Elle climbed out of the car and walked through a small gate into a stunning garden and lawn, along a simple gravel path that took her to the front entrance. Before she was halfway up the path, the front door opened and a woman about her mother’s age came out, smiling with her arms wide. Her short grey hair was cut to frame her cheerful face and shaped to taper in at the base of her neck. She was dressed in a cardigan and jeans and wore a pair of fluffy slippers.

‘You must be Elspeth,’ the woman said in a thick Scottish brogue.

‘Yes, I am, but please call me Elle,’ she said, smiling, before a gasp of surprise squeaked from her as she was pulled into a tight hug.

‘Ah, it’s so good to finally meet you. I’m Alice, your, well … let’s see, your granny was my mum’s sister, so your father’s my cousin and you’d be my second cousin?’

‘Or something like that,’ Elle chuckled.

The woman shook her head as she looked at Elle. ‘You look so much like the photos of your gran when she was younger, bless her soul. We were so sad to hear of her passing. It hit my mother something fierce.’

Elle kept smiling but was instantly worried for her gran. There were sure to be more than a few painful memories shared, and she wasn’t sure if Gran was prepared to hear them.

‘Oh, now look at me, standing here yabbering on! Let’s get you inside, you must be tired from your long trip.’

Elle didn’t get time to reply before she was whisked inside and into a front parlour where a small group were seated on lounge chairs scattered around the room.

‘Elspeth, these are my daughters, Grace and Aila. My husband, Peter, and my mother, Moira.’ Elle smiled as she moved into the room and was greeted by the welcome party.

Alice’s daughters seemed to be around the same age as Elle, both quite tall, with auburn hair. Elle found herself staring; it was like looking in a slightly blurred mirror. Their hair was darker, a reddish brown, as opposed to Elle’s distinctive copper colour, but they had the same long, curly locks and the freckles she had always cursed. Grace had an understated elegance about her, while her sister, Aila, seemed more outgoing, dressed in a long skirt, long-sleeved roll-neck top and some awesome chunky Doc Martin boots.

Grace, the elder of the two, had a small child on her lap and as she moved the little girl to her other knee, Elle noticed a large baby bump. The child peered shyly up at Elle with big dark eyes. ‘This is Maisie,’ Grace said.

‘Hello,’ Elle said, smiling at the little girl, who snuggled in closer to her mother.