‘It was. He was a nice chap and I fancied him like mad. It was when I went on holiday to Rhodes. On a moonlit night by the sea,’ Keelin admitted. ‘Everything I wished for. So I wasn’t a virgin when I entered the Order. And then of course I met Armand in the Ivory Coast and fell for him hook, line and sinker, and there was no going back. But I’d decided to leave before we became intimate. I couldn’t take the inequality, the way the Church treated women. And then I remember so clearly, when I discovered that I was pregnant, any guilt I felt disappeared. I knew I was meant to have my child. The power and privilege of carrying another life within me overcame everything.’

Brigid took a deep breath. ‘I felt that too.’ She smiled at her niece.

‘You were pregnant?’ Imelda nearly fell off her chair in shock.

‘Yes. For three months. And I too felt that glory that Keelin talks about, despite the shame and guilt; I revelled in the knowledge I had a child inside me. It was a primal joy, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before or since. I lost my baby out on the hills, on my way home from Granny’s the Christmas Eve before I entered. I lost my baby the night a Virgin gave birth to hers. The irony was never lost on me.’

‘But that was a terrible thing to happen, Brigid. Did you tell Mother?’ Imelda couldn’t hide her dismay.

‘What do you think? I was terrified. I was afraid I was going to end up in a home and have my baby taken from me. That was why I was determined Keelin would not be sent away, even though it was what the Order wanted. I understood what she was going through because I’d been there myself. In our day, getting pregnant outside of marriage was the worst catastrophe that could befall a girl. The family name would have been ruined. How could I tell Mother and Daddy?’

‘And you never told me either. You went through it all by yourself. Oh, Brigid, I am sorry. I wasn’t much of a sister to you.’ There was a lifetime’s regret in her apology.

‘We didn’t have that kind of relationship, Imelda. But it’s never too late.’ She reached out and took her sister’s plump little hand in her own bony, thin one.

‘What a waste of our lives – you envying me, me envying you, and each of us knowing nothing about the other’s turmoil.’ Imelda stroked her hand gently.

‘At least we didn’t go to the grave estranged, my dear. Let’s make up for lost time and enjoy the years we have left. Now that I’m a free woman, I’m game for anything,’ Brigid declared briskly.