Sam sat next to Ruby on the narrow bench. Leonie’s eyes were open, and she sat up and started patting Ruby on the head. “Mamma Bee sad,” she said. “No sad, Mamma Bee.” Her little hand stroked the orange hair, a bit too roughly. “Ahhhh,” she said. “Ahhhh.”

Ruby laughed through the tears. She pulled the little girl into a hug. “Thank you, baby. I’m happy now.”

“She’s lovely, isn’t she?” said Sam. “Very caring.”

“Yes, she is,” said Ruby, “I’m really lucky.”

“Milk,” said Leonie. “I want milk, Mamma Bee.”

She looked at Sam. “Can I heat some milk for her? She’ll sleep then.”

Sam heated milk in a pan, and Leonie drank it from the sippy cup that Ruby had brought. Then Ruby said, “Can I borrow your fiddle?”

She sat Leonie on Sam’s knee and played “The Seal Woman’s Joy,” singing the words at the same time.

Ionn da, ionn do …

“What is that?” he said. “I don’t think I’ve heard it before. Is it Orcadian?”

It was rare for Sam to hear a tune he didn’t know at all. The music filled the boat with calm. Rich and sonorous, the fiddle and the lullaby worked their magic on the baby, who gave a huge yawn.

“Do you like it on the boat, tiddler?” said Sam, stroking Leonie on the cheek with a knuckle. “She’s beautiful. Aren’t you, honey?”

Leonie gave a tired smile from around the sides of her thumb.

“She’s sleepy,” said Ruby. “I might put her down.”

Sam arranged a purple corduroy beanbag on the floor of the boat, and Ruby laid Leonie in it. She curled up on her side, her thumb wedged firmly in her mouth, and her breath came and went, long and slow.

“Now,” said Sam, after a moment’s silence. “There is a fuck of a lot to tell me, I think you’ll agree.”

Ruby held her head in her hands for a while. Then she said, “I’m not sure where to start.”

“Let’s start with whose child this is, and go from there.”

She shut her eyes. “She’s mine. Like I said in the letter.”

“Is it an adoption?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“An official one? I thought it took ages. That you had to own your own house, have a steady job, all of that.”

“Mmm,” she said. Her eyes ached.

He waited until she looked up at him. Then he tipped his head to the side, gave her a knowing look. “Come on, Roo. Tell me the truth.”