Chapter Seventy
Flora sat at the sewing machine, her fingers smoothly guiding the material beneath the needle.
The steady hum of the machine filled the room, but her mind was elsewhere as she thought about Brodie and the way he always looked at her, as though she was the only person in the world.
Pausing her foot on the pedal for a moment, she checked her work so far.
She was running up a pair of curtains for Gillian’s daughter’s bedroom in a bright, vibrant yellow fabric.
Hopefully, she would have these finished today so she could drop them off tomorrow and she’d already planned to offer to hang them in Millie’s bedroom.
She’d heard the front door close earlier, when her gran came in from the garden and she wondered what she was doing now. It all sounded very quiet downstairs. There wasn’t even a sound from the parrots.
‘Flora, dearie.’
Flora removed her foot from the pedal and watched as the needle slowed down and stopped. ‘Just coming, Gran.’ Flora carefully lifted the fabric and set it aside. She headed downstairs and into the conservatory where her gran stood gazing out the window.
‘Is everything okay?’ asked Flora lightly.
Iris turned round, her lips trembling as she spoke. ‘She wants to meet me,’ she whispered. ‘Iona wants to meet me.’
‘Gran, that’s great news,’ said Flora, looking at the happiness in her gran’s eyes and giving her a hug. ‘When?’
‘Soon, I hope.’ Iris now rubbed her hands together nervously. ‘We need to do it via the adoption charity. And she’s forgiven me for not looking for her when I found out about her. She’s not angry with me. She wants to see me.’
‘I’m so pleased, Gran. That’s wonderful.’
‘It’s the moment I’ve been hoping for and dreaming of, Flora.’ Iris closed her eyes, as though she was allowing the weight of those words to settle.
‘Do you want me to come with you?’
‘I would love it if you could be around. Just in case. I mean, I don’t know where we will meet or how it will be . . .’
Flora smiled, trying her best to reassure her gran. ‘Of course, I’ll be there.’
‘Oh, how I’ve longed for this moment. I can’t wait, Flora.’
She slid an arm around her gran’s waist. ‘This is the best news, Gran, and a new chapter for you.’
Iris chuckled softly. ‘For us both, dear. For us both. The loch has worked its wonders on you, Flora. When you arrived here you were a shadow of yourself. Now, you glow.’
Flora gave her gran a squeeze. ‘I have fallen for this place.’ It was too early to share the, perhaps crazy, idea she’d had about potentially building a studio in a corner of her gran’s garden.
Her gran looked at her knowingly. ‘Fallen? Just Rowan Bay, dearie? Or for Brodie too?’
Flora didn’t reply but just smiled at her gran who was, as always, right.