Before today it had been talk, just talk. Now it was fact, she was really into all this, up to her neck. She was now part of it all and it was scaring her. It was all somehow coming true.

One thought was with her constantly. No matter what she felt, how frightened she became, she would go through with it. She owed Georgio that much.

Outside in the kitchen Dolly was on the phone to Big Paddy. He was as surprised as she was to hear that Donna was going off to Scotland for the weekend.

Paddy quickly understood that Donna’s seeing so much of Alan Cox and now going away could mean only one thing: they were going to spring Georgio. And he also knew that Donna, whether she let him in on the secret or not, was going to need all the help she could get.

Maeve was listening to Stephen as he talked with his brothers. She could hear the peculiar whine in his voice that he affected whenever he spoke these days about Donna. Maeve knew that somehow the two had fallen out, but about what she couldn’t even begin to guess. The worst of it all was, she wasn’t in a position to ask. It was a situation where once you found out, you would be dragged into the centre of it and asked to take sides.

That was the last thing she needed at this time. With Georgio’s being away, the family was already minus one member. She didn’t want to open her mouth and estrange another two.

Nuala’s voice was tight as she spoke to her brother. ‘What’s this with you and Donna all of a sudden? Why the upset?’

Stephen shrugged. ‘There’s no upset really, I just wish she would stick to her own businesses and leave mine alone.’

Nuala tossed her dark hair impatiently. ‘You were on to her about taking on everything, we all were, she’s only doing what was expected of her. Myself, I knew she’d be great at it all.’

Stephen carried on drinking his coffee. Then, ‘All I’m trying to say is, she should keep her nose out of my affairs. When I asked Georgio to be a silent partner, I didn’t think for one moment I’d have his little wife, dear Donna, breathing down my neck.’

Maeve was disturbed and upset at her son’s tone.

‘What have you to hide then, that all of a sudden your business is so private? What’s the rub, Stephen? That child is only doing what her husband wanted, nothing more, and as Nuala says, it’s what we all advised at the beginning.’