‘More for our own peace of mind, to be honest. Phone signal, as you know, isn’t the best out here and she was in a black spot when she got stranded one evening. A bit of bank had slipped and made the road a mud bath. She’d left my sister’s and normally texts to say she’s home. Of course, when she didn’t and nobody could get hold of her, it all got a bit tense. I’d just got home from a business trip and we had this mad phone chain going on as I was driving into the village.’

‘So what happened? Did someone find her OK?’

‘Yeah, I got one of the local farmer lads to get out his tractor and we set off towards my sister’s, taking the road Ma would take. Found her about halfway along, still trying to get the damn car out of the mud.’

‘Was she all right?’

‘Ah, she kicked up a stink about everyone making such a fuss but we both saw the relief in her eyes when we jumped down from the tractor cab. She was frozen too, obviously having not planned to be spending time outside the car. I mean, she had a coat but not enough to protect her against driving snow and rain.’

‘Oh, my goodness, you must have been worried sick.’

‘I was,’ he said, glancing across at me as he replied, the fear he’d clearly felt then resurfacing for a moment, shadowing his features. ‘We all were. My eldest sister was almost hysterical, poor kid. Ma was coming home from her place so of course after a while she was imagining the worst and blaming herself for it, because she’d asked her to come over and help with something.’

‘And she thought, if she hadn’t then your mum would be home safe and sound.’

‘Exactly,’ he said, with another glance.

‘Poor thing.’

‘Yeah, Roísín was reluctant to ask her to do anything after that, but at the time her husband was working away and sometimes you just need a bit of help, don’t you? Plus Ma was upset she wouldn’t ask.’

‘Which is when you came up with the idea of getting her a car that could handle any terrain.’

He nodded. ‘Seemed like a good plan.’

‘And how did your mum take to that? I may have only just met her, but she seems pretty independent and definitely has a mind of her own.’

Lorcan let out a huff of laughter. ‘Oh, she’s definitely got one of those.’

‘Takes one to know one,’ I said, an innocent expression on my face.