When Keelin had phoned and told her she was pregnant, she’d been horrified. Nuns didn’t get pregnant. They took vows of chastity. She knew of a couple of young girls who’d got in the family way and taken the boat to England and never been seen in Glencarraig again. How could her daughter even expect that she could come home under such circumstances and not have people talking about her? In those days, getting pregnant outside of marriage was a shameful thing. A stain on the family. So different from today, Imelda mused. Now they had the children and then got married!

She’d had enough on her plate, what with looking after her parents and Larry’s mother, and all while starting the menopause. ‘She’s our daughter, not Brigid’s,’ Larry words came back to her. Keelin could do no wrong in her father’s eyes.

Last night when she’d seen Keelin and Brigid’s loving reunion, she’d been hit with the undeniable knowledge that when Keelin needed a mother most, Brigid had been more of a mother to her than Imelda had. She’d been torn apart with unexpected guilt at the knowledge.

And then when John had presented Brigid with the money – money that she’d not lifted a finger to earn – Imelda had been overcome by the unfairness of it. His final disparaging remarks had ignited the fire of her wrath and she’d said what she’d said. Now, Imelda thought ruefully, she was going to have to live with the consequences.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

‘I’m sorry, Armand, please don’t be mad at me. You were right. I should never have hidden the truth about your past from Marie-Claire. It was my issue, not yours, and I did you an injustice.’ Keelin’s voice came down the line and Armand smiled at his wife’s earnest tone.

He was walking along the narrow road that led to the Four Winds and his brisk walk, the long way round from Butlersbridge, had cleared his head and dissipated his anger after last night’s row.

‘I’m not mad, at you, Keelin. Perhaps I’m mad at myself for having agreed to hide my past in the first place. On some level, I think the reason I never brought it up again when Marie-Claire was old enough to understand was that I still hold some underlying shame.’

‘Yeah. It brought up guilt in me too. Maybe all this happened so we can finally put the past behind us. Or maybe it happened because my mother is an absolute briar!’ she added sardonically.

Armand laughed. ‘I walked the long way round over to the Four Winds to see if Marie-Claire’s OK—’