‘It ain’t difficult in this place,’ said Ethel with a shrug. ‘Cliffehaven might be swelling by the day with so many people pouring in to work in the factories, but it’s still a village when it comes to gossip.’ She eyed Daisy, who was now asleep. ‘Aw, don’t she look sweet?’

‘You should have seen her five minutes ago,’ Peggy replied dryly. She plonked herself down on the bench next to Ethel and lifted her face to the weak sun, glad of its meagre warmth after the chill of the warehouse. ‘How’s my April and little Paula? We do miss having April around, and she’s so busy these days I hardly ever see her.’

Ethel’s usually sour face lit up. ‘They’re both right as rain. April’s got a day off from the telephone exchange, so she and my Ruby ’ave taken Paula to the park for a bit of fresh air. It’s good the gels are getting on so well, ’cos I think my Ruby’s a bit low at the moment,’ she confided. ‘What with her Mike all that way up north and no chance of seeing ’im until this war’s over, she’s worried ’e might go off her.’

‘I doubt that very much,’ said Peggy. ‘Mike’s far too smitten for that. It’s probably all this hanging about waiting for something decisive to happen that’s getting her down. Like the rest of us.’

‘Yeah, you could be right,’ said Ethel, flicking cigarette ash into a nearby flower tub. ‘It’s certainly getting on my nerves.’

Peggy had known Ethel’s daughter Ruby since she’d come down from London, battered and bruised by her brutal husband, who’d since been killed in a motorcycle accident. Like April, who’d come to Cliffehaven after being forced to leave the Wrens when she fell pregnant, Ruby had moved into Beach View, and with the help of Cordelia and the other girls, they had both slowly regained their confidence and sparky personalities. When Ethel also left London, she and Ruby had rented the bungalow Cordelia had inherited in Mafeking Terrace, and now Ethel was firmly ensconced in the tiny railway cottage, Ruby shared the bungalow with another factory girl.

Ruby had met the Canadian soldier, Mike, before he’d been involved in the disaster of the Dieppe raid and lost his sight in one eye. It had been love the moment they’d met for both of them, but their path to happiness had been disrupted by his being sent to the Outer Hebrides for the duration of the war.

‘At least the army didn’t discharge him and send him back to Canada,’ said Peggy. ‘And from what Ruby’s told me, I gather there are very few distractions up there on that remote island.’