‘That was your own fault, Mother,’ Keelin stood up in fury. ‘You wouldn’t let me come home when I was pregnant and when she was a baby. You were too ashamed of me. Where else was I to go? The Order more or less disowned me. They would have put me in a home and taken my baby from me for adoption – that was their plan. Mère fought for me to stay in the Four Winds. She took me in and saw me through my pregnancy, and then she made sure my baby was looked after. Don’t you dare berate her for that or tell lies of omission. I won’t stand for it.’

‘Maman, Granny, Mère, please! Stop fighting,’ Marie-Claire begged.

‘But you have abandoned me for her.’ Imelda turned on her. ‘You do your duty visit and then you go and spend all your time at the Four Winds. You don’t bring me shopping for clothes, do you?’ she snapped waspishly.

‘Listen to yourself, Granny. Did you ever think that it’s your own behaviour that drives people away from you? You can’t see anything beyond your jealousy. Maman—’

‘Maman and Mère,’ Imelda mimicked. ‘You’re Irish, for God’s sake, not French. And you’re all such saints, aren’t ye? And I’m the black sheep. The sinner. Not for me the “Calling”. I’m the poor old servant like Martha in the Bible, doing all the work while Mary swanned around with her jar of expensive oil, taking the easy way out. Some of us have to do the dirty work. Why I came on this daft journey with all of you, knowing you dislike me so much, I’ll never know.’ Tears welled up in her eyes and she stood to leave, mortified that they would see her crying.

‘I had no “Calling”, as you put it, Imelda,’ Brigid said quietly. ‘You were right about that from the beginning. I went into the convent to atone for my sins – especially the sin against chastity – and not because I was called by God. I went in to get to Africa. To escape Ardcloch. It was the greatest mistake of my life.’

Silence fell like the unexpected snowflakes that drifted down from the leaden skies outside.

Keelin stood up and put her arms around her mother. ‘Sit down, Mam. This is all happening for a reason. Now I know why we weren’t meant to go to Iona this morning. All this had to finally be cleared between us, before we can carry on.’

‘I’m sure Mary Magdalene won’t want me in Iona after what I just said about her,’ Imelda muttered shakily, but she didn’t resist her daughter’s embrace, feeling the need for comfort.