Bridget took the coats from the visitors while the women chatted. She knew very well what Mary Kate was suffering from and why she was home, even though no one had told her. It was something serious enough for these ladies to have left Liverpool and travelled all the way to Tarabeg to see her for themselves. Every family needed to keep its own secrets safe and even though she’d been there at the moment of Mary Kate’s birth, was close to all the Malones and had been all her life, she was not strictly family.

She’d been asked for more potions and cures for grief than she could count, and when she met it, she knew it for what it was. Mary Kate was grieving, and if Bridget could, she would find a way to let her know that there was only one cure. She had potions to fix everything from a hangover to a baby refusing to leave the womb, but the one thing she didn’t have was a cure for a broken heart. Only time could heal that, and no matter how many herbs she brewed, they didn’t make a jot of difference; she could not compete with Mother Time, who had the best cure of all.

When it was time for Bridget to read the women’s fortunes, Cat was open-mouthed with amazement. Bridget used a crystal ball first and then finished off by looking at Cat’s used tea leaves. ‘You have lived a hard life, that much is true. ’Tis all here,’ she said. ‘But you’ve had a bit of luck along the way.’

Cat remembered to nod. ‘Not lucky enough,’ she wanted to reply. She’d not confessed to anyone that there were other reasons she’d jumped at the chance to come and visit Mary Kate, and she wasn’t about to open up now.

‘Swill the cup around, Cat, and then quickly turn it upside down onto the saucer.’

‘She’s had enough practice at drinking the tea,’ said Mrs O’Keefe. ‘Who would have known that you could tell your future from it?’

‘Welcome to Tarabeg,’ said Bee with a smile. ‘Were you both comfortable last night, up at the farm?’

‘We were,’ said Mrs O’Keefe. ‘So comfortable. Nola’s asked us to stay for a week and we’ve said yes, haven’t we, Cat?’

Cat grinned. ‘I’ve never been away from our kids for more than a day before, never mind a week. I can’t believe that I don’t actually know what they’re up to right at this minute.’

‘They’ve got Mrs Doyle’s number, and Michael’s, if they need us,’ said Mrs O’Keefe. ‘And my sister Lizzie is going to be dropping in every day. But if you ask me, those kids will be having their own holiday with Deidra and Joan – they won’t want to go home.’

Cat smiled as she handed over her cup. Every word was true. Not one of the children had run back to her for a kiss when they left; she’d had to demand that they did. ‘A whole week ahead of me, and to think I’ve never even been out of Liverpool before.’