“I never had to let you go, Ruby. You were right there all the time. She stepped in and allowed us both to live.”

For a minute Ruby was silent. “How is she?”

“She’s good. She’s been off the booze for a few months. She misses you, though.”

“I miss her too. I think I’m going to go and see her. Do you think she’d like that?”

“I think she’d be the happiest mother in the whole world. And I think I would too.”

ONE YEAR LATER

Ruby

It felt like a pilgrimage, to come back. Seal Bay was exactly as she remembered it. The gleaming white sand, the sharp wind, the machair. Across the unspoiled landscape she hiked to the cottage and pushed open the door, was amazed to see that the conch was still there, spotless in the center of the dusty table. The comb she placed inside was a cheap plastic one from Boots, but it was all she had. She’d been here before, with the same thoughts in her head; Constance had gone, but there was no body, no way of proving she was dead. Every day since she’d last visited the cliff top, she’d thought about her friend and wondered about what had happened, until finally she had to come back. Had Constance drowned? She’d been such a strong swimmer, but if she’d landed on rocks, she wouldn’t have had a chance. Ruby hesitated before reaching into her pocket for the photographs she’d brought with her. The print she chose was dog-eared, one of the three precious images that she owned. There was Leonie, happy in the big garden, blowing out the candles on the cake. What if she doesn’t come? The photo would mean nothing to other members of the Roane, but to Constance, it would mean the world. She kissed the photograph, then placed it carefully into the conch shell. As she returned the remaining photos to her pocket, her fingers brushed the edges of the small brown envelope she’d been given at the hospital the week before. Her face broke out in a smile, but she didn’t need to look again at what was inside; the black-and-white scan, that coiled spring of new life, sucking its thumb. The shape of it, like a miraculous bean with new shoots of limbs, was imprinted on her brain.

Back on the beach, Ruby sat down and took out her violin. As she started to play the tune she’d learned from her strange friend, the rock in the middle of the bay came alive. She saw five, six, seven gray seals raise their heads and start to call. One of them dropped into the water and disappeared. A flip, then, inside her, and she cried out with surprise, with joy. A tiny fish turning over, the first time she’d felt it, her little acrobat.