Eventually, there was the sound of cars crunching on gravel. Lumin looked out of the window, face nervous. When the door opened and voices boomed out, she got up and came to sit by me, clutching my hand. Dylan watched her with worried eyes. I shot him a smile and he smiled back, gaze holding mine.

Mairi was the first to walk in, pulling her gloves off and striding over to her granddaughter. ‘Look at those McClusky cheekbones!’ she declared. ‘Come then,’ she said, beckoning Lumin over. Lumin pressed even closer to me.

‘Give her time, Mum,’ Dylan said.

‘Already the watchful father,’ Mairi replied with pride on her face. ‘Come,’ she said again to Lumin in a gentler voice.

Lumin looked up at me and for a moment, I wanted to tell her to stay beside me. But what right did I have when I’d deprived Mairi of her granddaughter for so long?

‘Go on,’ I said, gently nudging her towards Mairi.

She walked over and Mairi put her hands on Lumin’s shoulders. ‘My granddaughter,’ she said, her eyes filling with tears. ‘You will never want for anything again. You’re a McClusky now, you hear?’

‘She hasn’t wanted for anything,’ I said.

Mairi looked at me. ‘I know!’ She gave Lumin a quick hug as Cole walked in, red-cheeked and holding a baby of about eight or nine months in his arms. Cole caught my eye and for a moment, a shadow crossed his face. But then he recovered himself and smiled, placed the baby down on the floor and went to Lumin. ‘God, you can tell you’re a McClusky. I’m your uncle Cole,’ he said, giving her a warm hug. ‘And that is your cousin, Lilly,’ he said, gesturing to the baby who was now crawling up to Lumin and placing her chubby hands on Lumin’s shoes.

Lumin sat on the floor and stared at the baby. ‘I’ve never had a cousin before,’ she said.

‘Well, now you have two of them,’ Cole said. ‘Alfie, come meet Lumin.’

Alfie came thundering in with a toy airplane and ran around the room with it as Rhonda watched from the doorway, shaking her head. He must be about eight now and was tall like his father and uncles.

‘Look what your daddy got me,’ he said, flinging himself onto the floor with Lumin and showing her his plane.

She smiled slightly and stroked one of the wings.

‘Want to play with it?’ Alfie asked her.

She shrugged, her way of trying to look grown-up. ‘Sure.’