‘I thought the past was exactly why we were here,’ Elle countered, her eyes still closed. ‘You want to go back to Stormeil, and it hasn’t existed for hundreds of years.’

That’s different.

‘Maybe I can help make it right.’ She waited, but there was no reply. Gran’s ability to come and go as she pleased was proving quite annoying, to say the least. Opening her eyes, Elle glanced at the clock and realised she had to get moving. The family mystery would have to wait for now, but she wasn’t going to let it go without a fight.

There was a distinct nip in the air as Elle walked the few minutes down the road for dinner with her family. She breathed deeply and filled her lungs with the clean autumn scents around her and felt a strangely peaceful sensation settle within her. She couldn’t wait to explore the seaside town tomorrow.

Alice welcomed her as profusely as the first time they met, and Elle felt instantly at home as she was again ushered into the sitting room.

‘Ma was a bit tired from today’s excitement, so I gave her dinner early and put her to bed,’ Alice said, before introducing Elle to some new faces. There was Grace’s husband, Tyler, who was tall and lean and quiet, and another of her father’s cousins, Eunice, and her husband, Ted, who had travelled from nearby Cullen. Peter and Ted had both been fishermen before they retired and had similar burly builds and friendly, outgoing natures. Tyler, on the other hand, seemed more reserved, and Elle learned that he was a professor at the University of Aberdeen.

Elle nervously handed over the souvenir gifts she had brought from Sydney and was relieved when no one seemed overly offended by anything; though she wished she’d found somewhere to buy a bottle of wine to share. No one seemed at all worried that she hadn’t contributed to the dinner, though, and as they squeezed in extra chairs around the dining table, Elle’s eyes widened at the amount of food being brought out. Glasses were filled and Peter made a toast welcoming Elle to the family.

‘Slàinte mhath,’ he said, raising his glass, and memories of hearing Gran say slan-ge-var at Christmas filled her with a bittersweet warmth.

‘This looks amazing,’ Elle said, eyeing the dishes. Only some of them looked familiar, but whatever they were, they smelled divine.