‘No, Mummy.’ Bella shook her head. ‘I’m an ex-plo-rer.’

‘Fine,’ Lexie snapped. ‘I’m tired and I’m staying here. Be careful.’

Glaring at Marty, she leant against a large rock, pulled a water bottle from Bella’s backpack and handed it to him. Marty tried to mask his surprise: she rarely let him do things alone with Bella. Last weekend, he’d encouraged Lexie to go to the museum for a few hours, so she could enjoy time out in her old world of exhibitions, while he looked after their daughter. But Lexie had refused.

‘We’ll be back in fifteen minutes,’ he said.

Lexie nodded and turned her attention to her phone. Marty briefly wondered what she was looking at—she’d deleted Facebook, the newspapers were too upsetting for her, and she didn’t follow any blogs. Perhaps she was emailing her sister.

Bella strode up the track in front of him, but her fast steps slowed after only a few minutes, and when she bent down suddenly, he stumbled against her. Standing upright again, she held out her palm to show him a white pebble that she’d found. They kept walking until she spotted her next treasure—a twig shaped like a Y. Next, a yellow leaf. Carefully, Bella placed these three keepsakes into the pocket of his jacket. Enthralled by his daughter, Marty pushed away thoughts of Archie and his birthday.

Finally, they made it to the top of the hill. Over a decade ago, this ridge had been burnt to a charred moonscape of brown rocks. A fire tornado rocketing around the edges of Canberra had threatened to engulf Merrigang and the outer suburbs. It destroyed hundreds of houses and thousands of hectares. Now, young trees stood proudly and the old gums had recovered. The track had been rebuilt. Only the very top provided hints of the fire. On the trig point, the white paint was scorched and blackened.

Standing below the trig point, Bella spread out her arms and spun around in a circle.

‘I’m the King of the Cars-dul. You the dirty rascal.’

‘Can you say “castle”?’ Marty asked.

Last week, he’d seen a ten-year-old with a severe speech impediment. Why hadn’t the parents done something before now? he’d wondered. Marty stared out across the Canberra suburbs, trying to pinpoint the hospital. Should he have ordered a scan for the girl with concussion yesterday? Marty would ring the hospital later and check that she hadn’t been readmitted.

Bella tugged on his arm, forcing him to turn in the opposite direction, towards the Brindabellas, blue mountains of eucalyptus trees and rocky outcrops. Not long ago, the top of the range had been capped in snow. But Bella was pointing out something closer—a mob of kangaroos, thirty or more. Startled by the presence of humans, they bounded away, their strong tails curved behind them.