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Mia’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’ll leave that story to Sadie. She has a lot to catch you up on.”

“I can only imagine.” Ava must have made a face at Brynn, because the little girl stared at her with the smallest smile.

When Ava did it again, the smile grew even wider, then Brynn hid against Mia’s shoulder.

Ava laughed, looking the most relaxed I’d seen her since we met.

Dave moved between the kitchen and the fire, lifting the kettle to check the water. The scent of toasting bread made my stomach growl, and I pulled in a shuddering breath.

Someone laughed in the kitchen. Ruby darted past me on her way back to her mum, and when Ava pulled another face, Brynn’s squeal rose above the voices.

I stood there for a moment, listening.

When I left Manchester alone, I’d never pictured anything like this in my future.

But somewhere between Sydney and here…

I’d stopped looking for a place to belong.

Epilogue

ava

“Honestly, some people will do anything to avoid a midlife crisis.” I pulled a weed from the ground and tossed it onto the small pile beside my knee. “Forty, Tim. That’s not even old. You could have bought a convertible or gotten a tattoo like a normal person—but you had to take it too far.”

Two more weeds had grown beside the timber marker Dave had carved Tim’s name into. Every time I stopped by here, a new collection had cropped up. I liked to think it was Tim making sure we kept visiting.

The breeze moved through the olive trees, stirring the leaves. The morning had started out cold, but the sun was already forcing its way through the cloud cover, warming the back of my neck and promising a pretty day.

I scooped up the pile of dandelions and pushed to my feet, brushing the dirt off my jeans. “It’s Brynn’s birthday today,” I said. “We’re getting ready for her party. She’s turning two.”

Just over a year ago, Mia had guessed Brynn to be around eleven months old, and she’d told Sadie that she might as well choose a birthdate for her since she’d already given her a name. Sadie hadn’t gotten around to it right away, then we’d lost Tim a few weeks before his birthday.

“Sadie asked Varesh if he was okay with Brynn sharing your birthday,” I said. “He got a bit upset, which I’m sure you’ll appreciate, but then he said—” My voice cracked, and I laughed, rubbing my nose. “He said someone should get to be the centre of attention on that day since you’re not here to do it.”

Tim’s grave had been the first here, but it wasn’t the only one anymore.

We’d buried him just past the backyard, where he could stay close to the people who’d loved him. Varesh often sat on the bench seat nearby, talking with a cup of tea resting on his knee.

Sometimes I wondered if Tim would still be with us if we’d taken the same route Sadie and Theo had.

But we hadn’t, and he wasn’t.

He’d arrived here on a peaceful winter morning, knowing Varesh was safe before he closed his eyes for the last time.

And he’d kept his promise to Sadie.

“Anyway, happy birthday, Tim. I need to go help with the preparations.”

I clutched the handful of weeds as a shriek shattered the silence, coming from inside the house behind me. Brynn.

I turned to head back and came face to face with Varesh. “My God,” I said, flattening a hand on my chest. “You scared the shit out of me.”

Varesh’s hair had grown longer over the past year, his muscles leaner. He’d taken charge of maintenance around the farm, and when he wasn’t fixing something or chatting to Tim, I often found him deep in conversation with Luke.

“I wasn’t sneaking up on you,” he said, plucking a browned leaf from the bouquet of native flowers he carried. “You were just too busy nattering to a dead man.”

As if he didn’t do that himself. “He’s the best listener.”