Nanny Bet puts an arm around me. ‘I told you when you got here that you were special, but I had no idea how much. You’re the best of us, my love.’ She touches my cheek then moves to rescue Fergal from Fiona.
We eat sandwiches and talk and laugh and cry; happy tears though. Dad slips away early to rest, but he and Mum have a good hug before he goes. Everyone tells stories and Tommy sings a few lines of a song that makes the adults fall silent.
A chill settles as the sun sets. Everyone moves inside, but there’s a twinge at the back of my head and I take a seat on one of the garden chairs.
‘How did it go?’ Meg is wearing a black pinafore dress and her new acorn necklace twinkles in the moonlight. Her hand is still in a cast.
‘It was nice.’
‘May I?’
‘Sure.’
She sits beside me and we watch twilight fall over the city.
‘How’s the new house?’
‘Quiet. I love it.’
‘And the darkroom?’
I turn on the chair. ‘It’s great. I’ve got a full chemical bath in there now.’
‘No way!’
‘Upgrade from vitamin-C tablets.’
She plays with the necklace. Inside, orders are being taken for food. ‘I should get in there, before…’
‘Before they see I’m here.’
I sigh. ‘You could come in. They don’t blame you for what happened. You know that, right? Nanny Bet feels like it’s her fault too.’
‘I’m not ready,’ she says.
‘OK, sorry.’
‘You apologise way too much.’
‘OK, Queen of the Dicks.’
She laughs. ‘At least say it in Irish.’
‘I’m trying, but Duolingo hasn’t covered dicks yet.’
‘She’s such a prude.’
I pull her into a hug. ‘It’s going to be OK, you know.’
She squeezes me tight. ‘I know, thank you.’
I look back towards the kitchen. ‘Been working on anything cool?’
She beams. ‘I’m doing a painting of the Belfast Suffragettes. Last Sunday I saw the thirteen that were arrested in 1914.’
‘No way!’
She nods. ‘What about you?’
