Anne stood by the fence and watched her go, the blush of shame heating her face as the cold wind flapped her headscarf. She should have given more thought to how her mother would take the news, and Cissy’s sharp reminder, that as a mother herself she should have known how hard it would be to be denied her family at the very last minute, had brought that home. Her sister was right in so many ways – although she’d never admit it to her face.

She lit a cigarette and turned her back once more on the farm, staring out at the moonlit panorama as she thought about her relationship with her younger sister. Anne had always been the practical one who’d done well at school and training college to achieve her ambition of being a teacher. She’d lived her life carefully, abided by the rules, always very aware of how people might regard her.

Cissy, in contrast, had always been the little girl who loved dancing and dressing up, and couldn’t care a fig about homework. She knew how to get round Dad’s finger, flirted outrageously with every boy she came across once she’d passed puberty, and didn’t take anything seriously except her dreams of dancing in Hollywood.

‘Chalk and cheese,’ muttered Anne. ‘Rather like the war we experienced.’

She shivered, not with the cold, but with the horror of those images Cissy had conjured up of her experiences. Her little sister had witnessed things no young girl should see, and in those few angry words, she’d revealed what Anne suspected was a mere snapshot of what she’d been through. It was no wonder she’d been so angry when Anne had accused her of being a good-time girl and neglecting their mother.

Anne crushed out the half-smoked cigarette and headed back to the farmhouse, determined to put things right even though she couldn’t work miracles and return home immediately. But she could ring her mother to apologise, and admit that she’d gone about things in completely the wrong way.

6

Cliffehaven

Peggy had felt so much better after Anne had telephoned back on that Thursday evening that she’d managed to get a decent night’s sleep and was consequently brighter throughout Friday. The fact that nothing had really changed and Anne and the others wouldn’t be coming home yet was still a bitter disappointment, but that was just something she had to live with.