did you think I didn’t have one?’

‘You’ve taken your time mentioning her,’ Nancy said, stung into asperity.

‘Never said I wasn’t married though,’ Gary replied evenly. ‘I didn’t promise you anything, did I? And anyway, you aren’t exactly free yourself.’

‘What do you mean?’

Gary had shaken his head and given a short bark of a laugh. ‘Oh, come on. That first night we met, you said you had a little boy. So I reckon you’re as married as I am.’

Nancy had felt sick. She’d spent so long pushing Sid to the back of her mind that she’d almost managed to convince herself that he didn’t exist, and had reassured herself that Gary would make the inconvenient problem go away somehow. In a matter of moments, her ticket to future happiness had disappeared in a puff of smoke. She couldn’t bring herself to believe it.