THE MOOD WAS TURNING SERIOUS, but Bryce wouldn’t let anything ruin this evening for them. He flicked her with the bathwater, she shrieked and put her hands up defensively. Laughing, he pulled her close with one arm and bodily lifted her into the tub with the other.
‘Oops,’ he said. ‘You’re a little overdressed for bath time.’
Their first evening in Sydney was spent with a lot of loving and much talking. In bed, after what Bryce called a session of acrobatics, Belle asked if he would prefer a boy or a girl given a choice.
‘If I have a choice, I want a girl just like you. Too many boys in my family. You?’
‘Um, a girl because we already have Rajo, but I wouldn’t mind someone like you.’
‘Oh, you’ll regret that,’ he said, the skin around his eyes creased with laugh lines.
‘Yeah, you’re ri
