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Beth found herself unable to drop off to sleep that night for thinking about Jack and his kisses. Just the thought of them made her feel hot and bubbly inside.

She had expected that anything more than the most chaste of kisses would bring back memories of Ronnie and all he did to her.

She had met someone a couple of years ago and gone to the pictures with him.

He kissed her in the cinema and it was horrible– a sloppy wet one and his tongue like an eel.

He also shoved his hand up her skirt. She excused herself to go to the toilet, and left the cinema.

But Jack could kiss her for all eternity. She wanted him, and in truth had they been alone somewhere, she might have even got carried away.

Long ago, thanks to Ronnie, she had made up her mind she would never have sex until she was married, and even the thought of that made her flesh crawl. So why on earth was she beginning to think it might be not only acceptable with Jack, but wonderful?

It was possible she had grown out of her Ronnie phobia; after all, she had never tested the water with any other man.

But she couldn’t bank on that. She had already entered her relationship with Jack dishonestly.

She remembered that Auntie Ruth often said that one lie always leads to another, and everything she’d told Jack about herself was a lie.

With such a huge volume of dishonesty, even criminality, how could she ever tell him the truth?

He would assume she was a virgin and she wasn’t even that.

As a child she’d escaped from reality with daydreams so many times, imagining herself as a ballerina, a high-wire act in a circus, a film star. The more far-removed the fantasy was from Whitechapel, Ronnie and her drunken mother, the better and the safer she felt.

From now on she could escape into a little daydream of living with Jack in a flat above a workshop and listening to the sound of him sawing wood downstairs.

She would walk to the back window of the flat and look out into a sun-filled garden, washing flapping on the clothes line, and the woods beyond looking beautiful.

Plugging herself into that fantasy made her forget nastier thoughts and drop off to sleep. She awoke refreshed and excited at spending the day ahead with Jack.

At ten, Margery called out to Beth that he had arrived.

As she came down the stairs, Margery was inviting him in, offering breakfast again.

‘I’ve got some sausages and bacon, and as two of my guests left early without having breakfast, they are going begging.

I bet the food at the army hostel is dire! ’

‘I didn’t stop for it,’ he laughed, ‘but you are right, it is dire. I’d love some if Beth doesn’t mind.’

‘Of course not,’ Beth spoke out, touched that Margery was so generous. ‘And you can tell me what you’d planned for today so I can dress appropriately.’

She had put on one of the summer dresses she’d bought. It was pink and white gingham, with puffed sleeves and a flared skirt.

Margery carried a tray into the dining room and put Jack’s breakfast in front of him.

‘I made extra toast so you can join Jack,’ she said to Beth. ‘And a fresh pot of tea.’

‘This is so kind of you,’ Jack said, smiling up at the older woman. ‘No wonder Beth likes staying here.’

‘I’d keep her here if I could,’ Margery admitted. ‘It’s a treat to have someone young and sweet-natured staying. Mostly we get older people, and some of them never stop grumbling. Our Beth has still got stars in her eyes, and I hope she can stay that way for ever.’

‘Have I got stars in my eyes?’ Beth whispered once Margery had gone.

‘Yes, like you are expecting every day to be better than the one before.’ He reached out and took her hand. ‘I get the feeling you had a sad childhood, and maybe that’s why.’

Beth’s stomach churned. She hoped he wasn’t going to follow that line any further.

‘No worse than anyone else’s,’ she said defiantly.

‘So maybe it’s just a look that’s special to you,’ he said. ‘But I hope you’ll always look that way for me.’

Breakfast eaten and washed down by more tea, they sat for a while discussing what they could do.

Beth suggested St James’s Park so they could see Buckingham Palace from the Mall.

Jack nodded. ‘That would be good this morning, but I was told last night there is a tea dance at a hotel in the Strand in the afternoon. Do you like dancing?’

Beth giggled. ‘I like the idea of it, but I’ve never learned to dance and never been to one either.’

Jack looked shocked. ‘Really? Well, I can only do the waltz, but I thought all girls could dance.’

‘That’s a bit like saying all boys can play football or swim.’

‘I can teach you to waltz,’ he said. ‘It’s really easy. But have you brought a suitable dress with you?’

She nodded, her excitement at wearing the lovely dress outweighing her fear of looking foolish.

She went upstairs a little later to put the coral dress on, and put a cotton duster coat over it. Jack whistled. ‘You look like a film star. I’ll have other men cutting in to dance with you all afternoon.’

Beth looked alarmed. ‘I hope they don’t, I don’t want anyone else to know I can’t dance.’

‘Then I’ll hold you so tightly no one will be able to prise you from my arms.’

St James’s Park was beautiful, the perfume from the rose beds incredible. The lake was full of swans, geese and many different varieties of ducks. They bought a little bag of special food for them, and some of the birds were so tame they might have eaten out of Beth’s hand.

A man with a monkey on his shoulder dressed in a little red jacket was playing a piano accordion on the bandstand.

After a few numbers the man walked around his audience, the monkey holding out a hat for tips.

Jack was just moving forward to give some money when a couple of policemen arrived, and the accordionist took off across the bridge over the lake.

‘As it’s a royal park I don’t suppose entertainers are allowed,’ Jack said sorrowfully. ‘Shame, it was nice.’

They had a cup of tea and a rock cake in the park café and Beth noticed Jack was frowning.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘I was trying to decide the best time to tell you that I’ve got to go back to Plymouth tomorrow,’ he said glumly. ‘There was a message for me at the hostel last night.’

‘Oh no,’ she gasped. ‘Why?’

‘I don’t know, but there’ll be a good reason,’ he said, his eyes welling up. ‘Such a shame we can’t have a few days in Cornwall together as I planned. I so much wanted you to meet my family.’

Beth felt like her heart had sunk into her shoes. This wasn’t fair, to have such a nice time together and then have it snatched away.

But she could see he was troubled, and she didn’t want to make it any worse for him.

‘We’ve still got today together,’ she said, reaching out to caress his cheek. ‘When the war is over we will have all the time in the world.’

They walked down the Mall and across Trafalgar Square, and paused to watch people feeding the pigeons.

Then a photographer came up to them and asked if they’d like their picture taken.

‘I can have it developed by Monday afternoon, and I’ll have it over there by the National Gallery for you to see it,’ he said.

‘Just a shilling deposit now, and I’ll take that off the full price of two shillings when you come to collect it. ’

‘I could collect it,’ Beth said, realizing Jack wouldn’t be able to.

Jack smiled. ‘How much for two copies?’ he asked, looking at Beth. ‘You could send me the other one?’

Jack haggled a little and finally the photographer laughingly agreed he’d do two for two and sixpence, as they were clearly in love and about to be separated.

Beth blushed furiously as she removed her coat so her dress could be the star of the picture, but she noted that Jack wasn’t embarrassed at all by haggling. That pleased her– back in the East End everyone haggled.

A little later they went off to find the tea dance in the Strand Palace Hotel.

Although the dance had only started a few minutes before, there was quite a queue for tickets.

Beth left Jack in the queue to go to the cloakroom and leave her coat.

As she waited for him to join her with the tickets she gazed into the ballroom, astounded by the splendour of it.

She had expected little more than a plain hall, but this had a shiny wood floor, gorgeous crystal lights, and a huge rotating ball covered in tiny mirrors which cast a snowflake effect over the few couples who were dancing.

Even the gilt chairs around small tables had velvet seats.

As for the band, she had only expected a quartet at most, but there were eight musicians wearing evening dress, black bow-ties and shiny patent-leather shoes.

She had never imagined a dance hall to be like this.

The scullery maid who’d worked at the Bradleys’ about three years before war broke out used to tell her that she went to a dance in Camden Town most Saturday nights.

She said there were lots of rough men, and quite often fights broke out.

Beth had wondered why she went, as it sounded frightening.

‘So, what do you think?’ Jack asked, breaking her reverie.

‘It’s wonderful,’ she smiled. ‘Not a bit what I expected.’

‘Well, let’s hope there isn’t an air raid, or we might get stuck in a damp, smelly cellar,’ he said, then, putting his arm around her, led her through the door to the dance, handing in the tickets on the way.

‘No other girl here looks as good as you,’ he whispered, tightening his hand on her waist as he took her in his arms to dance. ‘The waltz is just one, two, three,’ he said. ‘Just follow me and you’ll get the hang of it immediately.’