Maura took a deep breath, her elation at returning home replaced with concern for Peggy. ‘Say a prayer, ladies, as you drink the tea,’ she said, knowing that her first task tomorrow would be confession, to ask forgiveness for having her tea leaves read.

‘Saint Maura’s definitely home,’ Deirdre whispered to Shelagh as she took her cup and blew and sipped the tea.

Five minutes later Kathleen peered into the row of cups lined up before her. ‘Right, did everyone have two sugars?’ she asked as Mary drained the last drop, watching Biddy to see how it was done. It was the first time Mary had been amongst the women in a reading and she now fully absorbed the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion.

Mary had travelled a long way from the convent to Kathleen’s kitchen via Cindy’s in a very short time. She had fallen in love – and out of it just as fast – and here she was, a new boundary being crossed, having her teacup read.

The assembled women leant in close to the table and nodded their heads.

‘Right then, let’s go. Three swills to the right and make a wish for your family,’ Kathleen said, and all the women picked up their cups and swilled them to the right. ‘Now, three to the left and make a wish for Ireland, then one for Peggy as you tip, with no hesitation whatsoever, the cup upside down into the saucer.’

Silence accompanied the solemn cup-swilling until the clattering sound of upturned cups hitting saucers.

‘Maura’s right, we have to go to confession for this,’ whispered Shelagh. ‘With us doing it all together, the priest would be mad with us, for isn’t it like a séance?’

Biddy placed her finger over her lips, telling Shelagh not to speak, but it was too late.

‘I need quiet, Shelagh,’ said Kathleen. ‘I can’t find the answers in the middle of chatter.’

Shelagh’s eyes widened; the atmosphere in the room had changed, fear of the priest was replaced by a thrill of excitement and everyone almost stopped breathing as the warmth of the room was replaced by an icy chill. The candles that Alice had lit and placed on the table, ‘to keep the bad spirits away,’ flickered violently from side to side, as though someone had suddenly opened the back door, but no one had.