‘She always does,’ said her mother. ‘She’s made a career out of it.’ The three laughed. It struck Tess that, despite everything, her mother was happy with Conor’s father. There was no artifice to her laughter. She realised how little thought she’d given to her mam’s happiness. She disliked herself for that, but perhaps everyone was the same. Ordinarily, she’d have asked Nina, but the two hadn’t spoken since the last time Tess was in Kilmitten. Although she’d tried calling, the phone was never answered.

When Flan left, the two fell into a tense silence. Despite the rain, three or four children were playing outside. That was Kilmitten: even in a hurricane somebody would feel the need to get out their football or skipping rope. A squeal crashed through the quiet.

‘They’re mad, those kids,’ said Tess.

Her mam took a sip of tea. ‘So,’ she said, ‘I suppose I’d better start talking.’

Chapter 18

‘I was eighteen,’ said her mother, ‘and by today’s standards, I was fairly tame. Still, I fancied myself as a lively young one. I had a million plans. I was going to move to Dublin and get a job and have an exciting life. I wanted parties and cool clothes and good-looking men, everything we didn’t have in Kilmitten. Eventually I’d marry a rich guy and we’d live in a big house in Howth or Dalkey. We’d hang around with artists and musicians and interesting people. Oh, what I wasn’t going to do! Mam and Dad said they didn’t mind me going to Dublin. They just didn’t want me leaving the country. They’d already lost three children to emigration, and they hated the thought of me joining them.’

Tess had always known that her mother was the youngest of four, but that the siblings weren’t close. She had an uncle in San Diego, another in Brisbane and an aunt in Manchester. None kept in regular touch, and the only one Tess had met was her aunt Jacinta, a bossy woman with a scrubbed face and a husband who was ‘something big in insurance’.

‘One night,’ said her mam, ‘I was out in the village. There was a gang of us, and some people were talking about thumbing a lift into Templemorris to go to a dance. I remember it was a shocking cold night. Well, I don’t have to tell you what the wind is like around here. I’d had too much to drink and I wasn’t sure about the dance. So, I got talking to one of the lads, and he said, “Listen, there’s a place where we can go and continue the chat. It’ll get us out of the wind.” I didn’t want to go home yet and I thought, Well, why not? It turned out he was thinking of the old barn, near where the Minogues live now.