‘But it wouldn’t have been, would it?’ she snapped. ‘Grandad could have been bringing up the cases for all you knew, or Mum might have come with me and brought the girls. Whatever would they have thought to find you lurking up here when everyone assumed you were out?’

‘I don’t know,’ he replied, rubbing his forehead and looking distraught. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’

Anne was tired and not in the mood to appease him. She folded her arms and glared. ‘Well, it’s obvious you’ve given a lot of thought as to what you want, Martin, but there seems to have been precious little consideration for me. I really believed you’d be at the station – or at least here to welcome us home – instead of which you chose to hide up here and wait for me to come to you. Well, it just isn’t good enough.’

‘I’m so sorry, Anne,’ he said. ‘You’re right. I didn’t think it through properly, and I can’t bear to see you upset.’ He tentatively reached for her hand. ‘Please say you’ll forgive me.’

Anne’s fury and hurt could not be swept away by the sorrowful look in his eyes, and she edged back from him. ‘Do you realise how disappointed and hurt I was by what you did? Can you even begin to imagine how it was for me and the girls when you didn’t show at the station? I’ve been waiting for today with such eagerness and hope that this might be the start of us repairing our marriage – but it felt as if you didn’t care about us at all.’

‘Oh, Anne, I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘Please don’t cry. I can see that it was selfish and thoughtless of me, and I didn’t mean to hurt you, really I didn’t.’

Anne could see that he was deeply touched by her reaction and in a quandary as to what to do about it. In that moment she realised their situation had been immensely difficult for both of them, and in their own way each of them was struggling to find a solution. Being bitter wasn’t going to help ease anything, and the thought of not finding a way through this was unbearable. They would both have to be patient – her especially – and now it was up to her to take that first step towards repairing the damage caused by the war.

She took his hand and stepped into his embrace. ‘Of course I forgive you,’ she said against his chest. ‘How can I not when I love you so?’

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