‘Aye, well, it was too difficult for her on her own.’ He looked at his feet, scuffed his toe against the cinder path to cover his embarrassment. ‘I was wondering, would you be wanting the outside of the cottage painting, only I’ve just done me own and I could come anytime to paint it for you. You know, as well as algebra, I’m a dab hand with the brush – I’d be happy to do it an’ all.’ He glanced up and smiled to see that her eyes were smiling now too, looking a bit less sad.

The exterior of Angela’s cottage hadn’t been limewashed in years and the dark green paint was peeling off the windowsill. ‘Well, if you don’t mind?’ she said tentatively. She hesitated, wondering how to bring up their last meeting, when he’d told her he’d wait for her. ‘Declan—’

He stopped her almost before she’d started. ‘Mary Kate, don’t. You don’t have to explain. I knew you must have found someone when you didn’t write to me. I’m not going to say the first year wasn’t hard or that I didn’t mope around like a lovesick puppy, but I’m a grown man now and all is good. I’m offering to paint the cottage as your friend.’

Relief washed through her. What she needed more than anything was a friend. She was missing Cat and Mrs O’Keefe, and Joan and Deidra more than she had imagined she would; she felt a pang in her heart just at the thought of them.

She and Declan stepped back into the kitchen just as Michael began to bang his pint pot with a fork. ‘Right, everyone, as if Joe’s news wasn’t enough, let me tell you, ’tis a night for excitement. The fiddler has arrived’ – a cheer went up around the room – ‘and what is more—’

His speech was cut dead as two of Keeva’s sons ran in through the shop and hurtled into the kitchen, the eldest, Aedan, at the front, yelling, ‘Mammy, there’s a man in the house.’

‘God in heaven, where are your brothers?’ Keeva tried to keep her voice steady, but her words still came out almost as a scream.

Aedan rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and stammered, ‘They wouldn’t wake up, Mammy. They’re asleep in their bed.’

‘Sure, ’twill be just a dream,’ his Granny Josie said, looking anxious and putting her arm around Aedan’s shoulders.

‘No, Nanny, it wasn’t. He was at the bottom of the bed, and when I woke up, he ran down the stairs. He kicked the pot over, Mammy. ’Twasn’t me.’

Despite how much he usually enjoyed leading her a merry dance with his hijinks, Keeva instinctively knew that this time her son was telling the truth.

*

Out in the street, Mrs O’Keefe and Cat stood in the doorway of the tailor’s shop, waiting for the sign from Captain Bob that they could walk in to the Malones’ house and make their surprise entrance.