Emily’s stepfather was born in Ipswich: his parents were both from Suffolk, as were his maternal grandparents, his great-grandparents and his great-great-grandparents—a cousin had looked into the matter. Emily called her stepfather Rick, short for Derek, a name he’d long ago abandoned rather than share it with his school bully. Rick, who couldn’t have children, was endlessly amused by his stepdaughter’s habit of addressing him by name. He preferred not to be in the same room as Asquith and made himself scarce whenever visits were scheduled—Rick couldn’t stand the sight of the guy. A definite madman, said Rick. Insufferable but not dangerous, said Emily’s mother.

How did Ian and Heidi end up together? They’d met at a pub in Hammersmith eight years earlier, when Heidi was twenty-two and newly arrived in England, intending the move to be permanent. She’d grown up in central New South Wales, in a small town heretofore unknown to the people of Ipswich: a place called Nevertire, population 400. It pleased Heidi when the name of her home town drew a blank on the face of a new acquaintance. The absence of recognition expressed how far from her parents she’d settled. Even with close friends, Heidi didn’t like to talk about the family she’d left behind in New South Wales, just as she disliked explaining her brief marriage to Asquith. Once they’d heard an anecdote about Ian, and almost any detail would do, friends needed to know: why on earth did she ever marry him?

He was educated. He was handsome. He was native. She fell pregnant in the first month. Like a chore they did the marriage, and they did it badly, because it was an awful match—Ian being Ian, Heidi being Heidi—and the impossible couple separated when Emily was about two-and-a-half years old.

After Heidi met Rick and fell in love, mother and daughter and stepdad moved from the noise of London to quiet Ipswich. They tried to conceive a sibling for Emily. They bought a terrace house in a street where all the houses were identical, and which looked much like the home in which Rick was raised. Heidi said it was the best decision they ever made. She did not miss London. In Ipswich she did not miss anyone or anywhere.

Emily folded her legs on the lounge room floor and removed the headband she’d worn while dancing outside, and she took off a beaded bracelet: all part of a costume she’d pulled together that morning. Through the lounge room window she saw the balloon toss about in the backyard.

Asquith spoke to her: ‘I have a birthday present for you, but I didn’t bring it with me.’

‘You forgot Emily’s present?’ said Heidi.

‘It’s drying at home,’ said Asquith. ‘It’s a painting. I took a class at the library.’