‘We could do with more places opening along this coast,’ said one man. ‘Too many closing every year. It’s a good thing, what she’s about. Cannae see why anyone would ha’ a problem wi’ it.’

Douglas McKean himself was as angry as Anna had ever seen him. ‘Taking our property,’ he spat. ‘Should be ashamed to show her face.’ The report finished with the revelation that Anna – and Bren before her – had most definitely acquired the bothy legally, and owed nothing to the furious old man.

‘You came across really well, hen,’ Rhona told her, when she called later that evening, something she’d done every day since she’d learned of the pregnancy, which touched Anna more than she could say. ‘You don’t need to worry.’

‘I’m not anymore,’ Anna said. ‘It was nice to hear a few locals I don’t know speaking in my favour. Made me think there might be more out there.’

‘There are,’ Rhona assured her. ‘So stick to listening to those voices, not the negative ones.’

‘Did you hear Douglas McKean?’ Anna asked.

‘Ach, that old fool doesn’t know how to talk sense, never has,’ Rhona said. ‘You’ve got better things to think about. Don’t give him the time of day. By the way, I bumped into Phil and Marie in the Co-Op a few days ago. Phil’s still banging on about you taking the Inn.’

‘He says the same to me every time I see him,’ Anna said. ‘He might change his tune if he knew the chef was going to be out of action for a few months with a new baby.’

‘Nah, of course he wouldn’t,’ Rhona said. ‘That place would need a ton of doing up before you could open. Bairn could be crawling by the time it was ready.’

Anna leaned over the kitchen sink to look out of the window. There was a dark smudge on the horizon, pressing down over the unsettled sea. Another storm spinning towards the coast.

‘I’d still have to raise the money,’ she pointed out. ‘My savings are going to be eaten up pretty quickly in the next few months.’

‘Have you started buying baby stuff yet?’

‘No, I don’t want to until after the scan next week. Besides, I haven’t had time, to be honest.’ She didn’t add that surely there was no point until she had somewhere permanent to live. Someplace that might actually be practical to raise a child in. Someplace that wasn’t Crovie. Anna had the feeling that would upset Rhona, who, along with everyone else, seemed to have forgotten that Anna intended to leave, and soon. ‘On top of that, I hate the thought of Pat and Frank seeing something that lets on before I’ve told them.’

‘Ach, they’d understand. Do you want me to come with you for the scan?’ Rhona asked. ‘I’m happy to.’