‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ Elle said, hugging them both tightly again. ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘Come in out of the hallway,’ Alice said, breaking up the reunion and wiping her own eyes.

Once they were in the living room, Elle introduced Alice to her parents and watched as Alice grabbed her father in one of her famously warm, engulfing hugs.

‘We can’t thank you enough, Alice, for looking out for Elle while she’s been over here,’ Caroline said, holding the other woman’s hand in between both of her own.

‘It’s been a pleasure to get to know her, all of you, in fact. We’ve been so excited for you to get here.’

‘It was very last minute,’ her mother apologised and Elle bit back a grin at how funny it was for her obsessively organised mother to have decided to spontaneously jump on a plane to Scotland. But as the afternoon wore on and melted into early evening, Caroline and Alister relaxed into their new surroundings, and the front door continued to open and close as more family arrived.

Elle grinned as she hugged her cousin Aila, and was grateful for the friendship they had forged over the past few weeks. It was strange to think they had only known each other for a short while; she felt as though they had been close their whole lives.

Seated later with Aila and Grace, the girls caught up on everything that had been happening while she’d been away.

‘I can’t wait to see your new drawings,’ Grace said, rubbing a hand over her now enormous belly. ‘Aila said you’d been doing a lot while you were away. The ones you mailed came up a treat.’

Elle mentally skimmed through her sketchpad and hesitated before answering. She had sketched more in the past few weeks than ever before, but there were a lot of drawings that were far too personal to sell. ‘I’ve been doing a bit. I’m sure we can find one or two you can have, but some of them are … special.’

Her older cousin eyed her with a small smile. ‘Aye, sometimes it’s just good therapy.’

‘How are you and baby doing?’ Elle asked, feeling a little too raw yet to open up to her cousins about her time away.

‘Fine. I’m more than ready to meet this wee one, though. Another three weeks to go.’

‘She should be at home resting, but she’s too stubborn to listen to anyone,’ Aila put in, coming back with a piece of cake.

‘The shop’s busier than ever,’ Grace said with a shrug. ‘Someone had a great idea to put us online,’ she added, looking directly at her sister.

‘It was a great idea,’ Aila said with a wide grin, before putting a forkful of cake in her mouth.