She bit her lip, her thoughts on little Ivy who’d already faced such terrors and tragedies throughout the war with enormous courage and fortitude. It simply wasn’t fair. And then there were her younger brother and sister billeted down in Salisbury, and her two elder brothers who were with the merchant navy and due shore-leave any day soon. She should have asked Hilde if the authorities would inform them, or if that difficult task was to be left to Ivy.

She sat staring into space until the ticking bedside clock reminded her that time was running away with her, and if she didn’t stir her stumps, Ivy would be here and it would be too late to tell her in private.

Rising from the bed, she combed her hair, repaired her lipstick and traipsed back into the kitchen to find Cissy drinking tea while Harvey squirmed at Cordelia’s feet, begging to have his tummy rubbed.

‘I see nothing came for me in the post this morning,’ said Cissy. ‘Has Philippa telephoned, or Clarissa?’

Peggy shook her head and took off her apron. ‘I have to go out. When you’ve finished your tea, Cissy, you can make a start on doing the stuffing for the chicken, and finish peeling the last of the winter carrots.’

‘I’m too tired and grubby to start cooking,’ Cissy replied on a sigh. ‘Harvey ran off and wouldn’t come when I called, so I had to chase him for absolute miles. I need a long soak in the bath before I’ll be fit for anything.’

‘Don’t be dramatic, Cissy,’ Peggy said briskly, reaching for her coat and scarf. ‘You know very well that he always comes back to the track you started from. All you had to do was wait for him there. As for long soaks in baths, they’re a thing of the past. Two inches of tepid water at this time of the morning is all you’ll get if you’re lucky.’

Cissy raised a severely plucked eyebrow. ‘Gosh, what bit you this morning, Mother?’

‘Life in general,’ she retorted. ‘Now get off your bottom and lend a hand for once. Dinner for nine doesn’t appear like magic; someone has to cook it.’

‘All right, all right,’ Cissy sighed. ‘You’re clearly in a foul mood this morning, which doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day. And what’s so important you have to rush off anyway?’

‘Cissy, don’t talk to your mother like that,’ scolded Cordelia who was slicing green beans into a basin at the table. ‘You’ve barely lifted a finger since you came home, and it isn’t as if you have anything else to do.’

‘There’s little point in trying for some boring office job when Randy could turn up any minute,’ the girl replied sullenly. ‘And I keep my room tidy as well as walking the dog and looking after Daisy.’