She heard a rather un-Gran-like snort in reply, and shook her head. ‘And just where does he think I’ll be able to find a pair of hiking boots by tomorrow morning?’ she scoffed, just as she rounded the corner to see a mileage sign for the next town … right beside an advertising board for a hardware–hiking–outdoor store.

‘You have got to be kidding me,’ she muttered and rolled her eyes. ‘Was this your doing?’

I swear I had nothing to do with it.

‘Uh-huh,’ Elle said, unconvinced, as she drove on.

After purchasing a new pair of hiking boots, which technically didn’t count as breaking the no-more-boots resolution she’d made with herself after losing her job—Stuart was apparently an authority on these things and said she needed them—Elle spent the rest of the day exploring more of the area.

She came across an outdoor museum—a small village, preserved, to show the traditional way of life for crofters in the past with old-fashioned thatched cottages. Again, she marvelled at the endurance people from earlier days must have had in order to survive, not only all the violence and illness of the time, but also the harsh elements. As she stood outside one of the huts now, the savage winds coming off the ocean seemed to blow right through her. To find a way to live and work in these conditions, with so little, was impressive. Elle realised that this was how Gran’s father would have lived as a boy, and his family before him, and was impressed all over again.

‘I can’t even imagine, Gran. This is how our family would have once lived.’

Yes, I remember my father telling me about the croft he grew up in—just like this one.

‘Maybe I can find out if there’s anyone still around who remembers your dad’s family?’

I doubt it. There might be distant relatives, but my father’s line died out with him leaving.

‘I wonder why he stopped talking to his parents?’

I know you seem to think you’re here to solve all our family secrets, darling, but sometimes things happen in the past and no one remembers why.

‘I was just curious.’

‘Excuse me, dear, are you talking to me?’ a voice asked from behind her, and Elle turned abruptly to find the stocky woman who’d taken her entry payment earlier watching her oddly.

‘Oh. Sorry. No,’ Elle apologised, embarrassed at being caught talking to herself, and hurried away to escape the woman’s confused look.