Page 34 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

‘Bree? Is this the woman you were with at the pub?’

‘Yes. She’s a client.’

‘Doesn’t sound much like business to me. I hope you’re not bringing some strange woman into Vicki’s life. Not when she is still getting over the loss of her mother.’

‘Sally. I’m going to go now. I want to cook dinner and spend the evening with my daughter. She’ll have time to talk to you on Friday.’

He ended the call before Sally could respond. He felt bad about doing it, but he knew if he didn’t, things might have been said that he would come to regret.

Matt tried not to think about Sally as he and Vicki cooked dinner. After eating, he helped her with her knitting. She was determined to have the scarf finished by the next knitting club meeting. Then he tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight.

As he left her room, his phone rang. He saw the caller’s name and for a moment considered not answering. But avoiding this problem wasn’t going to make it go away.

He carried the phone into the kitchen to avoid disturbing Vicki.

‘Hello, Brian.’

‘Matt. Sally has gone to bed. I wanted to ring you and say I’m sorry for the way she behaved earlier. She was out of line, and when she calms down a little, I’m sure she’ll realise that.’

‘It’s good of you to say that, Brian. Thank you. But I’m not at all sure she will realise that what she’s doing is too much. Vicki has been through a really difficult time and I’m just trying to create a safe and stable and comforting life for her. I have to set boundaries. And Sally has to respect those boundaries.’

‘I know. This has been so hard for her. She hasn’t been the same since we lost Kim and—’

‘Neither have I. And more importantly, neither has Vicki.’

‘I know.’ The voice down the phone was barely a whisper.

Matt understood. He could not even begin to imagine how he would feel if anything happened to Vicki; losing his daughter was a horror beyond his comprehension. Brian was suffering as much as any of them. His way was to hide it from the world.

‘You know I want you and Sally to be a part of Vicki’s life, especially as my own family lives overseas. But it’s not good for her to get pulled in two directions. The boundaries I set for her have to be respected.’

‘I do respect them.’

Matt sighed. ‘I know you do, Brian. And I appreciate it. But Sally doesn’t. And she’s getting worse. Have you thought about getting her some help? Maybe some counselling?’

‘I’ve tried to talk to her about that. But she won’t … She just won’t.’

The despair in Brian’s voice was all too familiar to Matt. He knew what it felt like to want to help the person you love and have no way of doing that. He wanted to comfort him. To help him. But his main concern had to be his daughter. ‘If she doesn’t ease back a little, I am going to have to restrict the time she can speak with Vicki or spend with her.’

A series of unexpected noises on the phone caused Matt to fall silent. The next voice he heard was not Brian’s.

‘You are going to do what? Restrict my access to my granddaughter? You can’t do that.’

Matt winced. A bad situation was about to get much worse. ‘Sally, I don’t ever want to come between you and Vicki, but I am asking you to respect my role as her father and my right to raise her as Kim and I had planned.’

‘You can’t take her away from me.’ Sally had clearly stopped listening. ‘You didn’t even marry Kim. You couldn’t commit to her, so how can we trust you with her daughter? If you were never Kim’s husband, how can you truly be Vicki’s father?’

‘Sally, please don’t—’

‘No. I won’t have you take her away from me.’ Her voice was almost a scream. She sounded unhinged.

‘Sally, please—’

But she was gone.

Matt laid his phone on the kitchen bench and stared at it. How had it come to this? There was enough pain and tragedy in all their lives. This anger would do nothing but harm. He pushed himself away from the bench and walked quietly to Vicki’s room. He glanced through the open door. In the faint light from the hall, he could see her sleeping soundly, the unicorn doona covering half her face.

He backed out, pulling the door closed behind him, and walked down the hallway to step out onto the front veranda of the house. It was cold, but he barely felt it. He looked up at the stars as he had so often in the past two years.

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