Love rushed over me. This beautiful and sensitive man put my needs and those of my child above his own | The moment I knew

It was March 1998 and my two year old daughter and I had been living in our flat in Elwood, Melbourne since January. Diligently furnished by Ikea and the op-shop, our apartment was sparse but lovely. I wanted to make Molly's experience of living between two homes as peaceful as possible.

We loved our new home. We liked to sit out our third floor back door which overlooked the parking lot but had a hint of a view of the city in the distance. We liked that if you stood on the living room couch you could see a beach glow. I loved the safe and smooth possibility of it all. Molly loved standing on the sofa.

It was a big moment for me.

The fake series documentaries that I had co-created, Small Tales & True, were now filming. Wayne Hope came to play a few roles, including the role of my husband.

I had met Wayne a few times briefly, but when we worked together we liked each other immediately. One evening we all went out for a drink and I don't think we spoke to anyone else. We had a lot to tell each other. We had both had long relationships in our twenties. We both had a big appetite for life. After that night, we started dating, first as friends, but it didn't last long: I found him very attractive.

My life was wonderful and confusing. I was doing a TV show, which was my dream; I was raising a child, which was difficult; and now I was in a potential relationship, which was dangerous. I'd had a shaky, disjointed year and wasn't entirely confident about my instincts. Half the time I didn't know what I was doing. The one thing I felt consistently, infallibly strong for was Molly. She was really my anchor.

Right from the start, I told Wayne that if he was interested in me, he had to know I was coming. couple: Molly and I were one thing. He said he understood, but it's easy to say when you want to get into someone's pants.

I didn't want Molly to walk in and find a weird guy in his mother's bed, so Wayne was allowed into our apartment on a strict list. He would arrive after Molly fell asleep and he would (finally) leave before she woke up. Then he would drive into the cold Melbourne winter and walk home.

Occasionally we would meet in the park or at a cafe during the day , as we would with other friends. – so I could figure out what Molly thought of Wayne and he of her. They loved each other very much.

A few months passed and one night after Wayne left, I looked out the window and saw him on the side path then that he passed in front of the mailboxes. He stopped to tighten his jacket around him, pulling his collar up over his scarf. It was 3am and very cold. It was always 3 am and very cold when he left and not once had Wayne tried to sneak in to stay in my warm bed. that he ever expressed it to me - that was it right away. Love rushed at me like a truck. This beautiful and sensitive man put my needs and those of my child above his own. I felt the sure and sweet possibility of being with him for good.

When we got married two years later, we gave each other rings and a locket to Molly. Her lovely little sister, Emily, born two years later, is still upset that she didn't attend the wedding.

Summer Love, an anthology series created by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope, airs Aug. 31 at 9 p.m. on ABC and ABC iView