‘You don’t need to say anything.’ He slides a hand around the back of my neck and tucks my head under his chin. ‘Your parents gave up a lot to make sure that you and Tabs found your way to me in one piece, and now it’s payback time. That’s all there is to it.’

‘Thank you,’ I whisper, snuggling in more closely against his chest.

Brendan Sullivan may adore his construction firm and his LEGO room, but it seems building a fairytale life for the two women he loves is his new favourite passion project.

And he’s good at it.

He’s really, really good at it.

BRENDAN

The water is crystal clear in Jost Van Dyck’s White Bay, and the sand is white. We moved into our new home a fortnight before Christmas, just in time to get a tree up, but I’ve whisked the girls off to the British Virgin Islands for a week post-Christmas.

The trip is an opportunity to let the builders crack on with constructing Marlowe’s new recording studio while we play with our newest toy, the Lagoon SEVENTY 8 catamaran, Tabitha. With everything that the summer held for us, I didn’t get a chance to play with her in the Med, so I had her taken out here to the BVIs.

When we met, Marlowe was working so hard to survive that she had forgotten how to play and I was playing so hard that I had forgotten how to feel very much at all.

Now we’re in a position of extreme privilege. We have love, health, wealth, and even a touch of wisdom, and we’re damn well going to make the most of it. So at a time of year when we’re lucky to get eight hours of daylight each day, the sensible thing seemed to give the bleak midwinter a huge Fuck You and jet off to somewhere where life is warmer and gentler.

Tabby’s entire cardio-pulmonary system is operating perfectly these days, which is a polite way of saying she is fucking inexhaustible. She’s already signed up for after-school clubs at her new school every day of the week and extra dance and trampoline classes on Saturdays. I thought I was in good shape, but my stamina is nowhere compared to that of a little girl with nine years of enforced downtime to make up for.

But it’s cool. We’ve found a rhythm. We’ve been pottering around the BVIs for five days now. Tabs and I spend our mornings having diving and swimming competitions in the clear turquoise waters while Marlowe sunbathes on the cushioned tanning deck in various skimpy bikinis. It’s a great eye-fucking setup for both of us. In the afternoons, we dock and explore the various islands, while our evenings are spent at beach bars—like last night at the iconic Soggy Dollar Bar—or eating quietly on the boat together.