She’d wondered briefly if she should reach out and tell her that she was pregnant, but she’d dismissed the thought right away. What was the point? And in the unlikely event that her mother was interested, would Nicole want her anywhere near her child? No, she would not.

She thought of Milly’s words.

You can choose what type of mother you want to be.

When Nicole had said she wanted to be like Milly, it was true.

She wanted to be the sort of mother who sat down and listened and laughed with her child no matter how busy she was. The sort of mother who was hands-on, who didn’t ration hugs, who loved unconditionally.

She wasn’t going to think about her relationship with her own mother. She was going to think about Milly’s relationship with Zoe, and Connie’s relationship with Milly. She was surrounded by good role models. There was no reason why she should emulate the bad one, even if it was the one closest to home.

And she was going to prove Justin wrong.

Chapter 14Milly

Milly tapped on the door of Brendan’s cabin, and when there was no answer she let herself in.

She dropped the bag of fresh linen in the hallway and took the bag of food straight through to the kitchen, noticing as she did so that most of the sheets of paper had been cleared from the floor.

She was unloading food into the fridge when she heard a noise behind her.

Heart thumping she turned, a fresh melon in her hand.

Brendan Scott stood in the doorway, his hair wet from the shower, a towel looped around his neck. He wore a pair of shorts and had a clean shirt in his hand. His chest was bare, water still clinging to his shoulders and his bare legs.

He raised an eyebrow. “Death by melon? That’s a new one.”

She lowered the melon. “You scared me.”

“Sorry. I should have called out from the bathroom, but you didn’t strike me as the jumpy type.”

She’d never been the jumpy type, but that was before Nicole had come to stay with her. Now she was suffering from hyper-vigilance. Yesterday she’d found herself checking the bushes for photographers when she left the house, and she’d insisted that Zoe walk to the main entrance of Forest Nest to meet her dad so that there was no chance Richard might catch sight of Nicole.

The fewer people who knew she was there, the better.

“I had no idea you were here.” And now she was flustered. “Did I get the time wrong? I thought you told me you’d be out this morning.”