Try as she might, she couldn’t stop her mind going back over the freaky sensation in the Brown’s staff bathroom. The voice had sounded so real. She could have sworn Gran had been standing right there next to her. Now that the initial shock had worn off, a tightness began to squeeze around her chest. It was so hard to imagine life without her grandmother. Already it seemed strange not to have stopped in at the nursing home for the past two weeks. Gran hadn’t been happy about being admitted for short-term care after her fall, and who could blame her? She’d always been so fiercely independent, holding out doggedly to remain in her own home, and so Elle had visited her there as often as she could.

Elle’s return from university had disappointed her parents, but it had coincided nicely with their growing concern over Gran’s ability to stay in her house alone. Elle had happily agreed to move in and take over the cleaning and provide company—it was certainly no hardship considering Gran had always been her favourite person in the world. And not living under her parents’ roof meant Elle hadn’t feel quite so pathetic about moving back home.

She pulled up in the driveway of Gran’s house now and let out a small sigh. She had always loved this house, with its square cottage look and wrap-around verandahs. It held so many of her favourite childhood memories—sleepovers with Pa and Gran, school-holiday fun playing with the hose in the garden with her siblings, baking side by side with Gran in the kitchen, and coming here after school every day when her parents were both working. There were memories etched in every nook and cranny of the place.

It had been special to Gran too. She and Pa had bought the house as newlyweds and had raised Elle’s father here. The garden especially had been Gran’s pride and joy; the abundance of colour and scents always made her smile. A cobbled path led from the front gate to the steps up to the verandah, and on either side grew daisies and delphiniums with their tall, regal spires of purple, blue and pink, along with foxglove, hollyhock and fragrant lavender bushes.

Elle had spent many hours in the garden with Gran, reading or chatting, and later, when Gran could no longer manage it, weeding and listening to Gran’s stories and making plans for the big Scottish adventure they had talked about ever since Elle had moved home.