‘Put that down for a second, and give me your hand,’ he said. ‘Look, I can’t get down on one knee, but you swore you didn’t mind about my injured leg and so you’ll have to forgive me. Still … Kitty Callaghan, I love you more than I can say and you are the most precious woman in the world. I can’t imagine life without you. Will you marry me?’

‘Frank.’ Kitty’s hands went to her face.

‘Look, I’m sorry if I’ve rushed it. I know we’ve only been together for a couple of months. It’s just that we’ve known each other so well for so much longer than that, I suddenly couldn’t wait to ask you.’

Kitty gasped and then came into his arms again. ‘Don’t be sorry; don’t even think it. I’m surprised, that’s all. I didn’t think you’d ask – or at least not so soon. Yes, Frank, yes, with all my heart. Of course I’ll marry you. I can’t imagine how anyone could be happier. Yes.’

For a moment they stood still, as the golden sunlight shone through the window, and outside they could hear somebody cheering, and the clattering of Tommy’s ladder as he strung the flags from the house to the closest lamppost.

Then Kitty gently pushed him away. ‘Duty calls, Lieutenant Feeny,’ she said, her eyes bright with happiness. ‘I’ve got a cake to make.’

Nancy watched Georgie trying to keep up with his bigger cousins. Michael and Megan knew exactly what they were doing at the victory garden, which is more than she could say for herself. She could count on the fingers of one hand the times she’d been there since her mother and Violet started it, although she’d been happy enough to eat the produce.

She took a deep breath as Megan began to pick rhubarb and Michel carefully explained to Georgie how to find out if the radishes were ready yet. Her son looked so solemn. He’d had a lot to get used to, what with his father – a total stranger to him – turning up. He’d been polite but puzzled. Sid wasn’t like his friends’ fathers or the men he knew. He was very quiet, very thin, and very different to the few pictures he’d seen of him.

Nancy had been cautious at the first sight of Sid. She’d thought she was prepared, but when she’d finally come face to face with the shell of the cocksure man she’d married, she’d been almost speechless. Of course his mother had been all over him, and it had been some while before they’d managed any time on their own.