They may regularly inconvenience themselves just to maintain their outward persona, but they know, deep down, that they are not as calm and secure as people think.
It was as if Tony's appearance that wild rainy night had stripped merciful blinders from her eyes and forced her to see the true uncertainty of her life.
But while the English Channel crossing is much narrower, it's still very dangerous especially when the people making the journey are often on flimsy boats and don't have life jackets.
The flimsy stairs wobble beneath my feet as I climb into the attic, which smells of must and mold. A single, hanging lightbulb swings overhead. I pull the cord.
But there was always a chance, always a chance, she thought in the long night hours as she padded back and forth across the cold floor of her bedroom, with Ellen's faded shawl clutched about her nightdress.
He bent back her head across his arm and kissed her, softly at first, and then with a swift gradation of intensity that made her cling to him as the only solid thing in a dizzy swaying world.