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‘ I t really is grossly unfair. You get to have all the fun,’ Lizzie’s youngest sister, Evie, complained at breakfast, a scowl distorting her freckled face.

‘If only you knew how dull it all is,’ Lizzie countered as she spread a thin layer of marmalade on her toast.

‘I don’t care, Liz, really I don’t. I just want to do my bit for the war, like you.’

Evie had blossomed into a beautiful young woman during the past year and Lizzie couldn’t treat her like a child any longer, even though she sometimes still behaved like one.

Rose, the girls’ mother, hovered near the table. ‘You’re doing your bit in the sewing circle, darling. I thought you liked that.’

Evie shook her head. ‘I do like it Ma, but it’s not enough. It’s time for me to find a proper job, like Liz and Juliet.’

‘Jules could get you something at the MTC, couldn’t you, Jules?’ Lizzie asked her sister who was reading the paper and sipping tea in a world of her own.

She looked up briefly. ‘Pardon?’

Lizzie repeated the question.

‘Hmm, yes, I suppose there might be something available. I could ask.’

Evie released a dramatic, long-suffering sigh. ‘I don’t know the first thing about cars and, frankly, I’m not interested in learning. I want to do something more exciting like Lizzie does with the FANYs.’

‘What on earth gave you the idea that what I do is exciting?’ Lizzie asked, her stomach jangling nervously. Had she given something away and Evie knew more than she had let on?

‘I listened to a programme on the radio about the FANYs and all the different things they get involved in. It sounds like an adventure,’ Evie replied.

Lizzie released a measured sigh, and her shoulders relaxed. It was never far from her mind that she’d slip up and, inadvertently, her family would discover the truth about her clandestine life.

Members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, known as the FANYs, performed a variety of duties and the organisation was used as a smokescreen for female members of the SOE.

Lizzie had been assigned and issued a uniform the previous year, and Val explained it would serve as the perfect cover.

Jack was promoted to the rank of captain, so he would blend into the war effort and not stand out.

Lizzie thought it was a hopeless cause because Jack always stood out, and never more so than when he wore his captain’s uniform.

Pa cast a knowing look at Lizzie. It conveyed, Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.

Not for the first time, she thanked God that her father knew the truth and she could trust him to keep her secret.

‘Let me see if I can find something administrative for you at the War Office, Evie,’ he said.

‘That’s good of you, Pa, but I want to do something more active.

I know Lizzie’s role isn’t all that exciting, but I was hoping she might speak to her captain and see if there’s something for me, too.

I think I’d like to be posted to another city.

By the sounds of it on the radio, there are some exciting jobs. ’

Rose interjected, ‘We have quite enough to worry about, thank you very much. Lizzie’s been posted to Oxford. Lord knows where Archie is. We haven’t heard from him in over a month, and then there’s dear Oliver. When was it you last heard from him, darling?’

Juliet replied she had received a letter from her fiancé two weeks ago.

They all did their best in their own way to quash Evie’s enthusiasm for flying the nest. She was the baby of the family and Lizzie thought there was something horribly unsettling about the thought of her little sister not being at home when she returned.

Evie had always been strong-willed, and Lizzie doubted they had succeeded in talking her out of her decision to find an exciting job.

Evie’s copper curls bobbed about as she reached across the table to claim a piece of toast. ‘Anyway, I must go in a minute, but I’m serious. Lizzie, please will you ask lover boy if there is a position for me in the FANYs? He has contacts, doesn’t he?’

Now it was Lizzie’s turn to scowl, and her cheeks flushed pale pink. ‘Why do you insist on saying things like that? Captain Jack King is my commanding officer, and that’s all.’

Evie was the only member of the family who suspected Lizzie was in love with Jack.

She’d seen them share a stolen kiss and she never let Lizzie forget it.

Lizzie had sworn her to secrecy and threatened all kinds of wrath would rain down on her baby sister’s head if she didn’t stay silent about what she’d seen. But Evie wasn’t easily contained.

Lizzie shot her a warning look, and Evie smiled back mischievously and stood up.

‘I’m off now,’ she said.

Lizzie stood quickly and followed Evie out of the breakfast room and into the hallway. ‘What are you playing at? You promised you would stop that nonsense,’ she scolded.

‘So find me a job I can get my teeth into, Liz. If I have to sew another bloody button on another bloody blouse, I’m going to go round the twist.’

‘Don’t let Ma hear you talking like that.’

‘Oh, for goodness sake, there’s a war on. Who cares if I say bloody? Bloody, bloody, bloody,’ she repeated, fixing Lizzie with an impudent glare.

‘Oh, do stop being such a child. I was just thinking how you’ve grown into a mature woman, but I see now I was quite wrong about that. How can I recommend you to the FANYs when you’re so silly?’

‘Nooo,’ Evie shrieked. ‘Please Lizzie. I’ll behave myself; I promise. Please, please, recommend me. I’m going out of my mind with boredom in this house.’

Lizzie relented. ‘All right, I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, behave yourself and not another word about you know who. I’m leaving today so I won’t see you for a while. You’ll have to wait, I’m afraid, but I’ll see what I can do upon my return.’

Evie turned from the mirror where she was rearranging her hat and admiring her reflection. ‘Oh, I forgot you are leaving today. Sorry, Liz. Have a safe journey and please send us a postcard like last time.’

Lizzie promised she would, and they hugged before Evie left for her shift at the infamously dull sewing circle.

The thought flitted through Lizzie’s mind that there was a possibility she would never see her baby sister again.

Don’t think like that, she reprimanded herself. All the same, she would ask Val if she could find a role to keep Evie out of mischief whilst she was away. Preferably nowhere near Baker Street.

Pa appeared. ‘I must leave for the office. I’ll say goodbye now, darling girl.’

Lizzie hugged her father, and he squeezed her so tightly, he took her breath away. His eyes were moist, and his voice cracked as he asked her what time she was leaving.

Rose followed Reginald out. ‘What on earth has got into you? She’s only going to Oxford. It’s not dangerous.’ She hesitated as she studied her daughter’s face. ‘Is it, Lizzie?’ Fear flashed in her eyes as she looked from her daughter to her husband.

‘No, no of course not. No more dangerous than living in London, anyway,’ Lizzie assured her.

Lizzie walked her father to the door, and he spoke near her ear, ‘Come home to us, Lizzie darling. Please take good care of yourself.’

After one final tight hug, they parted, and Lizzie waved him off from the doorstep. Her eyes were also moist, and she dried them with her sleeve.

Lizzie said goodbye to Juliet and then ran upstairs to pack a small case, as if she were really going to Oxford for an indefinite period. Her mother tapped on the bedroom door and entered. ‘May I help you, darling? Have you everything you need?’

Lizzie nodded. ‘I’m just about done, Ma. I’ll be down in a minute for a cup of tea and then my car should be here.’

‘Is the handsome captain picking you up, by any chance?’ Rose asked.

Lizzie smiled at her mother. ‘No, I don’t think so, Ma. Just one of the FANY drivers.’

‘That’s a shame. I should like to see him again. After your return, invite him to tea, please.’

Lizzie promised she would, thinking if they made it back safely, they would certainly deserve a piece of her mother’s delicious apple cake.

She lifted her case and cast a final glance around her bedroom.

It would never be her childhood home, that was at Seagrove in Jersey, but it was the next best thing.

Packing in her bedroom for the next mission always awakened mixed emotions in Lizzie.

She still felt like a young girl leaving the protection of her family, but the minute she crossed the threshold and moved into the next stage, she was a fully grown woman and a trained agent.

Lizzie checked her watch repeatedly as her mother chattered about how measly rations were this week, and when a horn sounded, she jumped up from her chair in the front room, pushed back the curtain and peered out the window.

‘They’re here for me. It’s time, Ma.’ She was relieved the pretence was over and she could be on her way.

Rose stood on the doorstep waving and Lizzie waved back all the way down the road until the army truck turned the corner and she relaxed against the seat and exhaled.

The first stage of mission preparation was complete.