“When do we ever get time to read?” Alice demanded.

“Saturday and Sunday are coming up and I’ve nowhere to go.”

“In that case, I think I’ll see what Daisy and Ruby are doing,” Alice said. “You wouldn’t catch me dead in a bookshop.”

The moment Alice had headed after the disappearing girls, Emily slipped around the corner and located a building with a brass plate saying, “D.M. Packer, MD.” She let herself in to find an empty waiting room. A worried-looking woman, who was probably the doctor’s wife, appeared and looked surprised to see her. “How did you get in?”

“The front door was unlocked,” Emily said. “Isn’t this the doctor’s surgery?”

“It is, but surgery hours are not until six this evening.”

“Oh.” Emily looked crestfallen. “So is the doctor out on his rounds then?”

“He’s just come back after morning rounds and is taking a late lunch,” the woman replied. “If you’d like to leave your name and come back later . . .”

“I can’t.” Emily felt close to tears. “I’m with the Women’s Land Army, and we are being picked up in an hour’s time. I just hoped that . . .” Her voice trailed off.

The woman’s expression softened. “I could see if he might spare a moment if the problem is not too complicated. We’re very grateful for all that you ladies are doing, keeping the farms going around here. Wait one minute.”

Emily waited. Then another door opened and the woman said, “The doctor will see you, my dear. This way.”

The doctor shared a worried expression with his wife. He was in late middle age and looked tired. Emily felt guilty that she had disturbed his lunchtime rest.

“I’m so sorry to take you from your luncheon,” she said.

“I’d pretty much finished. You just disturbed my after-meal pipe.” He managed a smile. “And I should be rationing myself. Tobacco’s hard to get anyway. Now what seems to be the problem?”

“I’m wondering how soon you can tell if you are pregnant?” Emily felt her cheeks burning.

“You think you might be in the family way?” he asked. “We can’t tell for sure until we can actually hear a heartbeat, but I’d have a pretty good idea after about six weeks. How far along do you think you are?”

“About six weeks,” Emily confirmed.

“Right. If you take off that tunic and hop up on the table, I’ll take a look at you.”

Emily did so, squirming in embarrassment as she took off her outer garments. The doctor gave her a thorough examination that was even more embarrassing. “Any symptoms?” he asked. “Nausea? Dizziness? Vomiting?”

“All of the above,” Emily confessed.

“And tender breasts?”

Emily put her hand to one and reacted with surprise. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

“And they seem bigger than normal?”

“I think so.”

He smiled then, making him look a lot younger. “Then, my dear, I think it’s fairly conclusive.” He glanced down at her hand that still wore Robbie’s band. “Is your husband serving abroad? I take it he was home on leave.”

“He’s dead,” Emily said bleakly. “He was in the Royal Air Force. A pilot. His plane crashed.”

“I’m very sorry,” the doctor said. “So it’s up to you to make sure that a healthy baby carries on his name, right?”

Emily nodded, too full of emotion to speak. The child would not bear Robbie’s name. But at least she knew the truth now. All she had to do was decide what happened next.

She came out to see Alice waiting on the high street. She waved when she saw Emily. “Where did you get to?” she asked. “I popped into that bookshop and they said they hadn’t seen you.”

“Oh, I just wandered around,” Emily replied.

Alice frowned. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked. “You’ve been acting strangely. Of course, I can understand that you’re still dealing with your man’s death. I know it takes a while to come to terms with that. I couldn’t think about my Bill without an actual physical pain in my heart for the longest time. So I do know what you’re going through.”

“You don’t know it all, Alice,” Emily said. She took a deep breath. “I’ve just seen the doctor. I’m going to have a baby.”

“Ah.” Alice nodded. “I wondered as much. I heard you chucking up your breakfast. Well, that’s a bit of a bugger, isn’t it?”

Emily had to laugh at her choice of language. “More than a bit of a bugger, Alice. It’s the worst thing that could happen. I have no idea what I’m going to do next.”

“Go home to your folks, that’s what I’d say.”

“But you don’t know my parents.” Emily shook her head violently. “My father already told me I was no longer welcome at home when I disobeyed them and stayed working in the fields.”

“I’d give it a try anyway, duck,” Alice said. “I don’t believe any parent would leave their child in the lurch when something as bad as this has happened.” Then she wagged a finger. “You know what? Tell them you and Robbie got secretly married. They won’t approve, but at least it will be more respectable.”