by Ellie Dean
The next morning found her standing on the platform at Cliffehaven Station yet again, her cases beside her as she waited for the train. Peggy had offered to come with her, as had Eileen, but she had no wish to prolong the agony of parting, for it felt as if she’d spent the past few days severing all ties to Cliffehaven and the people who’d come to mean so much to her.
She and Eileen had parted tearfully, but she knew they wouldn’t lose touch again, and that once the war was over, Eileen would probably return to London. The knowledge that William and Bill were probably already in the Yorkshire Dales, and therefore out of reach, made her heart ache. But one day she would see William again, she vowed, and in the meantime she would keep in touch with Bill.
As the train chugged into the station and a great cloud of steam rolled along the platform, Julie took her last look down the High Street to the glint of blue sea and then climbed aboard. The last few weeks had been filled with sadness, but now she felt a surge of excitement. The tug of London was ever stronger, drawing her home – home to where her heart lay, and where she could begin again.
Epilogue
Peggy’s baby was born just in time for tea at a quarter to six in the evening of 7th December 1941. Jim was cock-a-hoop, and although Peggy was exhausted after a long labour, she too was euphoric over the safe delivery of her beautiful new daughter. They called her Daisy.
The Reilly family didn’t realise, until they heard the news on the wireless the following day, that Daisy had been born at the very moment Japan had launched a deadly dawn attack on the American Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbour.
The Americans were now very much involved in the war, and soon they would be arriving in their thousands to help defend this small island and its embattled people.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781448134885
Version 1.0
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Published by Arrow Books 2013
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Copyright © Ellie Dean 2013
Ellie Dean has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This novel is a work of fiction. Apart from references to actual historical figures and places, all other names and characters are a product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Arrow Books
Random House,
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 9780099574637
