Page 96 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

Matt sagged with relief. ‘Are you—’

‘I am certain.’

‘And you won’t be joining Sally’s fight?’

‘Good God, no. When I first spoke to her, I didn’t realise she was, well, like she is. I always got on okay with her and Brian. But this, this is wrong. I want to apologise for my part in it.’

The relief that surged through Matt was almost too much to take. With the greatest effort, he took a deep breath and straightened his back. He held out his hand. ‘Thank you.’

Hooper shook his hand. ‘I really am sorry it came to this. I hope you and Vicki can forget all about it.’ He left the office.

Matt locked the office door behind him. He walked swiftly back into the house to find Vicki waiting.

‘Let’s go and see Bree.’

‘And the alpacas.’

He smiled. ‘And the alpacas.’

CHAPTER

38

Matt was earlier than Bree had expected, but that was fine. With Vicki around, they wouldn’t get much chance to be alone, maybe a quick kiss. But even that would be enough. No. Who was she kidding? That wouldn’t be enough. But it would have to do for now. She left Maggie cleaning out feed bins and walked to where Matt was helping Vicki out of the back seat of the car.

‘Hello, Bree.’ Vicki skipped towards her. ‘Daddy says there is a surprise. What is it?’

Bree returned the little girl’s hug, feeling overjoyed at her confidence and the open display of affection. ‘Surprise? I wonder what your dad was thinking of?’ She grinned at Matt and took a step towards him, but was shocked to see that his returning smile was forced. His face was stony, as if he was keeping a tight rein on some overwhelming emotion. Something was very wrong. Before she could ask, he shook his head slightly, and nodded at Vicki. Bree understood.

‘Come on, Vicki.’ She took the girl’s hand. ‘Let’s see if we can find this surprise.’

With Vicki skipping along beside her, Bree walked to the mothers’ paddock and helped Vicki climb onto the bottom rail of the wooden fence. Once the girl could see over the top, it didn’t take her long to spot the new arrival.

‘Daddy, look! It’s a new baby. Did you know they are called crias? Hello, little cria.’

‘It’s Roxy’s son,’ Bree told her. ‘He’s not quite two days old.’

Roxy was grazing quietly while her boy was testing his legs, trotting around the grazing alpacas and racing with the other youngsters. Vicki started laughing at the creature’s antics. Bree glanced at Matt. The look on his face as he watched his daughter’s joy was heartbreaking.

‘What’s his name?’ Vicki asked.

‘He doesn’t have a name yet. Would you like to help me pick a name for him?’

‘Oh, yes, please.’

‘All right. You have to get to know him a little before you pick a name, so why don’t you just sit there on the edge of the water trough and watch him for a while? See what names come to you.’

With Vicki safely occupied, Bree touched Matt’s arm and they stepped back, out of earshot.

‘What’s wrong?’

She listened with growing horror as Matt outlined what had happened. ‘Oh, Matt. How horrible for you. How much did Vicki hear?’

‘Not as much as she could have. I sent her away, but she knew something was wrong, And afterwards, she didn’t ask about it. That’s what she did in the last stages of Kim’s illness. She went very quiet and stopped asking how her mother was doing. It scares me to see her like that again. I can’t let this happen to her. Not now when she’s become her old, happy, confident self again.’

‘No, you can’t. I’m so glad the other man has stepped back. A full paternity hearing, with blood tests and so forth, would have been so stressful for poor Vicki. And you.’ She took his hand and squeezed it gently in support.

His fingers closed around hers like a drowning man finding a lifeline. ‘I don’t know what to do next.’

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