Lena and Ria watched their husbands standing at the bar of the Shandon Bells Irish Club, deep in conversation. It was good to see. It had been a long time since they’d appeared so relaxed in each other’s company.

‘Look at them two! Like a pair of fucking old women, gossiping away.’

Ria laughed out loud at the simile; the men were a lot of things, but gossips was stretching it a bit.

‘Where’s Imelda? I thought she was meeting us?’

Ria shrugged. ‘Not a clue. Honestly, Lena, she gets on my nerves lately. She’s so wrapped up in her own little world. She needs to get over herself, that one.’

Lena sipped her brandy and Coke daintily; she’d known for a long time that Imelda and Ria were at loggerheads, but she was surprised that Ria had actually openly acknowledged that there was a problem between them. Ria was usually proud like that. ‘Well, Ria, you know what she’s like. Too much time on her hands, if you ask me.’ It was what Ria wanted to hear.

Ria nodded and replied sadly, ‘I’ve told her that, ever since Jack. You know, Lena, until that night it never occurred to her that the life she lived was run by our men and their businesses – her old man included, I might add. She thought we could control it, that we had some kind of authority. But I think that night opened her eyes and she didn’t like what she saw. We are expected to sit back, and take whatever comes our way – the good and the bad. We live with that knowledge every day of our lives, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it, especially now her boy’s onboard. She can’t hack that because she knows too much for her own good.’

Lena placed her hand gently on her friend’s arm; she could hear the hurt and the pain in her voice and understood completely why she was worried for her daughter.

‘Do you know what I think, Ria? Our generation were geared up for it all somehow. We came from nothing and we accepted what our husbands chose, not just for us, but for our families. I washed Daniel’s bloody clothes, and it wasn’t his blood on them either. I provided alibis and, in the middle of it all, I brought up the kids. We didn’t expect as much as girls do today – they think they need to know everything. But sometimes the truth is more dangerous than ignorance. I know that my Tania is just starting to question things – I can see it in her eyes. Despite the fact that I have done everything I possibly can to protect her from the Life, I think she might know more than she lets on – she was always earwigging as a kid.’