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really well again but she’s going to make a partial recovery, Graham seems quite confident of that. She’ll always be in charge, will always be able to tell us what to do. We have to believe that.’
    ‘Where is Nano?’ Mari Elen asked as she came in from the yard for tea.
    ‘She’s not well so she’s having an afternoon in bed,’ Josi told her.
    ‘Take her some hot milk and two Marie biscuits,’ was Mari Elen’s suggestion. ‘That will put colour in her cheeks. I don’t much like her but I don’t like her being ill. When I’m ill Lowri puts her cold hand on my forehead and it makes me feel much better.’
    ‘We’ll have to hire a full-time nurse,’ Dr Andrews said. ‘I believe that Nurse Griffin, Nyth Brain, is a large, capable woman.’
    ‘Oh no,’ Lowri moaned. ‘Miss Rees hates Mrs Griffin, Nyth Brain. She frightened poor Mrs Ifans terribly one day, mentioning that word ‘cancer’ to her when no one else had dared mention it. Miss Rees almost attacked her on the spot and she’s never spoken to her since. She won’t even go to any chapel social or village eisteddfod now for fear that Mrs Griffin will be there. I’d rather do all the nursing myself than leave her to that woman.’
    ‘You’re far too small and delicate,’ Dr Andrews said. ‘Miss Rees will have to be lifted and turned two or three times a day and she’s a fair weight. All the same I’m glad you told me about the animosity between her and Nurse Griffin, that would never do. I’ll have to find someone else in Cardigan. I know the deputy matron of the women’s hospital there and she’s sure to be able to suggest someone suitable, someone she’s trained. And perhaps I ought to go now, there’s no time to lose.’
    ‘What about your dinner?’ Catrin asked, but he’d already disappeared.
    They had to have their meal without him, but Catrin assured them that it was perfectly normal for her husband to miss at least one meal every day.
    ‘Well, doctors don’t do too much hard manual work, do they? Their work is very important, I know that, but it’s not hot sweaty work like men on the farm do. Or take the horses, now. Nobody would ask a good working mare to miss her meal. It’s like the petrol for a car, you’ve got to keep them going.’
    ‘I have to miss supper very often when Lowri puts me to bed early. And I’m busy all day long.’
    Their chatter floated over Lowri’s head, she was far too worried to listen.

    At least Graham’s errand proved worthwhile. The deputy matron had been able to recommend a competent and conscientious nurse who had recently finished her previous job and could start the following morning. ‘Another bed to be made up,’ Catrin grumbled, ‘all the same it will be good to have an extra pair of hands.’
    ‘I don’t think she’ll be prepared to do any housework,’ Graham warned.
    ‘No, I’ve noticed that it’s only wives who have to turn their hands to anything and everything.’

    When Tom arrived home the next day, he managed, with the help of one of his crutches and some gentle pushing from his father, to negotiate the stairs to see Nano and when he spoke to her, she regained consciousness and smiled at him. Everyone felt jubilant though it was only a small step forward.
    ‘This will do me a lot of good,’ Tom said later. ‘I’m not the invalid now, and I’m feeling much better for it. I was feeling very sorry for myself, coming home like this, but now I realise that there are much more important things. I’m out of the hell of France, I’m thankful to be alive and happy to be home. I’m going to be all right. You shall see.’
    Catrin kissed him and Lowri fetched him some tiny new potatoes with butter and buttermilk, which had always been his favourite snack.
    ‘You’ve lost a leg, I hear,’ Mari Elen said, like one struggling to make polite conversation. ‘Can I look up your trouser leg?’
    ‘You may. But I’m afraid there isn’t much to see except for bandages.