Deirdre tutted. ‘There you go, Shelagh, we’ve been summoned. Finally, we get to see Queen Maura – and you see, that’s the other thing about Maura, we get her house ready for her, but we have to go and have a formal introduction at Kathleen’s house. She thinks she’s flamin’ royalty, that one.’

*

It took only minutes for Kathleen’s house to fill and to calm everyone down due to the surprise at Maura’s return.

‘Oh, it was no surprise to us, was it, Shelagh?’ said Deirdre. ‘The minute Shelagh told me, I said, right, come on then, Shelagh, she will have tired kids on her hands to deal with and I knew those beds would need making.’

Deirdre had never been Maura’s favourite neighbour, but she was grateful that Deirdre had done exactly what Maura would have done had the boot been on the other foot. ‘Thank you, Deirdre, that’s good of you. It’s nice to know nothing and no one has changed.’

Deirdre folded her arms and preened. ‘We’ve turned the beds down and lit the fires in both of the bedrooms. It’s a good job you came back in May; it’s not too bad at all in there, just a bit damp maybe, but the fires are fierce so the house will soon be as warm as toast. The range is lit so you’ll have hot water too and I’ve left the kettle warming on the corner.’

Annie O’Prey came in through the back door and clapped her hands together. ‘Well, would you look at what the cat’s dragged in!’ she exclaimed.

Maura felt tears spring to her eyes and took a deep breath; she was home, amongst the women of the four streets, and she could not have felt more relieved. The women gathered around her, asking a hundred questions, and one thing was certain: everyone was delighted to see her.

Kathleen clapped her hands. ‘Come on, everyone, there is something more important we have to attend to – Peggy is missing.’

Deirdre laughed out loud. ‘She can’t be missing, she was walking down the street this afternoon with Shelagh’s pram.’

Shelagh frowned. ‘Well, actually, little Paddy came to ours hours ago to see had Peggy brought the pram back and she had, but she just pushed it into the wash house; normally she would have come in and cadged a cuppa at the very least. Little Paddy was very worried, but I told him she’s down the bingo.’

Kathleen shook her head. ‘Our Nellie and I went and checked and I thought maybe she might have gone into town and then I thought how ridiculous that was. She’s only got her slippers. She wouldn’t go on the bus in her slippers.’