Page 74 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

Bree took her seat and picked up her own work, but she was too tense to do more than fiddle with it. Amid the hum of voices around the table, she caught bits of the conversation between Vicki and Sally.

‘This is from Bree’s alpacas, Granny. Isn’t it pretty?’

Bree had a feeling the conversation was only making matters worse.

‘… come and visit your grandpa and me in Newcastle …’

Sally’s words sent a shiver along Bree’s spine.

Bree lost track of the conversation then, until Vicki’s childish voice rose with excitement above the hum of the others.

‘I had a sleepover at my friends’ house. It was fun. And I think Daddy had a sleepover too.’

Bree caught her breath. In the corner of her eye, she saw Sally’s face harden. The woman turned her way and Bree knew it was too late. There was no point denying anything—even if she was telling the truth.

The minute hand of the clock on the wall seemed to crawl towards the top of the hour. Bree checked her phone for about the fifth time, but there was still no word from Matt. She was about to try calling him again when a knitter pushed back her chair and declared it was time she headed home.

A general movement in that direction followed. Bree looked around for her grandmother and saw the same tension reflected in Rose’s face that she felt in herself. Sally was helping Vicki put her knitting things back into her bag.

‘As your father’s not here, I’ll take you home, my lovely girl.’ Sally’s voice was tinged with excitement—or was it triumph?

‘But Granny, Daddy said to wait here for him.’

‘That’s all right, he won’t mind that you have come with me.’

Bree had to step in. There was no way she would ever let Vicki leave with anyone other than Matt, unless he’d agreed to it. But how to do it without upsetting the child?

‘I did promise Matt I would keep Vicki here until he called for her,’ Bree said in a firm voice.

Sally spun to look at her. The woman’s face was a mask of anger.

She stepped closer, whispering so the child wouldn’t hear.

‘Don’t you dare try to come between me and my granddaughter, do you hear? You will regret it if you do. You might be fooling Matt, but you don’t fool me.’

Bree took a step back. The vehemence and threat in that voice was terrifying.

‘You will not take my daughter’s place. Do you hear me? Not while I have anything to do with it.’

There was nothing Bree could say. Nothing at all.

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?’

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