'Really, liefling?' she says. Tell me what happened.'

"Listen, liefling, this has got nothing to do with them," he said. I shook my head. " It's not that, Riaan... it's Peter.

There was another word she called him sometimes; it had a funny sound to it, liefling. In truth she knew well that it meant 'darling'. She casually told him it meant 'dreamer'. He would remember those magical, special words, always.

Ma gives a long-suffering sigh. It's all my fault. You're paranoid, Stella. No—YOU'RE paranoid! Stop! Simon's cracking, broken voice rises up above the fray. Johannes is whispering into Marietjie's ear, My liefling.

She simply dropped her face onto his chest and hugged him tight. Is this feeling running through my body, the feeling of . . . true love? “Kom, my liefling, we should hike first up the mountain—where we can talk.”

Liefling

Meaning

Noun