Hearing Aggie and Rona’s laughter filtering from the living room, Dixie was determined not to miss out on the fun and soon joined them, leaving Molly and Isla standing in the hallway.
‘I’m not sure it’s all baby. Honestly, I’m expanding by the hour. I can’t stop eating, I’m like a human hoover,’ said Molly, patting her stomach and smiling.
‘Make the most of it whilst you can. But I have to say, you look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.’
‘Nothing gets past you, does it?’
Surprised, Isla narrowed her eyes. ‘What’s up?’
Molly didn’t want to go into the ins and outs of the phone saga, Bree, and the fact she was worried something was bothering Cam. She just wanted a change of scenery and to try enjoy the night so she shrugged. ‘Ignore me, I think my baby blues have arrived before the baby.’
Isla enveloped Molly in a hug. ‘I can remember it was the same with my pregnancies; I was an emotional wreck. I cried at absolutely everything and still do.’ She squeezed Molly’s arm. ‘Us women have to put up with so much, so it’s a good job we all look out for each other. Come on, let’s get you a drink. I’ve got some of that flavoured water you like, or there’s a pot of tea on the go. Not long until you can drink again.’
Molly followed Isla into the living room. Despite the weather, everyone seemed in good spirits. Allie was sitting next to Felicity and enjoying a glass of wine, whilst Dixie had squeezed onto the sofa next to Aggie and Rona and the three of them were chatting about Martha, who appeared dramatically in the doorway, causing Molly to chuckle as she slipped into the spare chair next to Allie.
Martha was barely recognisable as Isla’s grandmother and Molly was taken in by her appearance. Her hands were wrapped in fingerless gloves, her wrists laced with bangles and her bony fingers stacked with silver rings. Draped around her shoulders was a black shawl and from her tiny waist hung a black skirt covered in gold crescent moons. There was no denying she played the part well.
‘She really does take this seriously,’ whispered Molly to Allie.
‘You better believe it,’ replied Allie.
‘Remember that whatever I tell you tonight, you are in charge of your own destiny and the futurecanbe changed,’ spouted Martha, casting an eye around the room.
‘Doesn’t that mean you can just make up what you want?’ Drew shouted from the kitchen, causing everyone to laugh. ‘What’s going to happen is Martha will set the cat amongst the pigeons by planting a seed in your head and all hell will break loose,’ he continued.
Martha’s eyebrows shot up and she waggled her finger towards the kitchen. ‘Don’t listen to him. There is something brewing in this village, I can feel it in my water.’
‘That’s just our age,’ chipped in Aggie with a chuckle. ‘I’ve had to cut down on my cups of tea. Honestly, I could spend all day going to the toilet.’
‘Decide amongst yourselves who is first up and I’ll be in there waiting.’ Martha gestured towards the snug then promptly disappeared into the other room.
Drew was now standing in the doorway. ‘Absolutely not me,’ he chipped in again. ‘It’s all a load of nonsense. ‘
‘Don’t let Gran hear you say that; she takes her psychic powers very seriously and she’s made good money out of this over the years. She’s travelled with the circus, at one time had her own hut in some seaside town, and now she’s even thinking of making it a permanent thing, setting up in one of the vintage vans. There’s no denying that more often than not her predictions have come true.’
Drew looked horrified at the idea of Martha setting up shop in one of the vans. ‘That is not happening. But she would already know that as she can predict the future.’
Everyone laughed. Then Martha’s voice could be heard bellowing out from the snug, ‘You non-believers get on your way.’
Drew was grinning as he held his hands up. ‘You ladies have a lovely evening.’ He turned and kissed Isla on the cheek. ‘The kids are in bed and I’m going to watch the TV upstairs. Let me know when you need me to take your friends home,’ he said, before disappearing upstairs.
Dixie stood up. ‘I’ll go first.’
Molly watched as Dixie disappeared towards the snug.
‘So, what has Martha predicted that has come true?’ Molly asked curiously.
‘Whathasn’tshe predicted is the better question,’ replied Isla, pouring a glass of wine and taking a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the table. ‘Honestly, everything and anything. I swear it’s not an act. Whether she is actually a psychic or her hunches are just spot-on, there’s never a dull moment. It was only this morning she mentioned over breakfast that Sam was going to be faced with some sort of trouble and look what happened to the shelter.’ Isla raised her eyebrow. ‘She knows stuff and I’ve no idea how.’
‘You’re winding me up, aren’t you?’ Molly looked around the room to see Aggie and Rona nodding.
‘I’m absolutely not,’ added Isla. ‘And half an hour later the phone rings out – it’s Sam, asking for help.’
‘Wow,’ replied Molly, listening as each of the women sitting in the room told a different story about Martha and her powers. Though she had walked past places on seafronts enticing you inside, Molly had never had her fortune told because it had never been high on her to-do list.
‘I remember a time – I must have been in my early twenties – Martha predicted my boyfriend at the time was not to be trusted.’ Aggie was looking towards Molly. ‘And she was right, he couldn’t be trusted. One Friday night, he told me he had family plans and so we had a girls’ night in the Grouse and Haggis. The landlady at the time had organised a card reader to turn up but she failed to show, leaving a lot of disgruntled people without a fortune teller, and that’s when Martha stepped in. We couldn’t believe it – we thought it was joke – but she was incredible, a huge hit. And that’s when, during my reading, she told me my boyfriend wasn’t at a family party. I had a bee in my bonnet all evening and rounded up the girls and headed over to a dance in the town … and there he was … kissing Elaine Jones, who’d been round the block more times than the ice-cream van!’
Allie and Molly burst into laughter.
