Healing Hearts on Thistledown Lane: Fall in love with this uplifting and charming romance novel from the author of RETURN TO HALF MOON FARM by Holly Hepburn

Author:Holly Hepburn [Hepburn, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2026-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The flat was quiet when Maura climbed the stairs and wearily dropped her bag onto the coffee table. When she and Jamie had first moved in together, Sunday evenings had been movie night, when they’d taken it in turns to choose a film to watch while snuggled on the sofa, and it had become one of their traditions. Over the years, other commitments had gradually crept in – an occasional football or rugby match in the pub, or a family Sunday roast – and now it felt rare for them both to be home. In fact, Maura couldn’t remember the last time they’d watched anything together. Making the ghosts for Fraser meant she was in her studio more, and Jamie seemed to be spending more time at the office too.

She closed her eyes, laying a hand on the back of the sofa as guilt began to swirl. Was it terrible of her to be relieved he wasn’t home this evening? She’d spent the past three days surrounded by people, chatting about pottery and answering questions, and while it had been wonderful to wallow in the enthusiasm of the ScotPot crowds, it had also been exhausting and now she wanted nothing more than a long soak in the bath and an early night. She didn’t want to navigate the awkward silences and perfunctory exchanges that seemed to be all that passed for communication between them at present.

Nothing had been the same since the night Jamie had got so drunk over dinner that Maura had needed Fraser’s help to get him home. It didn’t matter that Jamie didn’t appear to remember just how insulting he had been, nor that he’d offered an apology when she’d described his behaviour. Afterwards, the hairline cracks in their relationship had begun to widen and Maura had no idea how to fix them. But at least it wasn’t a problem she had to face right now, she reminded herself. And with luck, she’d be asleep before Jamie came home.

She ran the bath as deep and hot as she dared, and sank into the steaming water with a blissful groan. The heat instantly began to soothe her aching legs and shoulders, easing the tiredness from her limbs, and she felt her forehead relax as a frown she hadn’t even known she was wearing melted away. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the porcelain rim, and let the tension leach from her muscles. Jamie had never understood her inclination to linger in the water until her toes resembled prunes and the heat was gone but, for Maura, the bath was a cure-all that had never failed her yet. It was just a shame that its effects were only temporary.

After a few more moments of Radox-scented bliss, she edged her shoulders above the bubbles and reached for the hand towel she’d left folded neatly on a stool beside the bath. Beneath it lay her book – the latest historical novel by Merina Wilde, set on Orkney – and she opened it in eager anticipation of being whisked to the windswept beauty of Skara Brae.

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