Cissy slammed down the receiver before Anne could respond, and stood there trembling with rage at her sister’s unfounded accusation and still tortured by those memories of death and destruction – of the fear and horrors she’d witnessed over the past five years.

She hadn’t meant to lose her temper, but goody-two-shoes Anne had always got on her nerves. Just because she was the eldest, she seemed to think she was always right about everything. And being a teacher hadn’t made her any less opinionated. There was absolutely no excuse for trying to justify her selfishness towards Mum. It was almost as if Mum had been an afterthought, and she’d ticked off this conversation in her long list of things to do without any notion of how it would affect her. If Anne had been here, Cissy would have slapped her.

Cissy lit a cigarette and paced the hall floor, aware that her mother was still in the bathroom and probably crying her eyes out. The thought of it made her heart ache, but she was in no fit state to be of any comfort, for she was still seething.

‘What on earth was that all about?’ asked Cordelia. ‘It certainly didn’t sound pleasant.’

Cissy quickly stubbed out her cigarette and gently wrapped the much-loved woman in her arms. ‘Oh, Grandma Cordy,’ she sighed. ‘I’d forgotten just how much Anne winds me up.’

‘She always did,’ Cordelia replied, returning her hug. ‘Rather like your Aunt Doris used to wind up poor Peggy. It was the same with me and my sister before she went doolally. It’s the sibling rivalry, you see. We younger ones always feel we need to prove something – but usually come off worse.’

Cordelia patted Cissy’s cheek and sat down on the hall chair. ‘Where’s your mother?’

‘Anne’s upset her dreadfully, and she shut herself in the bathroom. I must go to her.’

Cordelia grabbed her hand. ‘Peggy won’t thank you for seeing her in distress, Cissy. Let her get whatever it is out of her system and give her time to put that brave face back on. It’s helped her through six years of war, although none of us will ever admit to knowing that.’

‘I didn’t realise,’ murmured Cissy.

‘You were never meant to.’ She kept hold of Cissy’s hand. ‘Your mother has been determined to keep her darkest thoughts and fears from everyone because she didn’t want to add to the burden when we were already struggling with the horrors of war. And by the sound of that conversation you’ve just had, it seems she was right to do so.’

‘She could have talked to me, Grandma Cordy. It might have been a release for both of us if we could have shared our fears.’