Charlotte was holding on to the furniture and taking a few experimental steps when we entered the Bates’s living room.
“You’re a clever little lady,” I said, kneeling next to her. She gave a few happy baby-type gurgles in response. “Do you want to come and sit on Uncle Simon’s knee?”
I took more of the happy baby sounds as a ‘yes’, so I carefully picked her up and bounced her a few times on my knee. She giggled away.
“Okay, everyone,” Helen announced, coming into the room. “The feeding frenzy may begin.”
I carried Charlotte to the kitchen where Helen took over and strapped the baby into her highchair.
“Did you have a good day yesterday?” Steve, Helen’s brother, asked Mark and me.
“Yes, thanks. It was our first anniversary actually.”
“Really?”
Mark and I told him an edited versio
