Maura felt the familiar grip of guilt tighten around her heart. ‘What about the money, the inn, is it gone forever, do you think?’

Tommy had fixed his eyes on the shore. ‘Maura, I have something to tell you. Liam bought it, not what we paid for it, but enough to make a difference to our fortunes and I ask you, what more do we need?’

Maura had pulled away from him. ‘What? You sold it to Liam? For how much?’

Tommy couldn’t help himself, a grin passed across his face and he picked up one of her hands and slipped it under his arm. ‘Maura, we have almost five hundred pounds! I have a hundred in my pocket and four in the bank so we are going to be just fine.’ Maura was speechless. ‘I have just one condition, mind; I have eight of it for the season ticket for the football for the lads and myself – our Harry, he deserves that.’

‘Five hundred pounds…’ She let the words roll around her mouth. ‘Five hundred pounds, Tommy, that’s such a relief! Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been worried sick about whether or not you’d be taken on down at the docks or if we would have enough to manage until you got work.’

‘Because I wanted to show you that I’m not the useless eejit you think I am, that’s all.’

Maura squeezed her husband’s hand. As the realisation sank in that all was not lost, Maura had felt a thrill of excitement run through her while the ship blew its horn to let Liverpool know they were approaching as the jetty came into sight.

‘It’s a good thing, Tommy, to know where we belong. It’s good for the kids too. They know everyone on the four streets and everyone knows them; there’s no one to judge them, everyone has the same. We all know what it’s like to go without and kindness comes from that. It may have cost us to find it out, but at least now we know where we belong and isn’t that a richness in itself? And to think, we have the five hundred pounds to add to it! I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.’

Tommy felt a lump in his throat. Any other woman would have made his life a misery for spending all they had on the Talk of the Town and only getting half of it back, but not his Maura, who always looked for the good in every situation.

Now, as the taxi passed by the shops on one side and the warehouses on the other, Maura’s thoughts turned to more immediate problems.

‘Tommy, I hope to God Kathleen is still up to get a drink for the kids. I’m gasping meself.’