Liam drove her back to Crovie and lit her a fire before leaving her curled up on the sofa beneath a blanket. Anna lay in the warm, one hand against her belly, thinking over everything that had happened. Most of all, she found herself thinking of Robert MacKenzie. After the night that she’d looked after Young Robbie, she’d pulled back, and Robert had done the same. There had been no more invitations to join dolphin patrol. She wondered whether this was because they hadn’t been out as much because of the storms, or if it had more to do with a deliberate withdrawal on the part of the elder MacKenzie in the wake of her obvious discomfort that night. He must have known how busy she was – Anna was sure there was no one on this coast who didn’t know about the flurry of activity that had overtaken sleepy Crovie thanks to her. But he hadn’t called, except for that one time to thank her for making meals for Douglas McKean. She hadn’t called him, either, of course. Why would she?

Anna wondered what he would think when he found out about the baby. Something in her became unsettled as she thought of how that conversation would go. Would he be awkward? Would she? She thought back to that afternoon of harvesting razor clams together, back to that carefree day they’d had on Fraser and Emma’s boat. She realized, not for the first time, but with a sense that the knowledge meant more than she had previously thought, that she missed him. She missed them.

There was a knock at the door.

‘Come in,’ Anna called, unearthing herself from the blankets. She expected it to be Pat or Frank checking on her, but as she stood up she found herself looking at Robert MacKenzie, and had to take a sudden breath around the skipped beat of her heart.

In his hands he was carrying the plates she’d used for Douglas McKean’s dinner the day before. It seemed months ago now, not twenty-four hours. Robert smiled as he saw her.

‘Hey,’ he said softly. ‘Long time no see.’

‘How’s Robbie?’

‘He’s fine,’ he said. ‘Thanks to you. I left him with Barbara. I don’t think she’ll ever let him out of her sight again. I didn’t want to let him out of mine, either, but I had to come over to check on Douglas and see the new damage to the house. Last night’s storm caused another slip.’ Robert shook his head. ‘Anna, seeing it like that and knowing what you did – for Robbie, for me… What you risked in going down that cliff. I can’t—’

‘Please. It was nothing,’ she said, cutting him off. ‘Anyone would have done the same. I’m just glad he’s safe.’