Three months. Just three months.

“Will you be coming, Kate?” he asked.

She reached for her glass of water. “To the wedding?” I’d rather swallow razor blades. “I’ll be in the city by then.”

Across the table, Tilly didn’t look up.

“Melbourne’s hardly a trek,” he said. “We’re having the ceremony at St. Vincent’s, and the reception at Mornington. We’ve organised a marquee for the cliff top. It’s going to be lovely.”

Lily grunted as she attempted to slice her steak with a blunt butter knife. Tilly leaned over and cut the gristle away with her steak knife. “Better, baby?” she asked.

Lily looked up at her. “Remember when you fell over at the table? And then you went to hospital?”

Tilly chuckled. “Yes,” she said. “I do.”

“That was bad,” Lily remarked. “It hurt?” she asked.

Tilly nodded. In her peripheral vision, Kate watched as Mason looked up in interest.

“What happened at the hospital?” Lily asked.

“The doctor removed my appendix,” Tilly said, leaning back as she tapped at her belly. “But that’s okay, I didn’t really need it.” She grinned at Kate.

“Did the doctor cut you?” Mason asked. “Did you get stitches?”

“Yes,” Tilly said. “Just a few stitches.”

Lily sat back in her seat, dinner abandoned. “On your belly?”

Tilly nodded.

“Did the doctor take them out?” Mason asked.

“No,” Tilly said, her eyes meeting Kate’s across the table. “Kate did.”

As Declan’s gaze snapped up from his plate, Kate’s face heated.

“Did it hurt?” Mason asked.

Tilly shook her head. “Kate was very, very gentle.”

Declan’s knife and fork chimed against the sides of his plate. “What time will you be heading into the city tomorrow night for your play?” he asked Tilly.

“We’re going in earlier,” she explained. “Around lunchtime.”

“And where will you be staying?” he asked, his eyes flickering briefly to Kate.

Kate reached for the salt. “At the Meriton.”

“Why not just take the causeway back to Lords at the end of the night?” he asked. “I understand that you can’t get to Lords from Mornington, what with the last ferry leaving at ten, but surely the drive from Melbourne to Portarlington only adds another half hour?”

Kate bristled.

“We had planned on doing just that,” Tilly explained, “but a storm is forecast for Wednesday night and the causeway will likely be closed. We don’t want to drive two hours to Portarlington and be stuck without accommodation.”

“Will you sleep in bunk beds?” Lily asked.

Kate chuckled. “No, sweetheart—”

Abruptly, Declan stood. “I should get the kids into a bath,” he said. Easily, he lifted Lily from her booster seat. A couple of peas slipped from the skirt of her dress to the hardwood floor as he shifted her onto his hip. Slowly, Tilly bent to pick them up. “Leave all of this,” he said, unconvincingly.

Kate sipped at her water, anticipating the inevitable. “No, no,” Tilly insisted. “We’ll take care of it.” And there it is…

Together, they cleared the table. Alone in the kitchen with Tilly, Kate reached for Tilly’s plate. She’d left half her potatoes, and while her carrots were gone, half of the meat was still on the bone. Kate’s brow furrowed. “You feeling okay tonight?” she asked, pushing Tilly’s scraps onto Lily’s mountain of unfinished dinner.