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mattress put on the floor. Not many people used the public shelters which were cold, damp and uncomfortable and, incredibly, didn’t even have a proper door, merely a curtain hanging where anyone with half a brain knew a door should be.
    “What about me dad?” Tony asked.
    As soon as Eileen had put a match to the nightlight, she closed the cupboard door and they sat down. The enclosed space was rather claustrophobic, but Tony didn’t seem to mind. Indeed, so far he seemed to find the raids more exciting than anything and enjoyed the time spent under the stairs. Secretly, Tony wanted the raids to continue until he was grown up so he could become a firewatcher like his grandad, or, even better, join the RAF and fly a Spitfire like Nick did.
    Eileen said, “Your dad’s in bed. Let’s see if he wakes up, shall we? Otherwise, we won’t disturb him. Come on, sit on me knee and we’ll give each other a cuddle while there’s no-one else around. Today’s been a day and a half, hasn’t it? It’s nice to have a bit of quiet to ourselves.”
    Though “quiet” wasn’t exactly what they were having.
    In no time she heard the grim drone of planes approaching, a sound even more menacing than the siren. Then came the answering crackle of ack-ack guns from their side and the thud of explosions in the distance. She hugged Tony close, wondering what on earth the world had come to and wishing Adolf Hitler had never been born.
    The raid was surprisingly short. They’d scarcely been there twenty minutes when the All Clear went. “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” she said thankfully. “The Germans must have got tired and gone home.”
    “Mam?” Tony sounded slightly querulous. He made no attempt to get off her knee.
    “Yes, luv?”
    “Is me dad home for good, like?”
    “It looks like it, son.”
    “But what about Nick? He didn’t half look fed up when I met him at the station and told him you weren’t coming.”
    Tony thought he’d never forget the expression in his beloved Nick’s eyes, as if all the happiness had drained out of him and there was nothing left inside.
    Eileen said softly, “He’s not the only one fed up, is he, luv? You’re fed up, and I am, too. But,” she went on with a determined effort to be cheerful, “I won’t be fed up tomorrer. And neither will you,” she added sternly.
    “Tomorrer’s another day altogether, and I intend to be as happy as a lark.”
    Tony frowned and his glasses threatened to fall off altogether. Eileen pushed them back with her finger and kissed his nose. “But what about Nick?” he demanded a second time.
    “Nick will understand. It’ll just take a while longer than we thought before we’re all together.”
    “Does that mean we will be—one day?” he said eagerly.
    “Of course we will.
    “Of course we will,” she repeated under her breath. How could she possibly have thought they would never see each other again? She couldn’t give Nick up. They were meant for each other. Even her unromantic dad recognised that fact. “Of course we will.” She pushed him off her knee.
    “Come on, I feel as if I’m in me coffin shut in here. I reckon it’s well past supper time. I’ll make a cup of cocoa. D’you fancy a jam butty?”
    “Yes.”
    “Yes, what?” She raised her eyebrows.
    “Yes please, Mam,” he grinned.
    “Turn the wireless on,” she said as she snuffed the nightlight out. She glanced at her gold watch, a present from Nick when they were in London. “We’re just in time for the nine o’clock news.” She almost wished she hadn’t listened when the cultured voice of Alvar Lidell announced there’d been another raid on the East End of London. More innocent civilians had been killed, more British planes lost. One hundred and eighty-five German planes were reported shot down, but she felt no jubilation at this news. It was merely a waste of young lives, no matter whose side they were on.
    “Try and find the Forces network,” she said. “Let’s