Chapter 1

“And here are your keys, Mrs Bellemore. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Sorry? Oh, yes, the keys… Erm, no, thank you. This should be all!”, Brenna replied to the estate agent, as she turned away from the kitchen widow she had just been gazing out of and reached for the large bunch of keys the estate agent was holding out towards her.

“Right. OK, then, …” the estate agent rambled, as he stalled for time, then quickly placed a business card on the old, oak farm table in the middle of the room, “I will leave my card with you. Please feel free to contact me on this number if you think of anything I might be able to assist you with! Anytime! It can feel very isolated out here, if you are not used to it and well, if you need anything…”.

“I appreciate that, but I am sure all will be fine. Thank you, Mr O’Neill.” Brenna kindly, but firmly interrupted him.

“Oh, please, call me Douglas!” he swiftly replied.

“Thank you.” Brenna repeated, persistently ushering the estate agent into the porch and opening the front door, while the dry hinges groaned under the weight of the big, old, black door.

“Well, erm, goodbye and welcome to your new home, Mrs Bellemore!” Douglas O’Neill continued talking looking back at her, as he walked down the two stone steps outside the door and nearly stumbled over his own feet.

Nodding with a brief smile, Brenna waved goodbye, before swiftly pushing the huge door shut again with both hands, pausing in a sigh of relief with the sound of the latch engaging in the door frame.

The combination of her long, dark brown hair, her dark green eyes, which depending on the light could vary from a bright green to a light brown, her slim but yet curvy figure and her porcelain white skin often attracted a lot of male attention. However, it was something about her energy which made almost anyone in her presence feel special. People seemed drawn to her. Although she had got used to other’s reactions towards her over the years, she was a rather solitary character and today she definitely felt too tired to deal with any of that.

After taking a moment, Brenna walked back into the kitchen. Through the slightly grey net curtains, which had obviously not been touched or washed in a long time and were still in place from the previous owner of the house, she watched the estate agent walk to his car and drive away along the property’s long, gravelled driveway and out onto the winding country road, which sleepily swept its way through the surrounding fields and towards the distant hills.

The house was a large, stone, farmhouse, which had clearly seen better days. It was set on a little hill in an estate stretching out over several acres of fields, meadows and orchards which seemed to roll out towards the hills, the views only interrupted by tall pine trees surrounding the buildings. It was obvious this had at some point been a much loved and cared for home to someone and even though the general maintenance of the property had been taken care of over the years, it was clear that for some reason it had been left empty and lifeless for the past few decades.

Brenna closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath of air, while running both hands through her hair and moving it out of her face. It had been a very long day and Brenna’s eyes felt dry from the long journey and she was tired.

“Mum?!”

She opened her eyes and walked across the kitchen, following the call of the voice and opened the door into the lounge, where her three kids were resting on the sofas after the long journey. Cara, her eldest daughter, was eighteen years old and along with her long, dark hair and dark eyes had inherited a lot of her mother’s looks. Her seventeen-year-old sister Nola too had inherited Brenna’s dark hair and eyes. Mackenzie, or Mac as everyone called him, was thirteen and the youngest out of the three. He had inherited his mother’s very fare complexion and though the resemblance to Brenna was obvious, his bright blue eyes, freckled nose and light brown hair were clearly inherited from his father.

“Mum, I want to go back to our old house!” Mac announced in protest, flopping backwards on one of the sofas, which were covered with large, white sheets, sending a huge cloud of dust into the air.

“Mac!!!!” his sisters coughed, as they tried to waft the dust away from their faces.

“Alright, alright! Calm down everyone!” Brenna chimed, trying to be louder than the rest of the commotion, waving her hands in the air for added attention. “Girls calm down! It’s just a bit of dust.”

She turned to her son and carefully sat down next to him, trying not to whirl up even more dust. “Mac, I am sorry, Sweetheart. I know this is all feeling a bit strange right now, but do you remember how you felt about our old home when we first moved there?”

“No!” he mumbled, crossing his arms, looking down at the floor, shuffling his feet in frustration.

Brenna lovingly put her arm around Mac, gently pulled him closer and continued,

“Well, I do remember. You hated our old house when we first moved in! It was in a far worse condition than this house. We had to wash ourselves in the kitchen at first and do you remember the toilet? It was so cold in the winter, I used to make you wear a gilet just to use the toilet, to make sure you didn’t get cold. The three of you had to sleep in one room for the first few years and the draughts were so bad in that room, we had to cover up the window with a sheet of insulation. Oh, and Dad and me had to sleep in the living room and your dad being your dad, that meant our king size bed was part of our living room for almost 3 years, because he refused to sleep on a sofa bed! And…”

“But it was different! Dad was there, too! What do we do without him this time?” Mac interrupted her.

Brenna knew, it was neither the right time for a conversation about their dad, nor did she have the energy for it.

“Trust me, Sweetheart!” she said to him, carefully lifting his chin up with her index finger and looked straight into his eyes, “I promise it will all be great. I love you, Sweetheart!” She gave her son a big hug, before talking to all three of them again.

“We are all tired and hungry. I promise you, guys, tomorrow the world will be a much happier place again.” Brenna said, as she got up and made her way to the kitchen. She stopped at the door and turned around again to her kids, “Cara, will you please lend me a hand in the kitchen? And Nola, why don’t you stay with Mac.”  Brenna nodded her head at Nola, which meant try and cheer your brother up somehow.

“Are you OK, Mum?” Cara asked, closing the door behind her and her mum from the kitchen.

“Yes, thank you, Darling! I think we’re all just tired.” Brenna answered with a faint smile.

Cara could sense the tension, so she decided to tease her mother to lighten the mood, “Well, well! You seem to have made a new friend with this Douglas, hey Mum?!”

“Ha, ha, very funny!” Brenna moaned, giving her daughter a friendly little poke in the ribs and keen to change the subject carried on saying, “Come on then, let’s get this food on some plates and get settled for the night. It’s been quite a hectic day today and we want to be rested and ready tomorrow when the removal company arrives with our stuff.”

She handed her daughter a couple of plates to carry through to the lounge and was about to pick up the remaining food, when the view of the dusky sky through the kitchen window caught her eye. In the distance the hills were beginning to merge with the darkness of the sky and the twilight somehow made the large pine trees around the estate appear even more imposing.

‘I never thought I would move to Scotland!’ Brenna thought to herself, as she stared into the shadows outside, as she remembered: that was exactly why she had chosen to move there! Nobody would think to look for her in Scotland!

“Mum?!” Brenna was torn out of her thoughts by Cara’s voice.

“Yes, sorry! I just wanted to close the curtains, that’s all.” She smiled and hurriedly grabbed both drapes either side of the window and pull them shut. “Let’s eat in the lounge tonight, shall we? It’s a lot cosier in there for now.”