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‘They were tough but fair,’ she acknowledged

‘Right They told me what they were prepared to do for me, and also what they expected fro to be accounted for so that I had no time to pick back up with my so-called mates’

‘Was that hard?’ she asked curiously

Even now, the relief in his expression was evident

‘No It was the excuse I needed to change ood for me but they were all I had I never believed Rosie and Wilf would be there for me when it really caet out of the cruddy life I had’

‘But they were there for you, right?’

‘Yes They were It took tiave, the rades back up—no one had ever given a darades before Then, when I succeeded there, Wilf found e as a mechanic to earn a bit of money My money, which I could spend however I wanted to’

‘Unlike the foster father who beat you when you were late fro money,’ Fliss recalled

Theher that still punched a hole in her stomach

‘Right And I responded to the discipline I respected the honourable and fair Within the year they’d turned ot me into the Army Cadet Force I never looked back’

He wasit sound easier than it clearly had been She could only iine the effort Ash must have made too, to turn his life around

‘I ree, an Aro And then Rosie and Wilf came forith the money’

Fliss gasped ‘They can’t have afforded to do that for all their foster kids’

‘They couldn’t I hadn’t even lived with them for a couple of years, but we’d stayed in contact They’da colonel—is all down to the opportunity they gave me I could never have dreamed of this life if not for Rosie and Wilf’

His hu She wanted to point out that they never would have offered him that support if he hadn’t been worthy of it If he hadn’t been Ash But he wouldn’t thank her for it; he was still battling deli A side no one else ever got to see As sad as she was for Ash, she couldn’t help feel special that he trusted her in this way