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CHAPTER ONE

‘LOOK, MUMMY, THAT’S our island!’

Isla was bouncing up and down and pointing through the ship’s railings Ges at her feet and rested her elbows on the railings ‘Yes,’ she said quietly, ‘it is’

The ship gave another shudder as it moved away from Ardrossan Harbour and out into the Firth of Clyde Arran looked so close she could almost reach out and touch it But, then, it had looked that way the whole ti the Ayrshire coast

Her stoave a little flip—and it wasn’t from the choppy waters Her hand settled on Isla’s shoulder next to her little red curls—the only permanent reminder of her father This would be better This would be safer for them both

A chance for a new start A chance for some down time

A chance toabout her past and wouldn’t stand in judge area had been just too sone soone to ether, or been on a course with one of thehbour The list was endless

As were the whispers The bad surrogate The woman who’d made the papers when she’d ‘stolen’ another couple’s baby Not strictly true But true enough that it had caused her a world of pain, a court case and five years of sleepless nights

But noas finally over Now she could finally move on

Now, in accordance with the law, Isla was officially hers

She stared out across the water Arran Twentyand ten miles across A population of ten thousand that swelled to twenty thousand over the summer holidays

It was perfect Even down to the cottage she’d purchased over the internet for her and Isla to stay in Two days’ work as a paediatrician all year long and one day’s work as a GP over the busy suency shift in the island hospital, would be h

So to a place she’d only ever visited on su up a new job with some extra part-time hours when she hadn’t even sorted out her childcare for Isla yet

That didconversations with the head of the GP practice and he’d assured her he had a few people in mind he could vouch for to help with Isla’s care

Tiust And although properties on the island could be expensive, the sale of her flat in Glasgow had given her a healthy profit She didn’t need a big inco to be a h to keep her and Isla comfortable

‘Muain?’

The brisk sea hipping their hair around their faces The sun was shining brightly but the as cutting straight through the thin material of her summer dress Maybe she’d been a little over-opti It was always the salimmer of sunshine and the entire nation pulled out their suot to wear the to drink We can look at the pictures again then’

They settled in with tea, orange juice and two crumpets with ja for the hundredth ti down the paper over the pictures ‘My roo to be yellow, isn’t it, Mummy? It will be so-o-o beautiful’

She had that little wistful tone in her voice, with the s

lightly dreae to it Isla hadn’t wanted toschool without her nursery friends had caused her lots of sleepless nights It had almost been a relief when she’d started to romanticise about their new house and her new bedroom—all set on a Scottish island

The extra expense of buying her a whole new range of bedroo her pick her own curtains and bedding, had been worth every penny

Geed with a local contractor to paint the inside of her house before they arrived The reht the earlier ferry Hopefully, by the tis would have been unpacked and the new carpet she’d bought for the living room would be in place

She was trying not to concentrate on the fact that the contractor hadn’t answered her emails or phone calls for the last few days She’d had h to think about He was probably busy—busy in her new house,it ready for their arrival At least, she hoped he was

The ferry journey was sh Thankfully Isla hardly seemed to notice the occasional wave swell and Gemma finally started to relax

Isla had started to draw a picture with her crayons ‘Look, Mummy, here we are on our new island’

Ge to a third figure in the drawing

‘That’s your new boyfriend’

Her tea splattered all over the table and halfway down her chin ‘What?’ She grabbed napkins and mopped furiously

Isla gave her the glance of a worldly eighty-year-old instead of an innocent five-year-old child ‘We ht be able to find you a boyfriend on the island, Muow’

There was so much innocence in her words Isla had never, ever mentioned Gemma’s lack of a boyfriend before It had never been an issue Never coht ‘Taht Tammy a laptop and took her to the transport museum’

Ah She was starting to understand Understand in little-girl terms

‘I think they ht all be taken Arran’s quite a small island And Mu a new job and we need to visit your new school’ She ruffled Isla’s red curls ‘Anyway, you’refor a laptop’

Isla shook her head, her little face instantly serious ‘I think I o to school I don’t want to be the only person without one, Mummy’

Her blue eyes were completely sincere If it had been anyone else in the world Ge played But she already knew that her five-year-old had concerns aboutin at a new school Sometimes she felt Isla was too old for her years

Geow hadn’t exactly been the most sociable area for kids Isla really only had her friends to play with at nursery, and then again on the odd occasion she’d been invited to a party Juggling full-tile parenthood wasn’t easy

And that had been part of the probleet away to a different style of life for her and her daughter Being a full-time paediatrician in a busy city was frantic Particularly when a sick kid caoodness for an understanding childminder But even she’d had her li

She gave Isla a sot some lovely computers there I’m sure the teachers will let you work on them’

Her phone buzzed in her pocket once, then went silent again Weren’t they still in the middle of the Firth of Clyde? Apparently not She turned her head They looked only moments from the island She pulled her phone fronal had vanished This was supposed to be the best network for the island but it looked as though the coverage wasn’t as good as she’d been promised