‘I don’t know what I want. I prayed so hard for him to live and my prayers were answered. If he recovered, I vowed, I’d make no further claim on him. I sometimes feel he’s never really been mine. When I saw you together in the hospital it was always you he wanted not me. This is his home, not mine. He belongs here with you and always will. I’m not going to take him away.’

‘He’s no been the same wee boy since he came out of that place. I think he believes we wanted him put away. He wets the bed every night. We could do with you close by to give a hand. Come back to Kirkcudbright. There’s room for a dressmaker there. I cannae drive you away again, lass.’

‘You’re not driving me away. I’ll think it over carefully but only on one condition, Peg: that we stop the lies and tell the bairn the truth or as much of it as he can understand. Drip it into him, like yon contraption in the hospital. He can get used to it slowly. Nothing’ll change. I shall always be Auntie Netta to him but that doesn’t stop me being the best auntie in the world, does it?’

‘I can guess what it must have meant to you, leaving him here?’

‘I don’t think you can, Peg, or I would never have been sent away. But what’s done is done. I made a vow and I’m keeping to my bargain even if it breaks my heart. Gus must stay here to recover. I may set up a workshop locally.’

‘There’s your grandfather’s old studio going to rack and ruin… you could use that?’

‘Perhaps.’

*

Gus sat on his chair like a king among courtiers surveying his domain, trying to capture the moment in his drawing, fingering his crayons for the right colours. It was autumn. The sky was still powder blue with cotton white clouds and the sea shone like silver. When he looked closely the sand was in the mucky water of his painting jar, the travelling rug beneath his feet was scarlet and the grass was speckled with purple flowers. A brown fluffy spot darted across the scene as Brucie scampered towards Ardwall Island, splattering over the ripples of mud. Auntie Netta was frantically trying to catch the silly dog before it dashed to chase the sea. Mother was knitting furiously by his side, looking at her wristwatch to see when Father would arrive in the van with their picnic basket.