I met his other sister, the youngest one, Lisa. She was quieter than the rest of them. Nate was teasing the life out of her about her hair, complaining that he’d told her to wash out the dye last time. She smiled warmly at me when I poked him in the ribs and told him to leave her alone. Everything was going great.

Hannah and her boyfriend weren’t here yet, apparently they stayed at a hotel last night after having a romantic meal for her birthday – Nate wasn’t best pleased when he learnt that little titbit of information.

I’d not seen this side of Nate before; how attentive, protective and affectionate he was with his sisters and mom. It was cute to watch how they fussed over him, and teased him about needing a haircut and to eat more food. I leant against the counter, just watching him talk to his family; the whole time, he had one arm securely around my waist, stroking my hip reassuringly.

I smiled as I watched the interactions; I had never pictured him having a family. For some reason, he struck me as a man’s man. He loved to drink with his friends, he had this big macho job, liked rock-climbing and bungee jumping, shooting guns, fighting – but yet he was also perfectly at home here with his family; in fact, he seemed extremely contented here. Watching the way he interacted with them all, made me want this too; it made me want this kind of life for myself and DJ.

I could almost picture myself in Dawn’s place, heading up the family. I watched the way Evan was stroking her back while she spoke. They looked so cute and adorable together; I couldn’t help but wonder if Nate and I would still be like that in years to come. I chewed on my lip and tried to come back to reality a little, it had only been eight weeks, I shouldn’t really allow myself to dream that far ahead. I certainly shouldn’t picture DJ bringing home his girlfriend to meet me, all of us hanging out in the kitchen, laughing. I definitely shouldn’t picture Nate smiling at me the way Evan was smiling at Dawn. I couldn’t allow myself to think like that because that was a sure fire way to break my heart into a million pieces. I couldn’t allow myself to dream, because dreams and hopes didn’t bring anything in life, except disappointment.

“Nate, you mind helping me move the grill and the chairs and stuff down to the beach?” Evan asked, nodding towards the back door.

Dawn clapped her hands together excitedly. “Rosie can stay with me, we can have girlie time!”

Oh no! I looked at Nate pleadingly, willing him to come up with some brilliant excuse as to why I had to stay at his side and help him move chairs.

Instead, he smirked at me and nodded. “Sure, girlie bonding time is just what you two need,” he answered.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Sounds great,” I lied, forcing a smile.

He laughed and pulled me into his chest, kissing me lightly for a couple of seconds. “Don’t miss me too much, Stripes.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, I’ll try not to.”

He bent in close and kissed me again lightly. “I’ll come and save you in a couple of minutes,” he whispered against my lips. I nodded gratefully and smiled. His eyes twinkled as he pulled back, and I held in my dreamy sigh that wanted to escape. He turned to his mom. “Remember the rules we went over on the phone? Break one and we’re leaving,” he warned, following his father out of the door, grabbing Paige’s hand and dragging her out too, leaving me alone with his mom.

I looked at her hesitantly, not knowing what to say. “Your house is beautiful. It’s a great day for a beach party,” I said.

Oh God, I’m talking about the weather! I immediately wanted to slap myself on the forehead. Great day for a beach party? I might have well just said, ‘Well, this is awkward’.

Dawn didn’t seem to think it was a stupid thing to say; she smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “It’s a beautiful day. I can’t wait for you to meet everyone. This party is going to be great!”

“How many people are coming?” I asked, wanting to keep the conversation going so it didn’t lapse into an uncomfortable silence. Though, I had the distinct impression that there would be no silences with this woman around, she seemed to talk more than I did when I got on one of my rambles.

She pursed her lips, seeming to be thinking about it, and I took my opportunity to study her. She was extremely pretty in the understated, ‘I-don’t-need-to-dress-up-too-much-or-put-on-too-much-make-up’ kind of way. Her personality seemed to burst from every pore, making her seem even more cute and adorable. I could see a lot of Nate in this woman, the way he seemed to be able to make people laugh or smile or feel comfortable. He looked like his dad, but he had his mom’s ability to light up a room – just minus the crazy.

“I think maybe about forty in total,” she answered. “My brother and sister are coming with their children. One of my uncles is coming too, but he won’t stay long, just long enough to eat all of our food and then he’ll leave. Some neighbours are coming for a couple of drinks too. Hannah has some friends coming from school, I think.”

I inwardly winced. Nate had said this was a small affair, not forty of his friends and family.

“Anyway, tell me more about you, sweetheart. What about DJ, he’s with his dad today?” Dawn questioned, looking at me like a curious puppy.

“Yeah, he’s there for the weekend. Right now he’s probably visiting his Nanna Juliet and making cupcakes,” I laughed.

She seemed to make a little whimper noise as she mouthed the word ‘Nanna’. “That’s sweet. Does he see his dad a lot?” she asked, still seeming to be musing over what I’d said about Josh’s mom.

I shrugged. “When he can. Josh works a lot, so…” I trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

“Do you get on alright with Josh?”

I took a big breath, not really wanting to lie to this woman. For some reason, I trusted her and didn’t mind admitting my disastrous relationship to her. “In front of DJ we get on great, but behind closed doors, not so much. I think there’s still a lot of ill feelings there to be honest,” I admitted.

“On your part?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, even after three years our relationship is still a little raw.”

She patted my hand that was resting on the counter. “Well, if you ever need to talk to someone about it then you just know that I’m here for you. I’m here to listen to all my girls, and I never judge,” she stated, smiling kindly.

All my girls… Wow, there she goes with the accepting me thing again.

I smiled back gratefully. This woman had sucked me right in. I defied any person to have one conversation with Dawn Peters and not fall in love with her. “Thanks, Dawn, that’s sweet.”

She smiled. “Now, onto DJ,” she stated, looking at me expectantly.

I looked at her uncomfortably, and waited for her to continue and tell me what she wanted to know.

“Nate said he’s four?” she questioned. I nodded in response. “And what kind of thing is he into?”

“Anything Disney. Or building stuff, Lego, bricks, cars, anything like that. He’s a typical boy in that respect; he likes climbing trees and making a mess. Him and Nate seem pretty well suited,” I joked.

Dawn laughed. “He sounds so adorable, just like Nate when he was a kid, always building something with his father. Nate used to like Disney too,” she replied, nodding enthusiastically.

“Oh yeah? I bet he liked Peter Pan.” I could just see a young Nate idolising Peter Pan because he never had to grow up.

Dawn shook her head. “No, not Peter Pan. He absolutely adored The Little Mermaid. He used to watch that movie over and over again, never got tired of it.”

I burst into a fit of giggles thinking of little Nate watching that movie over and over. I’d have to buy it for him now as a joke. “He’s going to love you for telling me that, he always tries to be so macho.”

She smiled and waved her hand dismissively. “I can handle him, he’s a pu**y cat,” she stated confidently, making me laugh a little harder. “So, what does DJ look like? Do you have a picture of him?” she asked.

I nodded and pulled out the photo from my purse, holding it out to her. She squealed when she looked at it, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth.

“Oh, he’s so perfect! Look at the eyes and the little button nose! Oh, Rosie, he’s so precious! I can’t wait to meet him. Can I meet him? Will you bring him here one day? Maybe he could stay the night, and you and Nate could go out or something? I’m always up for babysitting, anytime you want, you just say the word and I’m there!”

I laughed uncomfortably. “Umm… that’s really nice of you.” I nodded, not really knowing how to answer any of those questions. Maybe Nate would have seen the light by then and will have moved onto someone more suited to him – a glamour model perhaps.

She grinned and hugged the picture to her chest. “Can I keep this?” she asked, looking at me pleadingly.

Keep my picture? “Er… sure?” I answered, but it came out more of a question because I was just so lost. This woman couldn’t possibly be as nice as she was coming across, could she? This had to be an act, didn’t it?

She laughed excitedly, sticking the photo onto her fridge with a magnet. “I can’t wait to show that off to the girls at the bowls club. There’s this one woman there, Margaret her name is, well, she’s always bragging that her daughter has a baby already. She’s rubbed my nose in it forever. Well now she can stick it in her pipe and smoke it because my grandson is ten times cuter than hers!” she exclaimed proudly, smiling down at the photo again.

Was she for real? There was me worrying that they would hate the fact that I had a child from another relationship, and she was planning on bragging to her friends at bowls? Life really was strange sometimes.

She smiled warmly at me and looped her arm through mine. “Want to help me with the food?”

“Sure thing,” I answered, still a little bemused by this whole situation. There was not a chance that my parents would give Nate an easy time like this when they met. My dad wasn’t exactly very trusting of guys after Josh, so I knew he would probably rip Nate a new as**ole before that meeting was over. I was getting off pretty lightly here.

She piled a stack of French bread in front of me and smiled apologetically. “I’ll slice, you spread?” she offered, looking at me hopefully.

“Sure, whatever you want,” I agreed, picking up a knife and popping the lid off the butter that was sat on the counter. Dawn grinned and pulled out a chopping board, slicing up the bread and stacking them on another board for me to spread them. We made small talk for a minute or so, but then her face turned a little more serious as she leant in closer to me.

“Can I tell you something?” she asked quietly.

“Umm, sure.”

She smiled, seeming a little hesitant and I suddenly wondered if this was going to be something bad about Nate.

“I always thought that Nate was… you know,” she whispered, nudging me with her elbow.

I raised one eyebrow at her, not having a clue what she was going on about. “Nate was?” I prompted.

She looked around, checking we were on our own before she leant in, looking at me awkwardly. “You know… gay.”

Gay? What the? She thought Nate was gay? I burst into laughter. I was laughing so hard that my sides were hurting. The idea of a player like Nate being g*y was probably one of the funniest things I had ever heard.

“Why… Why would you… think that?” I stuttered around my giggles, covering my mouth as tears started to form in my eyes.

She chewed on her lip and shrugged, giggling along with me too. “I don’t know, he never showed any signs or anything. Well, I mean there was The Little Mermaid thing, and he is a little vain and fusses with his hair,” she said, winking at me.

I laughed harder. If Nate knew that his mom was thinking that he would pitch a fit. His reaction would be priceless, no doubt. Dawn shrugged, her face getting a little more serious. “It’s just that he’d never spoken about a girl before, I’ve never known him to have a girlfriend. Well, before you, of course,” she added quickly. “Evan always said I was crazy, tried to assure me that Nate wasn’t that way inclined, but I just always thought…”

“Nate’s not gay,” I confirmed, my voice shaky from all the laughing.

She sighed and nodded. “Thank goodness! I mean, I’m not a homophobe or anything, everyone’s entitled to their own preferences, but I always wanted grandchildren and,” she sighed again, “and he’s the only boy, so he’s the only one that’s going to carry on the Peters name.”

I busied myself buttering the bread, trying to stop my hysterics bubbling over again.

“So, do you want more kids, sweetheart?” Dawn asked, raising one eyebrow at me after we’d calmed down.

I didn’t even need to think about that answer.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I love being a mom. It’s the best feeling in the world when you get a hug from your child, or they smile at you. I’d definitely like more kids.”

Arms suddenly closed around my waist, yanking me back into something hard. “And what if I don’t want any?” Nate chimed in, his breath blowing down my neck.

I smiled teasingly over my shoulder. “Then I’d have to dump your ass.”

He pursed his lips playfully. “Is it true that when women get pregnant their boobs get bigger?” he asked, his gaze flicking down to my chest.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Yes, Nate,” I confirmed.

He pressed his chest against my back tightly. “Then I want lots of kids,” he joked, his hand skimming up my side heading towards my breasts. I squealed and pushed his hand away it reached its desired destination.