‘How can you doubt it?’
‘So…’ he smiled into her eyes ‘…where do we go from here?’
She smiled back at her beloved husband, and she smiled again at her sleeping son. ‘Where, indeed?’
‘Another baby?’
‘Absolutely,’ she whispered, gazing down at the perfection of her little son.
‘More turtles?’
‘Oh, yes.’
Another cat or two?’
‘Two’s enough. I’m thinking of a puppy.’
‘Is there room for a puppy with two cats?’ Stefanos asked, startled, and she grinned.
‘I think there’s room for anything in our family,’ she said. ‘This is the Diamond Isles. Place of miracles. Place of wonder. Home of our hearts, and room for all.’
This season we bring you Christmas Treats
An Australian Christmas is often a lovely mixture of traditional and cool. Our extended family is large, we eat outside at our beach shack, we continue to serve the traditional turkey and pudding, but in deference to the heat we add a few things. Like lobster and prawns to start-and Amy’s Christmas Cake after pudding. The ‘Cake’ is huge- it goes back and forth from the freezer well after Christmas; a lovely, lingering treat for all.
Make it and enjoy, whatever side of the equator you come from. It’s a tradition we’re willing to share.
For each layer:
500 g (or 1 lb) berries (any variety except strawberries) blended and sieved [1].
4 eggs
? cup (6 oz or 175g) castor/superfine sugar
1 cup (250 ml or ? pint) whipped cream
1. Cream yolks and sugar.
2. Whisk whites until stiff.
3. Fold in yolk and sugar mixture, and berry mixture.
4. Pour into ice cream maker. Churn until frozen.
5. Pour into large cake-shaped container to form one layer of the cake. Cover with plastic food wrap. Freeze.
6. Two days later do another layer with different berries. Continue until you run out of bowl, berries or freezer space.
To serve:
Blend and sieve another 250g (? lb) berries. Sweeten to taste to make a coulis. (I make this at room temperature and the sugar dissolves. If your room temperature is not Australian Christmas room temperature (ie warm), you might need to heat gently and then cool again before serving.)
Turn cake out. Decorate with extra berries.
Slice and serve, pouring a little of the coulis over the top of each slice. Enjoy.
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 for the Harlequin® Romance line. (She used a different name for a while-if you’re looking for her past Harlequin Romance novels, search for author Trisha David, as well.) She’s now had more than seventy-five romance novels accepted for publication.
In her non-writing 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!
[1] Last Christmas I decided to make deeper layers, and overloaded an ancient food processor with deep crimson brambleberries. This resulted in a startling non-traditional decor for my kitchen that I advise you not to try at home.
