She opened the missive with trembling hands and, after telling the boy that there wouldn’t be a reply, she watched him ride off on his red bicycle and then went indoors. There wasn’t much to go on in the words that Eddie had instructed for the post woman in Hawick to write. “Meet me in London as soon as possible”, but if that was what her husband wanted, she would move heaven and earth to meet him there. Lily, of course, was there to look after Gina and watched with trepidation as her daughter packed the small family suitcase with a change of underwear, a smart brown winter weight dress in case Eddie took her somewhere posh for a meal and took her navy and white checked two-piece suit, still in vogue as no one could afford to wear the latest fashions even if there were any, from the wardrobe, hunting as she did for her best pair of black shoes. “Gina’s been wearing them, look under the bed in our room,” Lily had said, holding on to her granddaughter tightly, as Gina had spotted Irene’s lipstick and wanted to try it on.
