‘To Inverness,’ Moira said, frowning. ‘We didn’t know where you were. Then Reverend Tulmore came and got Father to take him to the hospital. You’d lost so much blood. They thought you wouldn’t make it … and the babe …’ Moira squeezed her eyes shut tightly and shook her head slowly. ‘That poor wee soul.’

Oh my God … Gran, what happened to you?

‘Father was so distraught …’

Moira’s voice wavered, and Elle almost held her breath as she listened to the story being dragged out piece by disjointed piece.

I never wanted to hurt my family, Gran said, sounding distressed. I wanted to keep my baby.

Your baby? Dad? Elle asked, confused. Then she remembered that Moira was talking about Iona when she was only fifteen …

You lost a baby when you were fifteen? Elle felt a heaviness in her heart as the truth settled sickly inside. You had an abortion? She said as it finally dawned on her what Moira was saying. All on your own? Elle couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrifying the ordeal must have been.

‘The whole town was talking,’ Moira said. ‘Father had no choice but to leave. You have no idea how much I missed him.’ She placed a frail hand over her mouth as her lips trembled. ‘I lost you both.’

It wasn’t my fault, Gran protested weakly. I begged her to let me stay here with her, but she wouldn’t.

‘Why wouldn’t you let Iona stay?’

Moira continued talking as though she still thought Elle was Iona. ‘I wished I’d not spoken so harshly to you before you left. That I’d maybe tried a little harder to convince Hamish to take you in. But it wouldn’t have been any use. You wouldn’t have had a happy life here if you’d stayed. All that talk … everyone knew what had happened. No, it was best that you went somewhere and made a fresh start.’

She didn’t try at all. Reverend Tulmore had scared everyone half to death, Gran said in a scathing tone that Elle had rarely heard.

Who was Reverend Tulmore? Elle asked.

Our minister. We were devout Christians—our dad, especially so, after our mother’s death. The church had a lot more influence back then, and the Reverend was a malicious man. When I was found unconscious, with only a train stub in my pocket from Portsoy, the hospital called the Reverend to see if he could help identify me. He did. He even went on to make an example of me, and gave a sermon about the evils of the flesh as a warning to other young girls.