‘We’re here to wet the baby’s head,’ said Jerry. ‘And did you all know that little Paddy saw Gladys off tonight, or we might not have had this?’ He held a large bottle of rum aloft. ‘He did a grand job, didn’t you, Paddy? She was about to call the police, but Paddy saved the night.’

Little Paddy beamed from ear to ear with pride.

‘Oh, really?’ said Maura. ‘How did you do that, Paddy?’

Little Paddy stood up for effect. ‘Oh, that was easy, I just told her I’d seen Eric the milky kissing Mrs Trott in the entry.’

Everyone in the room looked at each other, mouths fell open and then closed before the laughter began. Peggy laughed along too, one hand on her belly and the other wrapped around her daughter as love shone out of her eyes and down on the bundle swaddled in borrowed clothes. No one ever visited her house; she knew her neighbours were more inclined to avoid having to cross her threshold, but here they all were, drinking and laughing in her kitchen and she had a daughter in her arms and a repentant husband who had promised to stay in work.

Tommy slipped his hand around his Maura’s waist. ‘Where’s Biddy?’ he asked.

Mary, who was helping Deirdre dish out the drinks, said, ‘She’s taken Shelagh’s pram to put Ena in it and wheel her home from the Anchor.’

Tommy almost spat out his drink as Maura raised her eyebrows. ‘Are you glad to be home?’ he asked her quietly and Maura whispered back, ‘Honest to God, we were gone six months? Maggie Trott and married Eric the Milky! It’s like Sodom and Gomorrah.’ And she blessed herself.

‘Good job you’re back then, to keep them all in order.’

Maura smiled at her husband as Deirdre placed a rum-laden cup of tea in her hand. ‘This is home, Tommy. I never want to leave the four streets ever again.’

About the author

Nadine Dorries grew up in a working-class family in Liverpool. She spent part of her childhood living on a farm with her grandmother in the west of Ireland. She trained as a nurse, then followed with a successful career in which she established and then sold her own business. She is an MP, presently serving as Minister of State in the Department of Health and Social Care, and has three daughters.

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