MACLEOD It seemed a great sacrifice when Alison gave up her hopes of a career as concert pianist to nurse her mother back at her Scottish home, Craigie Hill Farm - especially as her brother Robin refused to come back from Canada and face his responsibilities. But in the end she found a happiness beyond her dreams. CHAPTER ONE “YOU’LL go back,” Belle Christie said. “You wouldn’t dream of doing anything else in the circumstances. I know she hasn’t asked you to go. She wouldn’t demand such a sacrifice, but you won’t look at it like that, Alison. You’ll go because you want to go, because you know in your heart that you wouldn’t be happy otherwise.” The deeply resonant voice sank into lengthening silence, with only the ticking of the clock and the girl’s swift breathing audible in the gathering dusk. It was no awkward silence. They knew each other too well for that. They had lived together long enough and amicably enough to be able to dispense with words until there was need for them.
