The whisky had made him feel a bit light-headed, so he hadn’t complained when Ron had silently removed that second cup from his hands and finished it off himself, and the bag of hot, vinegary chips they’d bought to eat on their way home had gone some way to filling the gap that lately always seemed to be there no matter how much he ate.

Charlie’s head buzzed a bit, but it felt quite pleasant, and he was ready to sleep now. He turned off the bedside light and snuggled into the pillows. Tomorrow promised to be even better. In the morning, Grandad Ron would introduce him to the Cliffehaven rugby side, and after lunch, Frank had promised to take him out on the small boat to see if he still had his sea legs and could remember his way around it.

On the very brink of tumbling into sleep, Charlie smiled and wondered why he’d ever dreaded coming home.

27

Peggy had been shocked to hear about Michael’s behaviour, but thrilled to learn that Doris and John had fixed a date for their wedding despite him, and had happily gone with her sister to Plummer’s department store in search of an appropriate outfit.

She hadn’t been quite so happy about the election results, for despite all that Churchill had done for the country, Labour had swept in with a huge majority and Clement Attlee was now the Prime Minister.

Rosie was cock-a-hoop, of course, and already planning her campaign to be voted onto the council in the local elections at the end of the year – though how she’d find time to run the pub and be a councillor, Peggy had no idea. Ron had been phlegmatic about it, bless him, for he was quite happy to let her spread her wings whilst he took charge at the Anchor, but Peggy suspected it wouldn’t be long before they put the pub up for sale.

As July had slipped into early August, Peggy had come to the conclusion that only time would tell if Labour’s radical social changes would come to fruition, but she had far more important and exciting things to deal with than politics.

Peter and Rita would be getting married on the eighteenth, and would then move in with her father until it was safe for them to leave for Australia. Ivy was over her morning sickness now and planning to come down with Andy to stay at Beach View for that weekend so she could be Rita’s bridesmaid; and when Doris and John tied the knot a week later, their younger sister, Doreen, would be coming with her two girls and young Archie to help celebrate the occasion.