"She had liked the outward look of Ewan, but he was a little older than the type of man she thought she should go for. She had made presuppositions, cast him in a mould. Dismissed him. Perhaps he had sensed that. Now, when she was curious, changing her mind, she only had this slender information about him.

She kicked herself. She mustn't be so flippant, abrasive. She needed to be more open, and to be more approachable, or she was never going to get hitched.

For that was her goal. After coming up here and hiding herself away for two years she'd finally realised that's what she wanted now. This spring in particular, surrounded by all this new life, the lambs, the nesting birds, she'd felt the pull to procreate strongly but also the pull to have a companion.

"We're not the enemy," a failed suitor had yelled at her in departure.

He had told her that what she communicated was hurt and that that message overpowered the signals that said she needed someone.

She'd had time to think this over, and her attitudes to men. Here on the island men and women were co-dependent. In the past there had been a gender split on tasks. That was still there, but it was a choice now. Women drove tractors, sheared the sheep. She looked in the mirror, pursed her lips then ran her hands over her body adjusting her bra.

Although it was important, it wasn't just sex that drove her now. People needed companionship, someone to care for them. She longed for that, something meaningful and deep"