‘I’ll start whatever I want, miss,’ Imelda shot back, irritated at being told off. ‘You take her side, same as Mother and Daddy always did, and let me tell you, it hurts sometimes.’

‘Imelda, you’re exaggerating,’ Brigid said crossly. ‘Mother and Daddy didn’t treat me any different than you. That’s being childish.’

‘Are you serious?’ Imelda scoffed. ‘Everybody treated you differently. You were Granny’s little pet, always going over to her and sucking up to her to get money for sweets—’

‘I liked going over to Granny’s to listen to her stories,’ Brigid said hotly.

‘Ah yeah,’ jeered Imelda. ‘Tell that to the marines.’

‘Our granny had a very interesting life, if you’d bothered to spend time with her and listen to her talk about the times she grew up in, Imelda. But no! Not you! You were too busy going around feeling sorry for yourself to take notice of anyone else,’ Brigid retorted.

‘You’re right, I did feel sorry for myself, because I had to do everything while you swanned over to Granny’s, to hear all about her . . .’ – she paused and glared at her sister – ‘ “interesting life”.’

‘Excuse me,’ Brigid interrupted. ‘I did housework in Granny’s. I cleaned and polished, and helped her make her bed, and churn butter, and bake bread and scones. Otherwise, Mother would have had to do it. So stop your nonsense.’

‘Ah, really, let’s not row. We were doing so well. We’re meant to be getting over the last one, and enjoying a minibreak,’ Keelin said wearily.

‘Oh, am I not entitled to say anything—’

‘Stop it, Mam. You’re always the same. Every time I come home I get the “poor me” litany.’

‘Is that so? Well, you did nothing to make my life easier, Keelin. Just remember that,’ Imelda shot back.

‘And you’ll never let me forget it, will you? Until the day I die, you’ll hold it against me that I got pregnant, left the convent and married Armand.’

‘You should never have joined it in the first place. That was all because of her. She took you from me.’

‘You made that accusation at my party, Imelda, the night you made a holy show of yourself, and I didn’t challenge you as vigorously as I should have. Because I wanted to. Unlike you, I wouldn’t embarrass either you or my guests. But I will rebut it now. I did no such thing,’ Brigid, said furiously, wrath staining her cheeks red.

‘Yes you did, Brigid! You took her to become a nun, and then, when she had Marie-Claire, you inveigled your way into her affections and made her prefer you to me. You took my own granddaughter from me. She always wanted to stay down there with you instead of in Glencarraig with me,’ Imelda shouted.