Page 67 of The Bad Girl and the Baby

Now a frown tugged her brows together. She suspected there was more to the question than a mother’s curiosity but couldn’t think what. “None. Neither of us is looking for a relationship. We’d drive each other crazy in no time. We’re total opposites, with Lulu tying us together. That’s all.”

“Tell me, did you never think to try for custody of Lulu yourself?”

“No. First, I’m on parole, so I’m sure they’d just laugh. But I never considered a family. Never wanted one. Not like Emma did.”

“But Matt says you went to a lot of bother to get to see her. You could have just walked away.”

“She’s my niece, my only family, and I’d promised Emma I would make sure she was okay. Don’t get me wrong. If Steven had survived, I would have fought with everything I have to get Lulu away from him. But Matt’s a good man, and Lulu loves him. I just want her to be safe and happy.”

“Good.” She smiled, relief in her eyes. “Let’s take the burned offerings in.”

The food was pretty terrible, but nobody commented, except Lulu, who threw a charred Brussels sprout across the table, and it landed in Gareth’s wineglass. He made no comment, just fished it out, popped it in his mouth, and continued as though nothing had happened. Lulu giggled, threw another. Matt caught this one, then reached across and pulled the dish out of her reach.

Hannah kept up a constant stream of questions mainly aimed at Darcy and Matt. She seemed genuinely fond of her soldier brother. They had ice cream for dessert, apparently the one thing his mother could be relied on not to burn. Afterward, Darcy put her spoon down and glanced around the table, intercepting a look between Jolene and Gareth, who gave a small nod.

“Hannah, why don’t you take Lulu up to her room and see if she’ll settle for a nap?”

“Are you going to ask them?” she said as she got to her feet and held out a hand to Lulu.

“Yes.”

“Okay then.”

They waited until the door had closed behind them.

“Ask us what?” Matt said.

“We’ve talked about it as a family. We would love to adopt Lulu and take her back to Australia with us.”

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