It had been a perfect day, all the better for its unexpectedness, and Keelin was happy to see the lines of stress soften in her mother’s face as she snoozed in the afternoon sun after their picnic. Imelda seldom took the time to relax. She was always on the go.

Perhaps after the nun’s visit she might bring them on another beach day, Keelin thought hopefully, sloping down the stairs to help with the buffet.

*

‘Well, hello there! Aren’t you gorgeous! I can’t believe I have a niece who’s nearly as tall as I am.’ Keelin stared at the woman with the smiling, startling blue eyes, a tanned face emphasized by the white band that held her nun’s black veil in place, who was holding out a slim, tanned hand to her.

‘Hello,’ she said shyly, shaking her aunt’s hand, which, she noted, had a very firm clasp. ‘It’s very nice to meet you. Erm . . . I’ve heard a lot about you,’ she added, not sure whether she should call her auntie, or Sister. The nun laughed and glanced over at Imelda.

‘Have you?’ she said. ‘All good, I hope.’

Her mother looked a bit flustered. When Nana, Granddad and the nun had arrived, the two sisters had looked at each other, Brigid smiling, Imelda somewhat wary. But when Brigid had opened her arms, Imelda had reached in and hugged her sister briefly, and they had looked at each other and smiled. ‘Good to see you, Imelda. You look amazing,’ Brigid said. ‘I love the trouser suit. Everyone’s wearing them, I see.’

‘And you look good, from what I can see of you, and very nun-like.’ Imelda’s face softened in a smile of rare affection and Keelin’s grandparents beamed happily, delighted to have their daughter home from Africa.

‘So what have you heard, Keelin? And what a lovely name that is.’ Brigid gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

‘Granny always reads your letters to me,’ Keelin smiled. ‘I love hearing about Africa.’

‘And I love living there,’ the nun said, turning to Keelin’s brothers. ‘And these are my nephews, Cormac and Peter. Isn’t it wonderful to come home and have three lovely new relatives?’ She shook hands with the boys, who bashfully shook hands back.

‘Are you feeling better now?’ Imelda asked her sister, ushering them all into the sitting room.

‘I’m better than I was, but it will take a while. I was run down as well. But it’s wonderful to be home in the gorgeous fresh air of the West. It will do my lungs the power of good.’

‘Double pneumonia isn’t to be sneezed at,’ Imelda said, and the nun laughed, a hearty, infectious chuckle.

‘I forgot how witty you always were, Imelda. Not to be sneezed at, indeed.’