‘I talked to Eliza again myself,’ his mother said. ‘I went to the hotel to see her this morning. We went for a walk around the castle.’

‘And?’

‘And what?’

‘Did you tell her?’

A nod.

‘Ma, what did you tell her? What did she say?’

‘I told her what I’ve just told you.’ A pause. ‘She said she’d like to talk to you. I said I needed to tell you first. I hadn’t planned on actually doing it, but here we are.’

He wanted to swear again. ‘You wouldn’t have told me, if I hadn’t come to you today? You lied to Eliza?’

Sheila didn’t answer.

‘What about the others?’ He meant his three younger brothers. ‘Will you tell them?’

‘Of course not.’

‘They need to know too. Eliza is our sister. Our half-sister. Jeannie was my friend.’

‘Some friend.’

‘You’re blaming her?’ He stared at his mother. ‘What are you saying? That she seduced him? She was twenty-one years old. Oh, Jesus,’ he said again. ‘Was it —’ He couldn’t say the word. His mother could.

‘Rape? Hugh said it wasn’t. I believe him. He said it started in the most innocent way.’ She wasn’t looking at him now. ‘He said that none of them had been sleeping. Him. Jeannie. Orla. Taking turns at the hospital, being by your bed. Reading to you. Talking to you. He’d been with you the night you woke. He said it was the most incredible relief, like being pulled back from the depths of hell. He’d stayed by your side, hardly believing it could be possible. You talking. Awake. Alive. Orla had been due to take over from him. He met her at the front of the hospital. “Go home and sleep,” she’d said. “Go home. It’s such wonderful news.” He’d gone home. Jeannie had been alone in the house. The others were at work. She opened a bottle of champagne. Real champagne.’

‘Dad didn’t drink champagne.’

‘He did that night. He said he felt like a different person that night. That he’d never felt anything like the sense of relief when, out of the blue, completely out of the blue, after all those days of you being unconscious, you opened your eyes, and said, clear as day, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world . . .’

Emmet had heard the story of his awakening so many times. He didn’t need to hear it now.

‘They were euphoric,’ Sheila continued. ‘I remember Hugh using that exact word. He and Jeannie drank all the champagne. She had some dope. He said he’d have done anything, taken anything, that night, the relief was so incredible.’

‘I don’t need to hear any more.’