Rita blew out her cheeks and dragged on her battered flying jacket. ‘It’s a lot of fuss about nothing,’ she complained, ‘but if it makes you happy, I’ll see the doctor and then get to the fire station.’

They left Beach View five minutes later, and although Daisy was perfectly capable of walking to the hospital, Peggy decided that it would be expedient to put her in the pushchair. Daisy didn’t like this idea at all, and made a terrible fuss all the way down Camden Road, but with both girls hobbling, their progress was very slow.

The hospital was quiet, so Rita was seen quite quickly before being sent off to the X-ray department in a wheelchair – which she liked as little as Daisy had appreciated her pushchair.

Peggy sat in the waiting room trying to amuse Daisy with a colouring book while Sarah’s ankle was looked at, and when the girl came back with a bright smile to say that it was only twisted, she sighed with relief.

‘You’ll soon be out and about again as long as you rest it well,’ she soothed. ‘I just hope the Yanks responsible for all this get their comeuppance. They had no business to be racing about so carelessly down that country lane – and as for just leaving you both …’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’m going to be late for work,’ she fretted. ‘Whatever are they doing with poor little Rita?’

The answer came half an hour later. Rita was returned to them in the wheelchair, her leg bound from ankle to mid-thigh in a plaster cast, her mutinous expression needing little explanation. She glared at Sarah and tightly folded her arms. ‘Don’t you dare say I told you so,’ she warned.

The nurse smiled at Peggy and handed over a pair of crutches. ‘Your daughter’s got a hairline fracture at the top of her tibia, and there is some damage to the hamstring and muscles surrounding her knee. The cast will have to stay on for six weeks, I’m afraid, but after that she’ll be as good as new.’

Peggy didn’t correct her mistaken belief that Rita was her daughter, for in a way she was just as much a daughter as her beloved Cissy – who was stationed up at Cliffe aerodrome and much missed. ‘Thank you very much, nurse. We’ll make sure she doesn’t overdo things.’

The nurse grinned as Rita scowled. ‘Best of luck with that,’ she said, passing over a box of pills and a slip of paper. ‘These are to combat the pain, and she has an appointment with the doctor in six weeks’ time. Any problems, please don’t hesitate to bring her in.’

‘I am still here, you know,’ grumbled Rita as the nurse bustled off. ‘Anyone would think I’d gone deaf and daft as well as crippled.’