Back at Briony’s house there was plenty to eat and drink. All the remaining sisters, together with Molly, Jonathan and Mariah, were sitting in Briony’s lounge chatting between themselves. Marcus came in with two bottles of expensive champagne.

‘This was Jonathan’s gift and I thought we’d open it now.’

Everyone took a glass and toasted the infants.

‘To Danny Boy and my Boysie!’ Briony’s voice was filled with love.

‘To the boys!’

Kerry sipped her drink and placed a crawling Liselle on the floor. Lissy, as she was now called by everyone, tried to pull herself up using Molly’s skirt as an anchor.

Kerry smiled at her mother who strained to smile back. Liselle stood up uncertainly then dropped down on to her bottom with a thud. She set up a wail and Briony scooped her up off the floor and hugged her close.

‘What’s wrong then, Liselle Cavanagh? You’ll be walking soon enough. Kerry, this child is so intelligent I don’t know what to do with her! Look ... It’s as if she knows exactly what I’m saying.’ She kissed Liselle’s mouth and said, ‘Have you been here before, madam?’

Liselle grabbed Briony’s hair and pulled on it hard, laughing as Briony made a mock stern face.

Molly got up and walked away from the scene. No matter how often she saw the child, she still felt a deep dislike for her. The whole idea of the child’s father and the fact that he had lain with her daughter disgusted her.

She smiled, though, as she looked at the twins. Now there were two boys to be proud of! Her grandsons, the light of her life. In them was held out the hope of greatness. She knew that Briony would see they got everything befitting two such handsome lads. Who knew what they might become?

Kerry watched the change in her mother as she bent over Eileen’s boys and forced down the hurt she felt inside. Since the birth of the twins, Lissy had been left out in the cold. Oh, Briony still made a fuss of her, as did Bernadette. But the boys were the real focal point. They were twins for a start, so that made them special, and they were white. Wholly white. She tried to keep these thoughts from invading her mind, but still they plagued her at all hours of the day and night.

She drained her glass in one swallow and went to get herself another. She had seen the looks today, outside the church. The peering looks at Lissy as Kerry had stood, head high, with her daughter in her arms. People guessed, she knew that, but Lissy was her true love. She worshipped her daughter even while she resented the feelings the child produced in her at times. She poured herself another drink.