Page 66 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

‘Whatever you want is perfectly all right by your father and me.’

‘Thank you.’

As the call ended, Bree wondered if Rose had told Margaret she was planning to move. But that was something for another day. Right now, Matt needed her.

***

When she arrived at his office, Matt was, as usual, at his desk. Bree had deliberately chosen this time of day because Vicki would be at school. The little girl didn’t need to hear any of this.

‘I’m here to help you with Vicki’s grandparents,’ she announced as she dropped into a chair opposite him.

‘That’s really good of you. But I can’t ask you to get involved in this.’

‘You didn’t ask, I’m offering. If you don’t want me involved, that’s fine. Tell me so and I’ll step back. But you need a solicitor and that costs money. Or, in my case, it’s going to cost you the very best lasagne Jake has ever cooked at the pub and the best wine Deb has hidden under the bar.’

Matt almost laughed. ‘Thanks.’ He sounded much better than he had yesterday. He nodded and opened the desk drawer.

The letter he put in front of Bree was several pages of intense legalese, the sort of letter solicitors write when they want to not exactly threaten but rather intimidate someone. The sort of letter that usually worked. But this one was different on one key point.

‘It’s strange that they don’t say what they want. They claim you have cut off their access to Vicki, and they will start proceedings against that. But they don’t say what would be an acceptable out-of-court solution. That’s most unusual. I would expect them to say that proceedings can be averted if you return to the free access they had before.’

‘What are you thinking?’

‘I don’t know. This seems very unrealistic. There’s nothing here that a court would take too seriously. It seems to me to be an opening salvo to judge how you respond. Do they have anything else to threaten you with? Apart from what we talked about yesterday.’

She saw him hesitate. Or she thought she did.

‘No. I just think that Sally hasn’t dealt with losing Kim. And that’s what’s driving her. It’s as if she wants to use Vicki to get back the daughter she lost. It’s really sad. She is a nice woman—or maybe I should say, she was. I thought we got on well, until recently.’

‘I’ll reply to them. I’ll go home now and write the letter. I’ll email you a copy, then if you’re happy, I’ll have it sent via my parents’ firm to give it more weight.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Then we need to give it a few days. If we don’t hear anything more, we can be pretty sure it’s not a serious threat.’

‘And if we do? What’s likely to be their next step?’

‘I honestly don’t know. From what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me, there really isn’t a next step. Not one a family law specialist would suggest. I really think you can relax about the legal side. This will go away. As for Sally—’

‘I’m still hoping that she’ll get some help. I’ve suggested that to Brian but I can’t do more than that. All I can do is keep Vicki safe.’

‘I’m sure you will.’

Matt came out from behind the desk to perch on the front near Bree. ‘Thank you. Now, when can I buy you that slap-up dinner at the pub?’

‘I haven’t done anything yet. Let’s get this letter out there and see what happens before we celebrate.’

‘Okay. How does Friday sound?’

‘A bit optimistic. I wouldn’t expect to hear anything by then. But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy me dinner. By the way, Nan called me earlier. She says her offer has been accepted.’

‘I’m glad she told you, because I couldn’t without breaking confidentiality. But yes, it looks like all that is going ahead.’

‘So we can celebrate that on Friday instead. I’ll see if Nan is going to come up. And if she does, there’s a good chance Mike will appear, unless he’s off working somewhere.’

‘I’ll get a babysitter for Vicki.’

‘No. Bring Vicki as well, if you want. Nan would love to see her. She’s very fond of her. So am I.’

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