Moving day arrived. Freya’s dad, Anders, along with Indira and Lena, arrived bright and early—8:00AM. After Freya provided everyone with mugs of steaming, fragrant coffee, the five worked together in loading up the four-wheel-drive. Once packed, Anders and Freya ferried the load to the girls’ new place and unpacked, while Gab, Indira and Lena stacked, cleaned and organised at the old quarters, ready to load up again once Freya and Anders returned with the vehicle.

The new apartment was on the first floor of a small block of flats. The girls’ bedrooms were on opposite sides of the dwelling, which Gab desperately hoped would mitigate most of the baby-noise before it reached Freya. There was no nursery; Gab hadn’t even thought of putting the baby in a separate room. When Freya had suggested it, both girls had baulked at the price difference between two- and three-bedroom flats in Parkville. So a two-bedroom apartment it was.

There was no large furniture to transport across, so, despite the bags of baby gear that Gab had slowly begun to accumulate, it only took three trips to move everything. Too absorbed in exams to think about much else, the girls planned to purchase furniture after they’d moved in. They figured they’d survive using beanbags, camping mats and milk crates until then. Anders had brought camping mats for them to sleep on, as instructed by his second-eldest daughter. But when he saw Gab, he decided that a camping mat would not do for a young lady seven-months-pregnant.

“Off we go!” he said, with theatrical flair. “No sleeping mats. We are off to buy some new beds!” Gab protested, especially when it became clear that Anders planned to pay for her new bed as well as for Freya’s, but he wasn’t having a bar of it. His charm and nonchalant generosity gradually overcame Gab’s embarrassment, and by the evening, two flat-packed bedframes and two vac-packed mattresses had transformed into spaces of welcome comfort, one in each bedroom.

As that busy day drew to a close, sushi was ordered for dinner. The four girls and Anders sat around the loungeroom—on the floor, on beanbags, on boxes—eating and chatting in tired satisfaction. Afterwards, Gab and Freya hugged and thanked their support crew with much gratitude.

Tomorrow, Gab would put together the baby’s cot—a no-fuss, minimalist affair. Whereas all the baby stuff had been squeezed and shoved in her old room, here she would set it up neatly, folding baby clothes into a new set of drawers and neatly packing nappies, wipes, and clothes the next two sizes up into the wardrobe. She would decorate the apartment with her indoor plants and Freya would add her collection of paintings and sculptures; then, they would pore over listings of second-hand couches and tables and bookshelves.

It was already beginning to feel like home.