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It was only when Beth fished out the pink wool dress Rose had worn their first Christmas together that she saw how thin Rose had become.

It hung on her, material flapping around her hips, bust and even shoulders.

Almost everyone in England was thinner than they were before the war, but Beth knew she and Rose had eaten better than most people.

It was clear there was something more sinister behind this dramatic weight loss.

Beth said nothing, just found a skirt that only needed a safety pin on the waistband until she could move the button, and a jumper that had always been a snug fit. Yet when she helped put Rose’s stockings on, she saw her legs were like sticks.

Seeing them like that, it was hardly surprising that she tottered rather than walked.

‘You’ll have to practise walking again, your muscles have grown weak from lack of use,’ Beth said in what she hoped was a jovial manner.

‘For today we’ll just get you downstairs, and maybe a walk around the garden, then we can gradually extend walking a bit further. ’

Lunch was some corned-beef pasties Beth had made with mashed potato and carrots, and jam roly-poly and custard to follow. For once Rose made a real effort to eat, but by mid-afternoon she wanted to go back up to bed.

She turned at the bottom of the stairs, putting her hand on Beth’s cheek.

‘You have become the daughter I always wanted, Beth, you are so kind, thoughtful and caring. I really hoped I’d be here to see you marry Harry, and have a couple of children.

But I don’t think I will be now. I want to go and join Duncan, and I want you to promise me that you won’t grieve for long. ’

‘How can I promise that?’ Beth asked, holding Rose’s bony hand against her cheek. ‘My time with you has been the happiest part of my life. I love you.’

Beth put her arms around Rose’s waist and almost carried her up the stairs. For once Rose allowed Beth to undress her, and put her nightdress on.

Once in bed Rose caught hold of Beth’s hand. ‘It’s likely I will get weaker soon, but please don’t let them take me away? I want to be here with you.’

‘Then here you will stay, I promise,’ Beth said, hardly able to hold back her tears.

The following morning Beth telephoned Dr Waverly and told him she was very worried about Rose, and asked if he could come as soon as possible. He said he’d come after morning surgery.

Beth was on tenterhooks that morning, afraid of what the doctor would say. She wasn’t a trained nurse, after all, and if he insisted Rose went to hospital, she had no right to refuse on Rose’s behalf.

The doctor arrived just after twelve, and after briefly listening to Beth explain how Rose was, he went upstairs and Beth followed, even though she expected to be told to stay outside the room.

But he didn’t ask her to leave, and he was very gentle with Rose, sounding her chest, feeling her stomach, taking some blood, and other basic tests.

‘I want to admit you to hospital,’ he said to Rose. ‘Home is not the place for you now.’

‘Yes it is,’ Rose snapped at him. ‘I might be sick but I’m not feeble-minded. I want to stay here with Beth.’

‘Yes, and I want to look after her,’ Beth piped up. ‘If you think we need a qualified nurse to do things I can’t do, we are happy to pay for one.’

He turned to look at Beth. ‘I think you’ve done a fine job nursing Mrs Cullen so far, but what has to come might be too hard for you.’

‘There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her,’ Beth insisted. ‘Please don’t speak further about hospital, it will only upset Rose.’

‘Very well then,’ he said. ‘Just keep me posted and call if you need me. I’ll pop in next week, same day and time.’

Beth went downstairs to let the doctor out. ‘What is the matter with her?’ she asked quietly before she opened the door.

‘I am certain it is her pancreas,’ he said. ‘Problems there don’t usually show themselves until it’s too late. But even if we detect it early on, there is little we can do. She said she hadn’t any stomach pain, and neither is she drinking excessively. Is that true?’

‘She does sometimes complain of stomach pain, but it goes when she leans forward,’ Beth said. ‘And yes, she is drinking far more than she used to. I usually fill up the water jug by her bed twice a day.’

The doctor nodded. ‘If she develops bad pain I can prescribe something for it. Just ring the surgery. I can see you are already doing a very good job. However, if it gets too much for you let me know.’

After the doctor had gone, Beth took a tray of tea and cake up for herself and Rose. As she walked up the stairs, she thought how joyful everything was with Rose, even sitting with her for tea and cake. She wondered what on earth could possibly happen to make her feel she couldn’t cope.

As she put the tray down by the window, she observed that the garden was alight with daffodils, there were green buds on most of the bushes, and it looked lovely in the sunshine. ‘If I could borrow a wheelchair for you, would you let me take you for a walk?’ Beth asked as she poured the tea.

‘No, Beth, I have no desire to go anywhere anymore,’ Rose replied, hiking herself up a little on her pillows. ‘I like being here in my bedroom. It holds so many good memories.’

‘I hope you aren’t going to divulge something racy!’ Beth sniggered.

‘As if! No– of Myles getting into bed with us on Christmas morning. I can still see him bouncing on the bed. I used to tell him he wasn’t to do it, but he did it anyway.

Even when Duncan got sick and I nursed him up here, it was a good time.

We talked a great deal then, more than we ever had when he was working.

The day before he died, he said something I found very odd at the time.

But it makes sense now. “I’ll be waiting for you, Rose, so you don’t need to be frightened when the time comes. ”’

‘You think he knew he was going to die?’

‘Yes I do. But that day it never occurred to me. I just brushed it off as a soft remark. That’s the trouble with a long marriage, you forget stuff about your partner.

Like he was a bit of a wizard, knowing stuff others didn’t.

I think that was why he was such a good doctor, but it was only after he was gone, I really saw that side of him. ’

The telephone rang two days later at eight in the morning. Beth rushed down the stairs hoping it was Harry, but instead it was Myles.

‘Good morning, Beth, how is Mother?’

‘Much the same,’ she said. ‘This is a very good line for a change.’

Usually there were strange noises, and the sound would come and go.

‘That’s because I’m here in Bristol, a place called Hengrove. I managed to get a lift with the military.’

‘That’s wonderful, Rose will be thrilled!’

Myles chuckled. ‘Well, don’t tell her, I’ll surprise her. I’m waiting for a guy who said he’d give me a lift to Clifton. All being well I’ll be there within the hour.’

Beth was already washed and dressed, but now she had to persuade Rose she had to get washed.

Her sheets could do with changing so she used that as an excuse to get Rose out of bed, and also gave her a newly laundered nightdress to put on.

‘You are such a fusspot sometimes,’ Rose complained. ‘I don’t feel like washing and you only changed the sheets a few days ago.’

‘That isn’t so, it was ten days ago. As for washing, you will feel better when you get into a clean bed, washed, and in a clean nightie.’

Rose did as she was told, and once back in her bed, Beth brushed her hair for her and dabbed a little of her Chantilly perfume on her neck and wrists.

‘What’s that for?’ Rose asked. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

‘It might give you nice dreams of your past,’ Beth said. ‘Now, will you eat some porridge for your breakfast?’

‘Just a couple of spoonfuls,’ she said.

Beth was just going downstairs with Rose’s breakfast tray when she heard the knock on the door.

It was Myles of course, looking very dapper in a navy blue suit, a cream raincoat and a trilby, which he swept off as soon as he saw Beth.

He was taller than she expected, perhaps five foot eleven and slender, with neatly cut light-brown hair and blue eyes. The handsome, smooth face of a matinée idol.

Beth put a finger to her lips. ‘She’s just had her breakfast,’ she whispered. ‘You can take her up another cup of tea. But if she hears me talking to someone, she’ll want to know who.’

He smiled, the same smile as his father in the photograph on the mantelpiece.

‘No, I don’t need my windows cleaned, they were only done a fortnight ago,’ she said in a loud voice. ‘But thank you for offering.’ She shut the door firmly so Rose would hear it.

Myles tiptoed into the kitchen and put a small suitcase and a linen shopping bag down on the floor. Beth put the gas on under the kettle. Once they’d shut the kitchen door they both laughed.

‘Two minutes to make the tea,’ she said. ‘You must be desperate to see your mother.’ She quickly told him what the doctor had said, and a brief rundown on how she was.

‘That doesn’t sound too good,’ he said. ‘But it’s good to finally meet you, Beth, I know from Mother you’ve enriched her life. I hadn’t realized you were so young though. I had imagined a matron of over fifty.’

‘Sorry,’ Beth said. ‘I expected you knew everything about me.’

‘She’s never been one to write much about day-to-day life,’ he said. ‘More local news, questions about us in Canada. We knew you must be important to her as soon as you two met because you got a whole paragraph– that proved you were special.’

Beth made the tea. ‘Would you like something to eat?’ she asked. ‘I made some porridge earlier.’

‘I’m fine for now,’ he said. ‘I’ll take the tea up.’

‘Just call out if you want anything,’ she said. ‘I’ll be listening at the bottom of the stairs to her reaction on seeing you.’

Beth was not disappointed. She heard Rose gasp in amazement at seeing her son. ‘My darling boy,’ she exclaimed, and then it sounded as if she was crying.

Beth went back into the kitchen, happy they were reunited.