Home. Banksia Bay. It was waiting for them, a lovely place to come home to.
But maybe not for ever. They’d leave and leave again, she thought. But for now…maybe they did need a bit of stability.
Banksia Bay was a good place to have a baby. Twelve weeks to go… She put her hand on her tummy and she felt her baby move, and she thought life couldn’t get any better than it was right now.
‘I’m thinking we should get another dog,’ Nick said and she pushed herself up on her elbows and looked down at him. Dark and lean and dangerous. Wickedly laughing.
Her Nick.
‘Why would we get another dog?’
‘I’ve been thinking…’
‘Thinking’s risky.’
‘Yes, but…’ He tugged her down and kissed her nose. ‘Ketchup and Took…in a way they brought us together.’
‘I guess they did.’
‘So to bring this new little person into the family…’
‘We need another dog?’
‘A pound dog,’ he said in satisfaction. ‘One who needs a home.’
‘We’d have to extend the sand tray on Mahelkee.’
‘I’m a marine architect,’ he said smugly. ‘Bigger sand tray? I can handle that.’
‘Baby first,’ she said. ‘Dogs need attention.’
‘Home first,’ he said, unbuttoning her coat with delicious, languorous ease. ‘Banksia Bay.’
‘For now,’ she said and kissed him and kissed him again, as she intended to kiss him for the rest of her life. ‘Banksia Bay’s our base. Somewhere Bailey can go to school, where we can work, where we can recoup for the next adventure. But home? Home’s where the heart is. Home’s number thirteen or number fourteen on our list. Home’s wherever we are, my love. Home is where I am, right now.’
Marion Lennox
Marion Lennox is a country girl, born on an Australian dairy farm. She moved on mostly because the cows just weren’t interested in her stories! Married to a “very special doctor,” Marion writes Medical Romances as well as Mills & Boon Romance (she used to write under the name of Trisha David, too). She’s now had more than 80 romance novels published.
In her nonwriting life, Marion cares for kids, cats, dogs, chickens, and goldfish. She travels and she fights her rampant garden (she’s losing) and her house dust (she’s lost).
Having spun in circles for the first part of her life, she’s now stepped back from her “other” career, which was teaching statistics at her local university. Finally, she’s reprioritized her life, figured out what’s important and discovered the joys of deep baths, romance and chocolate. Preferably all at the same time!
