Page 83 of The Good Sister

Wally thinks about this. ‘Okay,’ he says. ‘Well,I’lldo the school pick-ups and drop-offs and the birthday parties.’

‘You?When? When would you do the school drop-off? When you’re in your van creating your app? When you are travelling around the world promoting FollowUp?’

‘I sold FollowUp, Fern.’

I blink. ‘You sold it? Already?’

He nods. ‘For a lot of money. It makes the deal for Shout! look cheap. So I can do the school run every day, if you like. And you can stay home, or go work in the library, or come to school pick-up with me and wait in the car. You can do whatever you like!’

But it can’t be that easy. Nothing in life is that easy.

Willow chooses that moment to start fussing.

‘Is she due for a feed?’ I ask.

Wally checks the app and determines that she is. He brings her to me. As she latches on, he enters the feed time into the app. The ritual of this, even over the past twelve hours, is one I’ve come to quite enjoy. As she feeds, we watch her. It’s surprisingly satisfying. I’ve never found watching an adult eat enjoyable.

‘She’s a miracle,’ Wally says.

I think about that. ‘Well, no, not really. Pregnancies are actually biologically quite straightforward.’

He rolls his eyes. ‘Sure, but . . . you were on birth control. Which means, what were the chances? Point zero three per cent or something?’

I look at him. ‘I wasn’t on birth control.’

He blinks. ‘But you told me you were.’

‘No, I didn’t. Why would I say that?’

‘I don’t know, but you did say it,’ he says emphatically. ‘The first night. I remember it clearly. You told me it was safe.’

I frown. ‘Itwassafe. But what does that have to do with birth control?’

Wally closes his eyes for a moment, then he exhales and smiles. ‘Well, I guess that solves that part of the mystery.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean . . . it explains how you mysteriously became pregnant.’

If Wally is bothered by this, he is keeping it well hidden. But his proclamation about ‘mysteriously’ becoming pregnant triggers a realisation that there is something I haven’t been clear about.

‘There’s something else I have to tell you, Wally,’ I say. ‘The pregnancy wasn’t an accident.’

Wally frowns. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Rose couldn’t have a baby. She confessed this to me when I found prenatal vitamins in her bag and assumed she was pregnant. It turned out she’d been trying for a baby for a while and couldn’t have one. So . . . I decided to have a baby for her. It sounds crazy, I know. I just thought . . . I can have a baby and Rose can’t. Why wouldn’t I help her out? It seemed so simple. Then . . . I met you and . . . and . . .’

‘. . . and you asked me on a date so you could become pregnant with a baby for your sister?’

‘Yes.’

Wally places both hands on his temples. ‘Wow.’

‘But by the time we had sex, I wasn’t even thinking about that anymore. I wasn’t thinking about–’

Wally walks to the corner of the room, shaking his head. ‘Wow,’ he says again. ‘It’s genius.’

‘What is?’