Chapter 29

CHAPTER

29

Matt recognised Sally’s car as he approached the hall and allowed relief to take some of the edge off his tension. If Sally was still here, then so too was Vicki. After seeing Bree’s message, he’d leaped in his car. All through the drive back to town, his one fear was that Sally might have convinced Bree to let her take Vicki home. Heartbreaking as it was, he didn’t want Vicki alone with her grandmother. He didn’t trust Sally. She would never deliberately hurt Vicki, but he doubted her ability to recognise that how she was behaving could also cause harm to a little girl still recovering from losing her mother.

He paused outside the hall’s front door, taking some deep breaths to calm himself. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten Vicki.

He didn’t want her to know there was a problem between him and her grandmother; she was too young to understand.

When he had regained some semblance of calm, he walked up the steps and into the hall. The knitters were packing up; a few more minutes and he might have been too late to stop this developing into something nasty. He wasn’t entirely sure that was possible even now.

On the far side of the big table, Sally was standing next to Vicki, who was putting her things into her bag. Bree and Rose were close by. Bree was speaking and as she did, she glanced around and saw him. He could see the relief on her face.

‘Hi, Daddy.’ Vicki spotted him too and waved.

‘Hi, honey. How was your afternoon?’

‘It was fun, Daddy. Look. Granny came.’

‘So I see.’

Sally didn’t reply. Her face was a mask, hard and cold as granite.

‘She brought me lots of pretty wool. Look, Daddy.’ Vicki thrust an overflowing bag at Matt.

He glanced at the yarn then looked back at Sally. She smiled a thin, tight smile, almost as if she was sensing a victory.

‘Why don’t we all go home together?’ she said. ‘I could cook you your favourite dinner, Vicki. Noodles just like your mummy used to make.’

‘I don’t like noodles.’ Vicki’s voice quivered with uncertainty.

Over his daughter’s head, Matt saw Bree shaking her head. That was lawyer Bree in action and he got the message. That letter was obviously not going to be the end of Sally’s fight, and right now, he had to get Vicki away from her.

‘I’m sorry, honey, but Granny has to go home to Grandpa.’ Vicki looked crestfallen.

‘Granny and I have to chat about a couple of things. Why don’t you take your things to the car? I’m sure Rose and Bree will help you.’ He caught Bree’s eye, hoping she would understand.

She did. She and Rose began gently herding the knitting club members towards the exit. The air was thick with tension and Matt knew that tongues would be wagging all around the town tonight. That was the least of his problems.

He waited until the last knitter stepped through the doorway, then faced Sally, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

‘What are you doing here? I thought we agreed that you’d stay away for now.’

‘I came to see Kim.’

‘Kim? Don’t you mean Vicki?’ Matt said gently.

‘Of course I mean Vicki. I’m worried about her.’

‘Worried about her?’ Matt could hardly believe his ears. ‘The only problems in her life right now are being caused by you. And that solicitor you’ve hired. Unless you withdraw that action, you need to stay away from Vicki.’

‘Do you expect me to say and do nothing while you send her to spend the night with strangers in order to sleep with some woman?’

His jaw dropped open, but he was too shocked to reply.

‘Yes, I know all about you and that Bree woman. You will not replace my Kim with her. Not in my granddaughter’s life.’

‘I’m not.’ The words were out before he could even think about them. ‘But if I was to get involved with another woman, that’s none of your business.’

‘Everything to do with Vicki is my business. You took Kim away from me. You will not do the same thing with her daughter.’

Matt’s anger vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by a profound sadness. ‘Sally, I know how much you’re still hurting over losing Kim. You’re not alone. But I think you need to seek some help in dealing with that grief. You know you sometimes call Vicki by her mother’s name? That’s not a good thing. And it’s not helping Vicki either.’

‘Don’t you speak to me like that.’ She seemed angrier than ever. ‘Don’t you dare speak to me like that. I loved Kim. And you took her away from me.’

‘No, Sally. Cancer took her away from both of us.’

Silence settled in the room, and for a moment, Matt thought he’d broken through Sally’s shell of pain.

‘You are going to regret what you did to Kim. And to me.’ Sally pivoted and made for the door.

Matt was too stunned to move, until he remembered that Vicki was outside. Sally was angry enough to do anything. He ran to the door and stepped out in time to see Sally’s car pulling away from the kerb. His gaze flashed across the other cars, and he sighed with relief when he saw Vicki sitting on the bonnet of Bree’s car, chatting happily to Bree and Rose.

As he walked over to them, the other knitting ladies began to drift away.

‘Hey, honey. Time to go home.’ Matt lifted Vicki down from the bonnet. He wanted to pull her into his arms, hold her until the fear went away. Instead, he briefly hugged her tightly to his chest. Even though their home was a short distance away, he strapped Vicki into her child seat in the back of his car.

Bree was standing by the driver’s door.

‘Are you all right?’ She touched his arm, gently, then her hand fell away.

‘Bree.’ His voice caught in his throat and he struggled to continue. ‘I can’t thank you enough. If you hadn’t let me know …’

‘No. Never.’ It was as if she understood what he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud. ‘I was with her all the time. So was Rose. And the others. We all love Vicki and we would never let any harm come to her.’

‘Thank you.’

His hands had stopped shaking when he placed them on the steering wheel. He drove away, so grateful Vicki was with him. Wishing Bree was too.

Once safe inside their home, he managed to slip out of his daughter’s hearing and call Brian.

This time, the call was answered immediately.

‘Matt?’ His father-in-law’s voice was hesitant and that told Matt much that he needed to know.

‘She was here, Brian. She just turned up. Vicki was at the knitting club.’

‘I didn’t know, Matt. Honestly. I came home from golf and she was gone. I tried calling her but she didn’t pick up.’

‘You should have called me.’

‘I didn’t know where she was going.’

‘That’s bullshit. You knew she’d be here.’ He took a deep breath to control his anger. ‘Brian, she can’t go on like this. You know she sometimes calls Vicki by her mother’s name? I think she forgets that Kim is gone. Or she’s trying too hard to hold on to the past, before we lost her. I know you care for your wife. For her own sake, you need to get her some help. I can’t allow her to keep dragging Vicki into her problems.’

There was no answer.

Matt’s sympathy for Brian was starting to fade. Matt had watched the woman he loved die and been unable to help her. Brian could help Sally, but he wasn’t.

‘Daddy! Can I have some milk?’

Matt hit end call on his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. ‘I’m coming,’ he called.

***

The letter arrived on Tuesday. Matt knew what it was the moment it was placed into his hand by the courier. He dropped it on his desk and stared at it for a few seconds, dread settling like a dark cloud around his heart. Then he reached for the phone. Bree answered on the second ring.

‘A copy was delivered to the office in Sydney too,’ she told him. ‘My assistant is about to scan it and email it to me. Then I’ll come over.’

He waited, unable to even think about work. And still the letter remained unopened.

When she walked in the office door, with her wild hair and faded jeans and bright shirt, he felt the tension in his shoulders ease a fraction. Bree was more than a solicitor, she was a friend, and of the two, he needed the second most of all.

She sat down opposite him and looked at the unopened envelope. ‘You do need to read it.’

‘I know. But I wanted to do it while you were here, in case it needed explanation.’ That wasn’t the only reason.

‘Do it now.’

Matt opened the envelope and scanned the document inside. It began as a repeat of the first letter, accusing Matt of blocking Sally’s access to her grandchild and claiming this was grounds for a court hearing over custody. But there was something else.

Child sent away overnight … inappropriate relationship with his legal counsel … Child exposed to moral danger …

As the meaning of the words sank home, Matt looked at Bree. ‘I’m sorry she’s dragged you into this.’

‘It’s not your fault.’

‘I’m worried about her. She needs help.’

Bree sighed and smiled. ‘Matt, I love that you are thinking of her. But it’s reached the stage where that’s no longer possible. You have to start fighting her.’

‘She can’t take Vicki away, can she?’

‘The court is unlikely to remove a child from a parent without very real cause, which I don’t think she has. But if she follows up on this, there will have to be a hearing and some investigation. Vicki will be interviewed. It’s going to be hard on her. And there is a possibility that you would have to accept court-mandated access visits.’

The tone of her voice, more than the words, convinced him that Sally’s threat was real. ‘So what do we do now?’

‘We don’t do anything, I’m afraid.’

Matt blinked in surprise. ‘Won’t you help—’

‘It’s not that I won’t. I can’t. This document names me and accuses you, me, us of a relationship. That makes it impossible for me to continue as your counsel. And even if it didn’t, it would do your case more harm than good.’

‘So what are we going to do?’

‘I’m still part of a law firm. I am going to drive to the city tomorrow and find someone else to officially represent you. But don’t worry, I’ll be behind you all the way.’

When she reached out to offer him comfort, he grasped her hand like the lifeline that it was.