Page 123 of Good Sisters

‘No, but I’ll watch.’

‘Okay, but I want you to babysit her when you’re a bit older.’

‘I don’t think I’d like to look after a baby.’

‘But you so good at looking after Luna,’ Marco said.

Clara looked up at him. ‘I suppose I am. But Luna is a cat.’

‘Animals are like humans,’ Marco reminded her.

Gavin looked a bit put out. ‘Hang on there, Marco. Lemon needs a bit more attention than a cat.’

Marco laughed. ‘Not so much – eating, drinking, sleeping, kissing, caressing. The same.’

‘He has a point,’ Julie said.

‘It sounds like the perfect life,’ Harry said.

‘I’d fancy a bit of caressing myself.’ Jack squeezed Sophie’s leg. She swatted him away, laughing.

‘I wish Granny was here to meet my new dad,’ Clara announced.

Everyone turned to her.

‘I do too, darling,’ I agreed.

‘We all do, pet, but she’s smiling down on us from wherever she is and she’d be so proud of the way you’re handling all of this newness.’ Dad smiled across the table at Clara.

‘You know, I think Granny sent Marco,’ Julie said to Clara.

‘What do you mean, Aunt Julie?’

‘Well, I think Granny sent Marco to help look after you and to love you and be in your life. It was a gift she sent to you.’

Clara frowned as she considered this. ‘I don’t think dead people can send people to you, but I think Granny would like my dad.’

‘Yes, darling, I’m sure she would.’ I smiled at Clara.

‘That make me so happy.’ Marco held his hand over his heart.

We sat down to lunch and Harry told Marco the story of meeting Christelle. Marco was hanging on his every word.

‘So, I can understand your shock and delight at finding out you have a daughter. Isn’t it the best feeling?’ Harry beamed.

‘The very best in the whole world,’ Marco exclaimed.

‘Probably even more so for you because you have no children. So now you get to be a father,’ Harry said, clapping Marco on the back.

‘And without the early baby stage,’ Gavin said. ‘Which, after a week of zero sleep, sounds kind of great.’

‘Oh, boo-hoo, I had no sleep for years. You’ll be fine,’ Julie said.

‘I wish with all of my heart that I was here when Clara waspiccola,’ Marco said.

‘I was an angel baby, Mummy said,’ Clara said.

‘Yes, you were,’ I lied. Clara had not been an angel baby, and I had struggled in the early days, but it was a mother’s prerogative to rewrite history.

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