‘No, you stay here, take a seat, the girls will give me a hand,’ Alice said, waving her over to a chair near Moira.

The room went rather quiet once Alice and the other two left, and Elle smiled a little nervously across at Peter, Alice’s husband, who until now had sat quietly in the corner of the room.

‘How’d you find the trip?’ he asked.

‘Oh, great. I followed the coast for most of it, then went inland. We … I wanted to see as much as I could.’

‘Aye, it’s a bonnie drive up the coast,’ he nodded. ‘Finding it all right to drive over here?’ he asked.

‘I am. Thank goodness.’ She smiled. ‘It helps that we both drive on the same side of the road.’

‘Not like those Americans,’ Peter said with a slight grumble.

‘It would certainly be tricky remembering which side of the road to use,’ she said, more for conversation than the sake of argument.

‘It’s good to see you again, Iona,’ Moira’s soft voice floated across the room and Elle looked up swiftly, before realising the woman was talking to her.

She swapped a quick glance with Peter, who gave a small smile and slight shake of his head.

‘I’ve missed you,’ the older woman continued. ‘After all these years …’ Her voiced faded away momentarily. ‘I regret that I didn’t stand up to Hamish and Father. I should have let you stay, sister,’ she said, so softly that Elle only barely made out the words. Before she could reply Alice bustled back into the room and the moment was gone with a clink of crockery and rattle of bone-china tea cups.

‘So, what do you do back home?’ Aila asked as Elle took her cup and helped herself to a biscuit.

‘I work in a supermarket.’ Elle shrugged. ‘At least I did until I recently got put off,’ she added, before realising she probably shouldn’t have started the conversation with the fact she was unemployed. ‘What about you?’

‘Grace and I have a shop in town. Giftware and the like,’ Aila said before taking a bite of her biscuit.

‘Oh wow,’ Elle enthused. ‘That’s impressive.’ She couldn’t imagine being in business with her sister. They would have killed each other by morning tea on the first day. ‘How long have you had the shop?’

‘Going on two years now,’ Grace answered, handing her daughter a treat before reaching for the cup her mother had prepared for her. ‘You must pop in and visit when you’re in town. We’re on the main street—you can’t miss us.’

‘I’d love to,’ Elle replied, then nodded towards Grace’s round belly. ‘You look like you’re going to have your hands full.’

Grace rolled her eyes and grinned. ‘Tell me about it. It’s been a godsend being my own boss during this pregnancy, though, I can tell you.’