We were waiting for dessert when Dominic decided he was ready for his milk. The twins had been playing in the pram, coo-ing and kicking and content, but Dominic roused to protest his hunger in an instant, moving from near silence to a furious, demanding cry.
‘Here we go,’ Simon sighed, and reached into the pram to withdraw him. ‘I suppose at least they let us eat this time, huh?’
‘Sometimes we have to take turns eating,’ Emmaline explained to me, as she bent down to pick Valentina up. Lilly immediately reached forward and Emmaline grinned as she passed her daughter across the table. ‘Don’t get me wrong, we adore them . . .’
‘So you keep saying,’ I laughed.
‘If we just keep telling ourselves that . . .’ Simon grinned at me. He was fumbling now in their nappy bag with his free hand, and withdrew two small bottles of milk, which he sat on the table. Then he adjusted his son in his arms, and offered him a dummy. The baby sucked it greedily, and Simon glanced at me. ‘Want to hold your nephew while I go get these heated up? You probably need the practice.’
‘I do need the practice. And I’d love to,’ I accepted the squirming baby into my arms and peered down at him. ‘Hi, Dominic.’
Ted rested his chin on my shoulder, staring down at the baby with obvious longing.
‘See, you’re a natural,’ he said softly. I smiled a little nervously and offered my finger to Dominic, who gripped it tightly in his fist. Then he spat the dummy out and tried to manoeuvre my finger into his mouth.
‘Whoa, no,’ I laughed, trying to pull my finger away, but he would not be deterred. He was grunting now and craning his neck to reach. The grunts quickly turned into outraged cries. Beside us, Valentina was starting to grizzle too.
‘Oh, you are cranky children,’ Lilly gently scolded, then she reached down to nuzzle Valentina’s cheek. ‘Delicious, but cranky.’
Simon returned with the bottles, which he automatically handed to Lilly and I, and he sat back beside Ted and resumed a conversation about seed harvesting. I watched Lilly test the milk on the inside of her wrist and did likewise.
‘What am I testing for?’ I asked.
‘It should be lukewarm, you shouldn’t really feel it,’ she told me quietly.
I moved the bottle towards Dominic’s mouth, and he lifted his head to grab it, obviously impatient with my unpractised technique. He gulped down the milk much quicker than I expected, and then I again copied Lilly, lifting him onto my shoulder and gently patting his back until he gave a big, satisfying belch.
‘They’ll be getting tired now and they’ll probably start yelling again, we’d better head home,’ Emmaline said, but she seemed reluctant to go.
‘Oh, please stay for dessert,’ Lilly pleaded. ‘We can hold them and keep them quiet, can’t we, Bean?’
The casual use of the nickname left me feeling warm and known. Loads of friends had called me variations of Bean and Beanie over my lifetime, and Ted never really used my full name, but there was something particularly special about the way Lilly said it. She wrapped the word in softness and familiarity, as if she’d been infusing the sound in maternal longing for decades.
‘Speak for yourself, Lilly,’ I murmured. ‘I’m just copying you and hoping Dominic doesn’t realise that I don’t know what I’m doing.’
‘You’re doing just fine,’ she said firmly.
The desserts arrived. Neesa’s appetite had suddenly returned, just in time for her ice-cream. I sat Dominic on my lap and dodged his determined attempts to hijack my spoonful of tiramisu. Valentina’s energy faded first, and soon not even the tiny tastes of Lilly’s ice-cream she was managing were enough to placate her. Lilly lifted her onto her shoulder again and began to rock gently, and then I heard her humming a tune under her breath. I glanced at her, and smiled at the image of it, Lilly in all of her maternal perfection, enjoying her granddaughter.
Dominic let out a squeal on my lap, and I jumped, having forgotten for a moment that he was even there. Ted reached down and lifted him away from me, passing him back to his father.
‘Maybe we should go,’ Emmaline said softly. Lilly passed Valentina back too, and as she did so, she leant close to me.
‘It’ll be your turn soon,’ she whispered. ‘You’ll visit us with your baby, won’t you?’
‘Of course,’ I promised. ‘Of course I will.’