But as she looked at the frail old woman in the recliner opposite her now, some of the fire went out. It was so long ago, and time had all but erased the horrific event from local memory, not to mention from the family. It was obvious this had become a dirty secret everyone had chosen to bury, and yet Elle couldn’t help but feel angry.

I don’t want to see her suffering like this, Gran said sadly. It all happened far too long ago. Tell her I was happy, Elspeth. Put her out of her misery.

‘I had a wonderful life,’ Elle said, holding Moira’s pale, watery gaze. ‘I found a man who adored me, and I had a family who loved and cherished me every day.’ Elle’s throat tightened as she fought to hold back her tears. She’d done what Gran had asked, but she refused to let go of her anger completely, adding with a touch of steel to her tone, ‘Leaving was the best thing I ever did.’

Moira nodded slowly and leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes.

‘Here we are, then,’ Alice said, coming back into the room with a tray. ‘Oh. Mum’s asleep,’ she added with a small sigh. ‘She must have had a big morning.’ Alice smiled at Elle, setting the tray of food on the table. ‘Never mind, I’ll heat her soup back up when she wakes again, and we’ll have ours.’ She placed a bowl of soup in front of Elle. Although it smelled delicious, Elle had lost her appetite. Her thoughts were still on the terrible tale Moira had told her. Poor, poor Gran. She forced herself to eat, though, grateful that Alice had gone to the trouble to make her lunch, but she only listened to the conversation with half an ear as she pondered everything she had just learned. Now, finally, things were beginning to make sense.

For one, she knew that Gran had suffered ongoing medical problems and had a hysterectomy shortly after she gave birth to Alister, putting an end to her hopes of having any more children. She knew through snippets of conversation over the years that it had taken a long time for her grandparents to have her father, making them a lot older than most of their generation to bear children, and Gran had a number of miscarriages before finally being able to deliver a healthy baby. To Elle it seemed likely that the abortion in Gran’s younger years had caused lasting damage. She wondered if Gran had ever told Pa about it? She suspected she hadn’t, considering how hard it had been to get to the truth even now.

Elle was still angry at the woman sleeping so soundly across the room. Maybe it was because she was the only one of that generation left to take her anger out on, and maybe it wasn’t fair, but Elle couldn’t help how she felt. How could Moira and the rest of the family stand by and allow people to crucify a young girl—their own daughter and sister?