Minutes earlier, Charlie had dropped the loaf tin he was holding as if it were hot coals.

‘She’s what?’ he exclaimed, wide-eyed. ‘Is she engaged to a fella?’

When Elsie and the girls had left the bakery and Lily had gone up to bed, Audrey had decided to seize the moment and break the news about Lily’s pregnancy to Charlie. The shot of rum she’d had may have helped inform her decision, but she needed to share the news with her husband before any more time passed. Watching her husband’s eyes grow darker as he stood with his hands on his hips, she got the devil in her and wanted to laugh.

‘Sshhh,’ Audrey said, lifting her finger to her lips and then folding her arms across her chest. ‘The father is a man from work and no, she’s not engaged, nor is she a widow. The man is engaged to some other woman. Not that he told Lily of course. Such is the unsavoury way of some men. It seems Lily thought it best she left London and—’

‘And turn up on our doorstep?’ interrupted Charlie, incredulous. ‘How’s that work then?’

‘It’s safer here for a start,’ said Audrey. ‘You can’t move for bombs in London.’

Charlie stomped over to the bakery oven, opened the door and hurled some coke into the flames, then slammed shut the door again so hard there was a ringing in Audrey’s ears.

‘As if we ’aven’t got enough on, what with Mary, who seems like she’s disturbed!’ he said.

‘Mary’s not disturbed!’ protested Audrey. ‘There’s a reason she doesn’t talk, I just don’t know what it is yet.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me about Lily?’ continued Charlie. ‘I had no idea all of this was goin’ on under my own roof!’

‘I am telling you now,’ said Audrey matter-of-factly. ‘And you haven’t exactly been easy to talk to lately, Charlie. You’ve been a different man since the war started, acting like you’re the only one suffering while the rest of us hardly notice it.’

Warming to her theme, Audrey glared at Charlie and continued speaking before he could get a word in edgeways. He stared at her open-mouthed.

‘And by the way, Lily is my stepsister and all the family I’m left with,’ she said. ‘I know how it is to feel as if your options have run out and you don’t know where to turn. You’ve never been in that situation.’

‘That’s hardly fair—’ started Charlie, but Audrey interjected.

‘Remember when I first came to Bournemouth? If it wasn’t for your family giving me a job, who knows what I would have done. How can I not help Lily?’

‘I—’ he tried again, to no avail.

‘I will help her, Charlie, and that’s that,’ Audrey said. ‘There’s enough bad things going on and people suffering in the world without us making it worse! If you’re the same man I fell in love with, you’ll open your heart and your mind.’

Audrey’s cheeks turned pink and she felt her temper rising.

‘There are some things I draw the line at and that’s turning this bakery into a home for waifs and strays,’ Charlie said, sounding a little deflated.

‘Which leads me to my idea,’ said Audrey boldly. ‘I haven’t had time to discuss this with Lily, but if she’s willing, I thought she should stay on here once the baby’s born so that I can help. I’m the child’s aunt, by law, and with us not able to have our own child, it would be smashing to have a new baby about the place. I was even thinking about suggesting perhaps we ad—’

Audrey stopped and looked Charlie in the eye before continuing.

‘I was even thinking about us, perhaps, adopting the baby, Charlie. I mean, I know it sounds far-fetched, but if Lily wants to put the baby up for adoption, which she might, there’s no way we can let strangers have him or her, is there? It seems like the ideal solution to me.’

Charlie’s eyes were perfect circles. ‘Ideal solution?’ he blustered. ‘Lily’s illegitimate child is not going to be a replacement for the child we haven’t been able to have. We might still have one, or have I failed on that front too? Why doesn’t that surprise me! My own wife thinks me a failure!’

He slammed a wooden peel down onto the table in fury.

Audrey stepped back, surprised at the emotion in Charlie’s voice.

‘Failure?’ she said, suddenly softening. ‘You’ve failed at nothing, Charlie. If anyone’s failed, it’s me. I’m just trying to find a way around this. I can’t stand to see Lily feeling all alone. Please, love, just think about it. We could look after that child while Lily would be able to start again somewhere new if she wanted. Something good could come out of it. I’m looking for the good, Charlie, that’s all I’m doing. Looking for the good.’

Charlie ran his hands through his hair and let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Trouble with you,’ he said, ‘is that you’ve got more heart than sense.’

Audrey’s racing heart slowed to normal. The worst was over. She’d told Charlie her idea and he hadn’t said an outright ‘no’.

‘So you’ll think about it then?’ she asked, relieved but feeling overcome with exhaustion. She had to be up before dawn to open the shop. There were buns to bake, cake orders to fulfil.

‘My feet are aching so I’m going up, Charlie—’ she started. Then the eerie sound of an air-raid siren filled the air. The wail, like a dying animal, made Audrey’s skin break out in goosebumps and a shiver shoot up her spine.

Forgetting all about their conversation, Charlie and Audrey stared at one another wordlessly.

‘Air raid,’ said Audrey, after a few moments. ‘We need to get to the shelter. I’ll go up and get Mary and Lily. Elsie’s only just left, I hope she reached home in time.’

When Audrey got to the bakehouse door, Lily was already there, looking younger than her seventeen years, clutching her gas mask box and Bertie in his cage. Mary was by her side, dressed in her white nightdress, clinging to her dolly.

‘I can’t leave the ovens,’ called Charlie. ‘I’m staying here.’

‘Dampen them down,’ replied Audrey. ‘We need to get into the shelter!’

‘I can’t dampen them down,’ Charlie said. ‘We’ll not have bread tomorrow if I dampen them down.’

‘We’ll not have a baker tomorrow if you don’t come into the shelter!’ she cried.

‘You three go,’ ordered Charlie. ‘Now!’

‘Oh Charlie!’ cried Audrey. ‘You really are the most infuriating person! Remind me why I ever agreed to marry you!’

‘It’ll be a false alarm,’ Charlie called after them. ‘Go, love. I’m telling you, I’m staying here.’

Muttering under her breath, Audrey grabbed Mary’s little hand, feeling instantly protective. Leading Mary and Lily quickly out to the Anderson shelter, the construction half-buried in the ground with spring onions and lettuces growing out of the soil piled on top, pulling Marmalade the cat in as she went, she slammed shut the door, switched on her torch and swept it across the floor. It was made from corrugated-iron sheets with steel plates at either end and they’d put in a bench and two bunks with newspaper as ‘mattresses’ and sleeping bags for warmth. Though the shelter had been in place for months, this was the first time Audrey had used it for real. Striking a match, she lit one candle, placing it in a clay plant pot and covering it with another clay pot for warmth, and lit another for light.

‘Do you think they’re coming for us?’ said Lily, in a quiet voice. ‘Is it our turn?’

Fear dragged sharp fingernails across Audrey’s scalp, but she forced herself to be positive for Mary, whose eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

‘As Charlie said, it’ll probably be a false alarm,’ Audrey replied. ‘Oh he’s a stubborn mule. At least he’s got that big table to sit under in there.’

When the siren stopped, there was an awful scratching on the roof: a seagull searching for crusts, no doubt. The bakery backyard was one of their favourite spots.

‘What’s that noise?’ asked Lily, clearly terrified.

‘Just seagulls looking for food,’ Audrey soothed. ‘Those birds never give up, no matter what.’

Audrey perched on the bench next to Lily and Mary and briefly closed her eyes, her entire body on edge in anticipation of what was going to happen next, but not knowing what to expect.

‘Have you told Charlie about me?’ said Lily quietly.

Audrey nodded, as another explosion sounded in the distance.

‘Charlie’s got a big heart under all that flour,’ she said. ‘Don’t you worry about anything.’ Audrey gripped Lily’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘Those birds never give up,’ she repeated as the seagulls continued to scratch overhead. And neither would she, Audrey thought, as the three of them listened in horror to the sound of machine gun fire rattling through the air, followed by the drone of aircraft and booming explosions. The girls huddled together in the shelter, but with each new noise Mary covered her ears with her hands more tightly and curled over, until her head was in her own lap. Audrey threw Lily a worried glance when Mary began whimpering. It was the first noise she’d heard the girl make.

‘Mary love,’ Audrey said gently. ‘It’s okay. We’re safe in here. There’s no need to worry, sweetheart.’

Mary curled up tighter still until she was in a ball shape and Audrey, crouching down next to her, tried to embrace her, but the little girl’s body was soaked through with sweat and she began to rock back and forth, as if trapped in her own troubled world.

‘Maybe we should sing?’ said Audrey. ‘How about “Ten Green Bottles”?’

Audrey and Lily started to sing, to drown out the worrying sounds from the skies above, and slowly, Mary’s hands slipped off her ears and into her lap. Eventually, she looked up from under her blunt brown fringe, an expression of sheer terror on her face, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.

Audrey, frowning with concern, reached for Mary’s hand. ‘Come and sit with me, Mary,’ she said, guiding the little girl onto her lap.

Mary climbed onto Audrey’s knee and collapsed into her chest, her body as limp as cloth.

‘It’s okay,’ Audrey said, wrapping her arms around the little girl. ‘Don’t you fret. You’re safe.’

They remained like that for some time, Audrey holding her tight, singing softly.