‘My fairy sister,’ Bella yelled as she rushed to give her gifts to Victoria.

He couldn’t remember why Bella had given Victoria that title. Perhaps Lexie had been reading ‘Cinderella’ with her one day and explained that Victoria wasn’t an evil stepsister but a fairy half-sister. These days, Marty wasn’t so sure.

‘Wow, Bells, you’re all grown up. How’s it hangin’, little sis?’ Victoria hugged Bella. ‘This is my friend Kimmy. Come and show us around your beautiful big house.’

Victoria walked off, leaving Marty to get the luggage out of the car. But she couldn’t resist another dig.

‘Big house, Daddy-o. Bigger than Mum and I ever lived in. Doing well for yourself then. Maybe I should move in?’

He yanked the teenagers’ wheelie bags out of the car boot. If Victoria could bear to live in this ‘wasteland’, as she called it, she could live in a much nicer house than in Sydney. He dumped their bags at the bottom of the stairs; the teenagers could carry their precious cargo upstairs themselves.

Lexie had cups of tea and lemon cake ready for them in the family room. Marty wanted a Scotch.

‘I’ve put you both in the bedroom upstairs,’ Lexie told the teenagers. ‘Bella wanted to have a sleepover in your room but I’ve told her that won’t work. She might snuggle into your bed early in the morning though.’

‘Sweet.’ Victoria laughed. ‘I might not wake up though, Bells.’

Thank God she was pleasant to her little sister. At least there was a bond between them. Victoria was also polite to Lexie—she didn’t hurl sarcastic comments at her stepmother. She saved those for him.

‘You can watch TV down here,’ Lexie continued, ‘but don’t go into the spare room downstairs. My projects are all over the place.’

Projects? Lexie didn’t have any projects. Was she just trying to keep the teenagers contained?

Victoria took a sip of her tea and then looked up at Marty.

‘Are those hate pages still online?’

On the couch beside him, Marty felt Lexie’s body tense. They hadn’t talked about them for a long time, not since they’d moved to Canberra.

‘I don’t know,’ he answered quickly. ‘We don’t look. Now, what do you want to do this weekend?’