‘I’m afraid it is,’ said Anne, ‘and I had a devilish job of getting him here, so don’t be fooled by his size; he can still act like a four-year-old at times.’ Her face showed her bitter disappointment at Martin’s absence as she put her free arm around Peggy and held her close with Emily between them. ‘It’s good to be home again, Mum,’ she murmured. ‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long.’

‘And I’m sorry Martin wasn’t here to meet you,’ said Peggy. ‘I don’t know what’s got into him. He was fine about things this morning and looking forward to having you all home.’

‘Was he? Really?’ asked Anne. ‘It feels to me as if he doesn’t care about us at all.’

‘I’m sure that’s not true,’ Peggy replied, determinedly drying her tears as Anne was bombarded with hugs and kisses from Cordelia and Ron, whilst trying to fend off an over-excited Harvey, who’d been dashing back and forth not knowing who to greet first.

She watched him charge back to Charlie, who got down on one knee to make a fuss of him, and caught her son’s eye as he looked back at her over the dog’s head. Slowly walking towards this tall stranger who bore little resemblance to the nine-year-old boy she’d last seen, Peggy didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

‘Hello, Mum,’ he said, getting to his feet so he towered over her. He shot her a bashful grin. ‘I’d forgotten how small you are.’

Peggy giggled. ‘I’ve always been this size,’ she managed. ‘It’s you who’s grown so tall and strapping,’ she teased. ‘Vi clearly fed you well in Somerset.’

As he shifted from one foot to another, she looked up into bright blue eyes, noted the lock of dark hair falling over his forehead just as his father’s had done and felt her heart melt. He was the spitting image of Jim. ‘Are you too grown-up for a hug from your mother?’ she asked, not wanting to embarrass him by throwing her arms around him.

He shook his head and shyly gathered her to him in a swift, hard hug and then released her. ‘I’ve got to help Grandad get the bags and things loaded into the cars,’ he mumbled before hurrying off.

Peggy followed his progress down the platform and immediately began to fret that perhaps she should have set him up in the big room and not the basement. He was clearly no longer a little boy, but on the very cusp of manhood, and the toys she’d put out would be laughably inadequate. With a tremulous sigh she went to join the others.