Frank made his way over and laughed. ‘Our Eddy’s always had a taste for a drop of grog, haven’t you, Ed? That’s why he went to sea in the first place.’ He’d left Sylvia cooing over little Ellen, who was resplendent in her embroidered christening robe, which had been worn by her mother and aunties before her. ‘Didn’t he tell you that, Violet?’

‘No he did not.’ Violet pretended to be cross but her heart wasn’t in it. She slipped her arm around her husband’s waist. ‘I was just saying to him, how much safer he’ll be now doing that Atlantic crossing. He’ll be home with me for good in no time at all.’

‘That day can’t come soon enough,’ Eddy said, his arm around her shoulders. ‘You’ll keep her safe for me meanwhile, won’t you, Frank?’

‘It’ll be my pleasure,’ said Frank, raising his own glass of rum and chinking it against his brother’s. He kept his face cheerful, allowing no trace of what he really thought to show in his expression. He knew, as several others in the room most likely suspected, that there was going to be a big push soon into northern France. He couldn’t say anything about it, and he couldn’t tell from Eddy’s face whether he also knew or not. Violet might presume her husband would be almost out of danger now, having come through the treacherous years when so many merchant seamen were lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. That would be true, if he stayed on that route. But it stood to reason that if the Allies were going into northern France, somehow they would need provisions, armaments, every kind of supplies, and the best way of providing those would be via the Merchant Navy. It wasn’t up to Frank to burst Violet’s bubble of happiness, and he had no way of knowing where his brother would be sent next, but in his heart of hearts he couldn’t rejoice in the assumption that Eddy was out of danger.

There was nothing he could do about it either way, so he kept smiling, kept sipping the very welcome rum that both Eddy and Jack had managed to bring home, and carefully kept his thoughts away from Kitty’s reappearance in his life. He’d been stunned by her appearance at the church, where she had looked more glamorous than he’d ever seen her. He was glad that Danny had stood between them – he didn’t know how he’d have managed to actually be next to this new, elegant version of Kitty, her beautifully tailored red jacket emphasising her slim waist and trim curves. He had almost stumbled, something he hadn’t done for a very long while.