Chapter 500 Big Girls Don't Cry:>31

• Emma and I talked more about Robert, telling me what he'd what he liked and disliked, his sense of humour, what he'd been like as a boy. I asked about him joining the Royal Marines, and a line appeared between her eyebrows.
• "You've got me there, Darryl; none of us know what made him do it; Robbie was so quiet, gentle, and soft-spoken, it was a complete surprise, actually, it was a huge shock, when he announced he'd joined-up. Robbie was interested in art, in sketching, painting; he spent all his spare time drawing all sorts of things; birds, insects, cars passing the house, the other kids in the playground at school, and of course endless studies of Lizzie; I think he thought he was somehow letting dad down, that he wasn't being 'manly' enough or something, but I don't know where he got that from, certainly not from dad; dad was so proud of his ability. No-one in our family had ever been anything like that; they were always blue-collar working men, not a trace of artistic ability or inclination; Robbie was the first. When he went away to the Falklands, dad was convinced he wasn't coming back, and when he heard the news that he'd been killed, he just locked himself in his room and stayed there for days."
• She stopped talking while she took a sip of her coffee, her eyes distant.