Page 76 of The Midnight Secret

‘I have left him, not because I do not love him. I do and I always will – but he cannot leave Oban and it was no longer safe for me to remain there. The neighbours harass me daily, believing themselves to be defending Mary. I would have tolerated it, as I have these months past, but it would get worse in the coming months, once they realized...and I will not lose another baby.’

She pressed a hand to her belly as another collective gasp whistled around the packed room. Her mother staggered backwards, her father catching her with strong hands.

‘You’re with child?’ Christina MacQueen cried.

Mhairi tried not to show her fear at their startled response. It was just as she had anticipated. She took a sharp intake of breath, steeling herself. ‘...If you cannot bear the shame of me coming back here, I understand. I’ll go somewhere new and tell them I am a widow. I know I do not deserve to be happy. But my baby does.’

She stared into the room, her chin held high as she looked for the horror in their eyes. Her mother was openly weepingnow. Christina too. Her father’s eyes were red-rimmed, though he could not look at her. At some point, Norman and Jayne and Old Fin had come into the room, and Mhairi caught the look of sympathy in Jayne’s soft brown eyes. She knew what it was to be on the outside.

Mhairi looked at David, who was ashen and stunned that she had confessed every last secret.

For several moments no one stirred.

‘It’d be a scandal,’ Old Fin muttered, shaking his head. ‘It’s bad enough already with some of the rumours flying about us.’

‘Aye,’ Norman sneered, his arms folded across his chest.

‘What rumours? Who?’ Archie MacQueen asked.

But the old man would not be drawn, clamping his thin lips together with a furious look. Murmurs erupted, the veneer of composure breaking down as everyone began to stir from their silence.

Effie spoke up first. ‘I’ll stand by you, Mhairi,’ she said staunchly. She was used to being talked about too.

‘Me too,’ David nodded, but dissenting noises rose up, subsuming them both.

‘A disgrace!’ someone cried from the back.

‘We’d be dishonoured,’ Old Fin muttered again.

‘Oh? And who here can cast the first stone?’ Ma Peg demanded, getting suddenly to her feet and quelling them all into a hush again. ‘Not you, Fin. I’m the only person in here old enough to remember you as a youth – and you were lucky, not good!’

Mhairi startled at the unexpected comment, others too, looking back at the elder with surprise.

‘Aye,’ Mad Annie chimed in. ‘I’ve a long memory too, and I know which wedding dates and birth dates got smudgedin the register.’ She gave a narrow-eyed look. ‘For what else was there to do?’

Still there were shakes of heads, but Annie was never one to be denied.

‘And are y’ so short-sighted y’ don’t remember poor Kitty’s fate, dashing herself upon the rocks for fear of the shame? Is that what you want for her?’ She waved towards Mhairi, who well remembered what had happened to Flora’s cousin Kitty. ‘You’d rather see herdead?’

At the question Rachel rushed forward, throwing her arms around her daughter so fiercely that Mhairi didn’t have time to lift her arms as she was caught in a tight embrace. Was this really happening? Her mother pulled back and looked into her eyes. Mhairi saw no anger there, only sorrow. She had been braced for the slap; she didn’t anticipate the hand upon her belly.

Everyone fell silent.

‘...My baby’s going to have a baby?’ her mother whispered.

Mhairi nodded, feeling her tears run again. ‘Aye, Ma.’

Rachel lifted her hands and clasped Mhairi’s face. ‘...Then we’ll get to do it together this time. You and me, my girl, the way it should be.’

Chapter Twenty-One

FLORA

8 January 1931

Quebec City, Canada

They walked through the lobby holding hands. It was a bright, beautiful morning, sunlight falling through the window in deep, dazzling shafts onto the oak floor, James and Flora’s steps as light as if they were partially suspended on wires.

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