Love happens every day. It happens to two complete strangers who bump into each other on the street, the two co-workers, desperate to hide their budding romance from everyone in the building, the wife and husband who realise that they don’t want the divorce they thought they did, and reconcile with hot and sweaty make- up sex.

We all have our Prince Charmings somewhere, we just have to find him. Me- I thought I found mine when I met Christan, but instead I learnt (after two years, might I add) what a complete idiot I was when I walked into my bedroom and found him in my bed with my boss. Needless to say, I quit my job and kicked his sorry ass out of my house.

That’s why I’m here, twenty – two, single, and miserably unemployed. So much for love happening everyday. I think I just became a cynic – particularly after Mum’s long- distance phone call from upstate New York.

‘You’re father and I are getting a divorce.’

I was shocked. After twenty years of marriage, Mum and Dad were my ultimate role models. Somehow Mum had managed to raise eight kids while Dad constantly brought in a steady income as an Investment Broker. Come to think of it, he did travel a lot.

‘B-but why?’ I asked.

‘It just didn’t work on.’ Mum said as way of an explanation. She was halfway through saying her goodbyes when she backtracked a few steps. ‘Oh, and by the way. I’m moving in.’

Hold the phone.

‘What? Mum, you really don’t have to do that…’ I protested.

‘No, I insist. You and I are both getting out of a bad relationship, you need help with the rent and it’ll just be like old times. Just you me…and the baby.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Baby?’ I repeated.

Mum gulped. ‘Honey, I’m pregnant.’

I hung up the phone.

Mum had Bella, my eldest sister, when she was fifteen. She and Daddy had been high school sweethearts, and had always talked about raising a family. Of course, they were only thirteen then, so the possibility of it actually happening seemed so unlikely that my grandparents took no notice of it. But when Mum told her parents that she was pregnant, she was forced to drop out of school and get a job to support herself. When Bella was two, Mum fell pregnant with the twins, Henry and Greg. By this time, the match between Mum and Dad was undeniable, and the two decided to move out on their own. With three kids to raise, it was hard, but somehow Mum managed to juggle a job at a local Café while Daddy followed in his father’s financially insured footsteps. When the twins turned three, Mum fell pregnant with me, April, and the two decided to get married when they realised that they wanted a big family, and the only way to prove that they were serious was to get married.

Ever since then, Mum has always stayed home with the kids. She wanted so desperately to please my father that she’d get up at three, four in the morning to get the house clean and tidy before us kids woke up and she had to get the eldest children ready for school. When Bella started school, and the twins were at playgroup, Mum asked Daddy if they could try for a baby, and that was how she fell pregnant with the triplets, Christan, Georgina and Lola.

I had a wonderful childhood. I absolutely idolised Bella and the twins, and followed them everywhere. When the triplets grew up, it was hard to get rid of them. Being part of a big family brought with it a sense of security, and I’ve always felt safe and supported by my family. But when I was eighteen, I moved out of home to go to University on a scholarship to study law. I think that’s when Mum and Daddy’s relationship began to fall apart, although of course I can’t be sure.

Daddy started travelling a lot, and every other night Mum would come home from the pub with a different guy. I only learnt about her affairs that Christmas when I came home from Uni- but I also learnt that Mum wasn’t the only one cheating. Daddy was having a long – term ‘fling’ with his secretary, who, coincidently, was always accompanying him on his trips.

By this time, the triplets were about to start Primary school, Bella was off in Sydney studying fashion design, the twins were at medicine school and I was trying to help Mum raise the triplets while decidedly studying my degree by correspondence.

We turned out OK, though. Mum and Dad still kept up their dysfunctional relationship, and I sheltered the kids as much as possible from their constant fights.

But another baby on the way? Then a thought hit me.

Who was the father?