‘It’s you and your good name I was thinking of,’ he said quietly.

She apologized, wishing she hadn’t snapped at him. ‘I’d better go.’

She was on tenterhooks all day. Would Armand join her in the cove? Or was she fooling herself that feelings had developed between them?

That night, wrapped in her towel, she slipped like a wraith down to the cove. Her heart sank when she saw Armand wasn’t there and Keelin cursed herself for behaving like a love-struck teenager. She dived into the glistening sea and swam parallel to the shore, feeling alive and unrestricted, her hair stuck damply to her face, unhindered by the veil. As she turned on her back to float under the stars, she caught sight of Armand’s shadowy figure striding along the beach. She waved and he waved back and her heart lifted with happiness. How lovely to be able to speak in peace at last. They had so much to talk about.

She heard the splash as he dived in and swam towards her. ‘I came,’ he murmured, his white teeth glinting as he smiled in the semi moonlight.

‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ Keelin threw her arms wide, encompassing the magnificence around them.

‘I brought some wine and bread and cheese,’ he said, floating beside her. She had never felt so happy in her life.

‘Have a swim and then we’ll have our picnic,’ she said. ‘Race you.’

He beat her easily, his long powerful strokes slicing through the water. She was breathless and laughing when she caught up with him. ‘This is such fun,’ she grinned. ‘I feel like a child on the mitch.’

‘The mitch? What is that?’ he asked, smiling back at her.

‘Skipping class.’

‘It’s so sad. We’re adults and something as natural as this make us feel like naughty children.’ He looked stern in the moonlight.

‘I know, I can’t stand not being treated like an adult anymore. I can’t go on with this. Germaine chastised me today for having a stain on my habit. One of the kids knocked over my juice by accident. I’m a teacher, for God’s sake, not a mannequin,’ Keelin exclaimed irately. ‘It’s a load of nonsense.’

Armand laughed. ‘ “Nonsense”! I love it. Could you imagine the RM and the bishop if we said that to them?’

‘He’d have us excommunicated immediately and Germaine would have me packing so fast I wouldn’t have time to bless myself!’ Keelin remarked, laughing.

‘I love you,’ Armand said, staring at her intently.

‘I love you too,’ she said simply, smiling at him, utterly carefree and joyful.

He reached for her and drew her to him and under the African moon they kissed so tenderly and lovingly that Keelin knew with every atom of her being that she and Armand were meant for each other.