Life wasn’t static. Just because you were scared of something, didn’t mean you had to stay scared of it. She’d let fear hold her back, and she saw clearly now that it was fear that was behind her instinct to end things with Jack. Yes she was in love, but she was also scared. Scared that she’d made herself vulnerable. Scared that she’d fallen in love with his family, when he still saw her as an outsider. Scared that she’d trusted him with her secrets, when he hadn’t trusted her with his. But maybe he was afraid to do that. He was human, as she was. He had his own fears. Instead of walking away, she should talk to him. Tell him how it made her feel when he kept secrets from her. Use this rocky moment to understand him better, and help him understand her. Just as life wasn’t static, a relationship wasn’t static either. There were bound to be bumps along the way and they had to learn to negotiate those bumps together. It was a process. A discovery. An adventure.

She swam until her arms were tired and when she finally stood up she was laughing and so was Izzy.

“Well wow.” Izzy’s hair clung to her shoulders, wet and sleek. “So that’s swimming sorted. Next we need to give you kayaking lessons. Lesson one is not to drop the paddle.”

Molly was shivering, her skin blotchy and tinged blue from the cold. “I’m c-cold. Can I have hot chocolate?”

“Good plan. You and I will go indoors.” Izzy scooped her up and rubbed her back to warm her. “Flora and Dad need to talk.”

“Can I talk, too?”

Izzy glanced at Flora and then at her dad. “You’re not invited to this talk.”

“You should listen to him, Flora,” Molly said, her arms round her sister’s shoulders as she waded to the shore. “I think he wants you to marry us. We’d like that, too. And if we could have a dog, that would be good. I don’t mind if it’s a small one.”

“Oh my goodness, you don’t marry a whole family, you marry a person!” Izzy hugged her and scolded her at the same time. “Whatever you plan on being when you’re older, don’t pick anything that involves diplomacy.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“That,” Izzy said with the superiority of the older sister, “is pretty obvious.” She reached dry land and set Molly down. Then she draped a towel round her shoulders. “You and I are going to make hot chocolate.”

Molly glanced over her shoulder to Flora and Jack who had also emerged from the water. “But—”

“With whipped cream.”

Molly paused, tempted. “Okay, but maybe we should—”

“—and marshmallows, with a chocolate flake.”

That did it. Molly sped up the lawn toward the house and Izzy followed.