Heather had a genius for getting by, finding new ways to supplement the meagre income they drew from sheep farming. As well as working behind the counter in the shop, she picked whelks along the shore, which were taken across on the ferry to be sold at fishmongers in Oban, and made craft items to be sold to tourists in the island’s gift shop: shell necklaces, beaded earrings, small watercolour paintings and clothes knitted from sheep’s wool. Malcolm, meanwhile, like so many other islanders, took on an assortment of extra jobs over the years, including, for a time, harbour master like his father, which he found stressful and did not enjoy, taking him, as it did, too often and for too long away from his sheep. When he was ready to give it up, after Tommy had left the island, Davey McPhee was only too happy to take it on instead. “Had my eye on that one for a while,” he told Malcolm. Malcolm in return took on Davey’s job of driving the school minibus along the narrow island road in the mornings and afternoons, picking up and dropping off the four or five children who attended the primary school at any given time. By a variety of methods, he and Heather had managed.

After Heather had her first stroke, still so young, only fifty, Malcolm gave up the croft. He might have thought before that it would be a heart-wrenching decision—an impossible one even—but when it came to it, it was no decision at all. He never considered doing anything else. Heather was in a bad way and couldn’t manage on her own (whatever she tried to claim), and the doctors said there was a chance of a second stroke. If she had limited time left, Malcolm wanted to spend it with her. He and Heather had long ago come to terms with having no children, and he felt only a little regret now that there was no son—no daughter, even—to pass the croft on to. It had come into Malcolm’s head from time to time over the years that Tommy might return one day, might be pleased to find the croft here waiting for him. But even without sharing it with Heather he knew this was an absurd fantasy.