Getting up from the table, she walked round it and took a chair next to Ruby, reaching for her sister’s hands. ‘Thank you, lass,’ she whispered, the tears running down her face and dripping off her long chin. ‘You didn’t have to do this, I know that.’

‘Olive, we’re family,’ said Ruby softly.

Cissy, too, was weeping, and part of her emotion was a deep thankfulness that her two girls were – as she put it to herself – kind again, the old northern term for reconciliation, because didn’t Ruby doing this prove that? The new priest who had taken the place of Father McHaffie after he had succumbed to a bout of influenza two years ago was a great one for saying all things work together for good, and he was right. Father Kane also preached a lot from the New Testament about love and it was generally agreed within the congregation that Father McHaffie must be turning in his grave.

‘So.’ Ruby glanced at her mother. ‘That’s agreed then? Once the alterations are done and the flat’s ready after the New Year we’ll hire a vehicle and get you moved in. It’ll take a while to stock the shop and get everything in order but that’s all to the good. I can be showing you the ropes, Olive, and explaining what’s involved.’

‘Do you think I can do it?’

‘With one hand tied behind your back,’ Ruby grinned. ‘You’re a very capable lady and you can be quite scary – perfect management material.’

For the first time since Adam’s death, Olive smiled. ‘I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.’

‘The former. Definitely the former.’

‘That’s all right then.’

‘And over the next little while you and Mam can decide between you what you want to bring, bearing in mind you’re going to have to fit two households into one.’

‘I’m not leaving my three-piece suite,’ said Cissy immediately.

Ruby and Olive exchanged a glance. Ruby had the feeling that her sister would need to bite her tongue quite often in the coming days.