One Hundred Names (Special Edition)

the middle of the road, blocking off most of it, not that there was any traffic to stop. Its headlights were on full and the engine was running with the windows down. The headlights were pointing directly into the old ballroom, the doors had been opened up, the smell of must and damp drifted out from the abandoned barn, which had been the setting for so many of Birdie’s dance nights.
    Dancing in the shadows was Birdie, her eyes closed, her chin lifted to the sky as she twirled round and round, her arms in the air as if dancing with an invisible dance partner to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’.
    Eva was sitting behind the wheel of the bus, holding the bus’s microphone to the speaker of the CD player, and standing beside the headlights of the bus were Edward and Molly.
    Kitty was entranced by the scene before her. Leaving Mary-Rose, who was equally enchanted, she climbed aboard the bus.
    ‘You did this?’ Kitty asked Eva.
    ‘She told me she and Jamie used to break in and dance here at night. This was their favourite song. It’s a late birthday present,’ she said, her eyes filling as she watched Birdie dancing alone in the old ballroom.
    As they were watching Birdie dancing alone, Kitty noticed Molly and Edward in the darkness holding each other close as they slowly circled to the music. Kitty believed she had just witnessed Eva’s magic.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
    The next morning, the mood was visibly lifted from the night before. Despite Mary-Rose and Sam not sitting near each other at breakfast, Ambrose and Eugene seemed to be cosy, and Ambrose even shared a few words with Regina, though she would barely look at anybody else. Archie and Regina had shared a room too and their closeness and secret looks the next day were obvious for all to see. Kitty felt a little more awkward around Steve than usual, though, and was battling with how to act around him after their conversation had been interrupted last night, though it was easily covered up by the excitement for Achar and Jedrek’s big moment.
    They made sure to eat a healthy breakfast and got plenty of morale-boosting from Archie, who no doubt was still following his plan to help those whose prayers he heard. Kitty didn’t have his ‘gift’ but she could guess what Achar and Jedrek’s prayers were that morning. Steve and Sam were in serious conversation over breakfast, a conversation they continued as soon as they sat beside each other on the bus, and Kitty would have given anything to hear what they were saying. She would have joined in had she not suddenly been at a loss as to how to behave around Steve. Birdie, despite not receiving her money, was in high spirits after her trip down memory lane and her memorable birthday, thanks to Eva, and she was still very much lost in her own mind, falling in and out of conversation as her mind flitted in and out of now and then.
    As they were all boarding the bus, the young O’Hara came running out of the bookies with a large envelope in his hand.
    ‘Bridget!’ he called. ‘Bridget Murphy!’
    Birdie paused from stepping onto the bus and turned to him. Edward quickly came to her side and Kitty had no intentions of being anywhere but.
    ‘I’m glad I caught you. I had a lot of convincing to do this morning,’ he said, red-faced and panting. ‘I’m very sorry about yesterday. My grandmother, she can be … well, she can hold on to some things. Her family loyalty is what we love about her but often it’s her downfall. But I have loyalty too, to my great-grandfather. I know he was as tight as they come, not the most generous man in the world, but he had a great respect for his business and he was a man of his word. If he placed this bet with you, he would like to see you get the winnings. I hope that you’ll accept this money, your winnings, with my greatest respect.’
    Birdie looked at him shocked.
    ‘I was very close to my grandfather Jamie. He spoke about you often,’ he said.
    Touched, Birdie held her hands to her mouth, then to his cheeks. He reddened even further. ‘You’re so like him, that when I saw you yesterday, for a moment I thought …’
    ‘They say there’s a great family resemblance,’ he said, cheeks still blazing.
    ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘God be good to you.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Edward said.
    Kitty helped Birdie on the bus and when they saw the envelope in her hand they all cheered and the celebratory mood was back on