Peter relaxed visibly and indicated they should all sit and enjoy the tea and biscuits. ‘Glad to see you made it, Jack,’ he said once they were settled and Rita had poured the tea. ‘I was in Europe near the end, so I have a fair idea of what you must have been through.’

Jack was unwilling to discuss his war – especially in front of Rita. ‘I’m glad to be back,’ he said, glancing at the walking stick propped against Peter’s chair. ‘How’s your leg coming along?’

‘She’ll be right,’ he replied, giving his thigh a slap. ‘I still need the stick when I get tired, but I get physio every day and have to walk a lot.’ He grinned at Rita and took her hand. ‘I reckon me and Rita know every inch of this place with all the walking we’ve done lately.’

Rita smiled back at him and Jack saw how radiant she was, how her adoration was mirrored in Peter’s eyes, and knew then that if Rita truly wanted to follow him to the other side of the world, there was nothing he could do or say to stop her. His little girl had become a woman in his absence – a woman in love who knew her own mind, and had the courage to follow her heart – just as her mother had done by defying her stuck-up family to marry him.

Rita’s voice drew him from his thoughts. ‘Pete’s making terrific progress, but we’re both worried that if he’s passed fit, he’ll be posted somewhere miles away,’ she said. ‘So we’re making the most of the time we have together.’

Peter kissed Rita’s wrist and looked lovingly into her eyes. ‘I wish things were different, darlin’, but with so many injured coming back and needing hospital beds far more urgently than me, I’m beginning to feel like a bludger.’

He grinned at Jack’s frown. ‘That’s a lazy bloke who sits about making excuses for doing nothing,’ he explained. ‘And that’s not me, Jack. It’s a fair go if I’m chucked out tomorrow, but I have put in a request to be billeted in Cliffehaven until I’m shipped home. Whether that comes to anything or not only time will tell.’ He shrugged. ‘You know what it’s like in the forces, mate. You’re at the whim of some pen-pusher in uniform who thinks of you as a number and couldn’t care less if his orders are inconvenient.’

‘I certainly do,’ murmured Jack, noting with some amusement that he’d gone from sir to Jack to mate in the space of a few minutes. ‘But I’m sure that now you and Rita are engaged, the authorities will look kindly on your application.’