"No? Because I have the feeling that I would, in your place," Peggy says with the sureness of a woman who's not sure how to deal with this sort of affection and support. She tolerates it, but she's never known exactly how to cope with it, so to be on the other side of things is a strange thing.

She leaves only briefly in order to change into her own pajamas, settling onto the other side of the bed. "Colleen and I would have to share like this when our shifts didn't always mirror one another," she admits, speaking about her for the first time. "She was my roommate in New York," Peggy says fondly. "Lovely girl, terribly prone to illness."