They were ready to paint but had no idea how to begin. She wished Nala was still with her. Her mother had come to Sydney for four months, helping her with the baby. She had cooked the only curry she could make well—a potato curry—to which she added a secret ingredient that tasted a lot like Heinz ketchup. Nala produced kilos of it and froze it in labelled take-away containers. She had eventually left and Priya steeled herself as she thought about her next visitor from Sri Lanka. Her mother-in-law was coming soon, to help with the children when she went back to work.

She stirred the paint the way the man at Mitre 10 had instructed her.

‘Who would have thought there were so many shades of white?’ she said to Siva. She wanted the place to look professional and clean. ‘Dhara says it’s ironic I’ve chosen Natural White.’

He laughed and placed a hand on the baby’s tummy. Smrithi reached down and grabbed his fingers, pulling them into her dribbling mouth.

‘Stop that, kutty,’ he laughed again, shaking the teething ring at her. He picked her up from the bouncer and held her to his chest. Raising her, he blew loudly on her tummy, making her laugh.

‘Are you happy, Siva? Happy with her—I mean.’

‘You need to stop asking me that. She makes me so happy it terrifies me. I’m scared Priya, but mostly I’m happy.’ He strapped the baby back into the bouncer.

‘Don’t be scared, kunju,’ she said. ‘We’ll be fine. For now we are her parents—’

‘Exactly.’ He dropped his voice, motioning to Vivek who hadn’t questioned the arrival of a baby in their lives. ‘For now—but what about afterwards, when Dhara recovers? When she realises what she’s done—what she’s given up. If it happens sooner rather than later, it would be better for the baby … for all of us.’

‘Don’t say that,’ she replied. She knew he was right, but she knew her sister too.

‘It’s true—I just don’t want you to get hurt.’ He looked at her sadly. It would hurt him as well. He was a good father; a good man with enough love in his heart to accept this baby.

‘We won’t be hurt, kunju.’ She turned to look at her new daughter and addressed the child. ‘No one’s going to hurt us, any of us.’ The little girl kicked her legs, bouncing herself up and down on the seat.

‘Let’s paint,’ Priya said, smiling at Siva. She stirred the tin one last time.

‘Let me do that, it’s heavy.’ He sat down next to the paint tray. ‘The furniture from Dr Wesley is very nice. It was kind of him to offer it.’