night in the arms of the man I love as his wife. And you have no idea how much that grieves me, not to have loved him in all the ways I wanted to. I will never get him back and you have an opportunity for love and to be with someone who loves you. So please marry him! Tomorrow, if possible!’
Lizzie then took both her friends’ hands and squeezed them. ‘We’re not going to die in here. Because I’m not going to let us. We’ll figure out what to do about Agnes, and you’re going to marry Len. You’re not going to put it off, Diana. You’re not going to give this a second thought.’
Diana nodded. ‘I’ve just been so uncertain, with my family. You are lucky, Lizzie, to have such a simple life back home.’
Lizzie felt her stomach tighten; she still hadn’t told them about Annie. She knew they cared for her, but having a child out of wedlock was seen as something very taboo. She remembered her friends back in Scotland when the rumours of what she’d done had filtered through to them, how they had reacted. And when she had confessed her secret to her very best friend, the friend she had known all her life, she’d turned her back on Lizzie. There had been a distancing, a need to hold her at arm’s length as if getting pregnant was something she could catch from her. She found that women in her village had been the cruellest with her and it had broken her heart. She had been shocked when Jack had been so accepting, but would that kind of acceptance have stretched to these new friendships?
She made a decision that she didn’t want to go forward with anyone in her life who didn’t accept her for exactly who she was. She couldn’t do that, so she drew in a deep breath.
‘I have something to tell you both.’ Her two friends looked across at her, as the words tumbled out. ‘It was more than just the war that made me leave Scotland and come to London. When I was fourteen I got pregnant and had a baby. That baby was sent here to London and… a few weeks ago I met her for the first time.’
The shock on her friends’ faces was palpable, but she couldn’t look at them. So, she carried on. ‘I’ve wanted to tell you before, but I have lost friends because of this and I didn’t want to lose you both. I told Jack and he was accepting of it, but I just wasn’t sure how you would both react—’
‘Stop,’ stated Julia sternly, lifting a hand. ‘Stop right there.’ Lizzie was shocked to suddenly see her friend looking angry. Julia continued. ‘Lizzie, I can’t believe you don’t know how much we care about you, and something like this would never change that. We are a family: you, me and Diana. This is a friendship forged in the fire and those friendships, I have found, are the strongest.’
Diana nodded her agreement. ‘We love you, Lizzie. Please tell us all about your daughter.’
So, with grateful tears in her eyes, Lizzie did so, and as they waited out the hours she told them everything she knew about Annie, and her journey to find her. And the friendship between them all grew, became something even stronger, because of the acceptance they all felt that night.
Lizzie finished her story saying, ‘One thing I’ve realized through being here, and being independent and alone, is that I see I have more strength than I ever thought was possible. Going through this Blitz day after day. Getting up and carrying on after what happened to Jack. I’ve realized that I have a lot more courage and strength than I knew. I have that partly because of what I have seen in you two. Every day I see you, Julia, juggling all of this and keeping us all together as a family, and Diana, when we’re all running to the shelters, you’re running out into the bombs to fly the balloon. You have both inspired me; I’m very different to the girl that left Scotland. When we get out of this, I’m going to apply for adoption, and I’m going to take Abigail home with me. I don’t care what people think of me.’
The three of them wrapped their arms around each other and held each other tightly.
‘A three-stranded cord is not easily broken,’ Diana whispered into the huddle, quoting a