Dolly hooked her hand into the crook of his arm and they set off across the rough grassland as the planes took off and landed at Cliffe in a never-ending stream. ‘You could always stay with us, you know,’ Ron told her.

She hugged his arm to her side. ‘Bless you, darling Ron, that would be lovely, but I have to soldier on with Pauline for Frank’s sake. He’s such a lovely great bear of a man and so bewildered by her ever-changing moods. I really do worry that one day he’ll have had enough of it all, and simply walk out.’

The same thing had occurred to Ron over the years, but Frank wasn’t the kind of man to walk away from his responsibilities. ‘He loves her despite everything,’ he said, ‘and I think he believes that if he sticks by her, she’ll eventually come right.’

He took a deep breath and expelled it on a sigh. ‘Losing those boys was her undoing, Dolly, and now Brendon’s mixed up in this invasion, it’s no wonder she’s falling apart.’

‘That’s just it,’ Dolly said flatly. ‘She’s not getting hysterical or bursting into tears every five minutes. She’s showing absolutely no emotion and has stopped talking altogether. Refuses to acknowledge me or Frank and has taken to cleaning that little house to within an inch of its life. It’s more worrying, actually, because I’ve never seen her like this before, and neither Frank nor I know how to deal with it.’

‘We all have our way of coping with things that worry or frighten us,’ said Ron as they reached the country lane and headed for the stone bridge.

‘I know, and I suppose I should be more patient,’ said Dolly ruefully. ‘But there are times when I wish I could shake some sense into her.’ She stopped on the bridge to look down at the crystal-clear water that raced beneath it.

‘Pauline is so very different to Carol, who’s coped admirably with losing her husband and baby – and the fact she was evicted from her home so the Americans could practise for today. Carol’s even had the courage to accept my failings as a mother, and to forgive me for keeping Felix a secret all these years – but Pauline has seen the whole thing as a personal assault, and refuses to believe a word I say.’

Dolly lit a cigarette and watched the planes landing, refuelling and rearming before taking off again. ‘There’s a steely calmness in Carol that I wish Pauline shared, but I fear she’s too like her father – caring only for herself and blind to the needs of those who love her.’

‘Things will be better once this war is over and Brendon comes home,’ soothed Ron.