Forty
The week with Briony and Ava passed quickly, too quickly for Erica who loved having them with her. Briony was good company, and little Ava was a delight. Erica was sad when Saturday rolled around, and it was time for them to leave. At various times over the week, she’d tried to raise the topic of Kieren’s controlling behaviour with Briony again, but each time had been met with a refusal from her daughter-in-law to accept that Erica’s suspicions might be true.
Erica hadn’t given up. When they were at the airport, she made one last attempt. ‘You don’t have to go back, Briony. Why don’t you stay, at least for a few more weeks? I’m sure Kieren can do without you for a bit longer.’ It might give Erica time to work on her, to show her she wasn’t dependent on Kieren, that she could make a life here in Pelican Crossing.
‘I need to go home to Kieren. He misses us, misses me. He’s my husband. My place is there with him. I know you mean well, Mum, but you don’t understand.’
Erica bit her tongue, knowing nothing she could say would change Briony’s mind. ‘Promise me one thing, Briony,’ she said at last. ‘Promise me, that if Kieren hits you, just once, you’ll leave him straight away. You’ll always have a home with me.’ Erica wished someone had given her that advice when Kieren was a baby, but she wondered if she’d have taken it, or if, like Briony she’d have believed she knew better.
Briony didn’t reply. Her flight was called, and she picked up her bag.
With a heavy heart, Erica hugged the younger woman and kissed Ava, hoping she’d see them again soon. She didn’t intend to let her granddaughter grow up without knowing her grandmother, neither did she relish returning to Perth to watch Briony being treated by Kieren the way Geoff had treated her.
Erica watched her daughter-in-law walk through the departure gate carrying Ava, on her way back to Perth and to Kieren. She hoped she was wrong, but feared she wasn’t and could only comfort herself that she’d tried her best.
She worried all the way back to Pelican Crossing, where, feeling the need for company, she parked outside Joe’s house, the For Sale sign in the front yard an indication of how things were about to change.
‘You’ve found a house?’ she asked, when she had hugged Joe and Gill and been affectionately greeted by Coco.
‘Just a few days ago,’ Gill said with a big smile. ‘We finally found somewhere we both agree on.’ She gave Joe a loving glance.
‘Where is it? Tell me all about it.’
‘Let me make us coffee first,’ Joe said, ‘or would you prefer one of Gill’s teas?’
‘Tea, thanks.’ Erica took a seat at the kitchen table. Leaving this place with all its memories would be a wrench for Joe, but she could understand Gill’s desire to start afresh. She would hate to move into the house Jamie had shared with Cindy. Where had that thought come from? Erica shifted in her chair as if her companions could read her mind. Not only was there no likelihood of her and Jamie sharing a home, Erica was pretty sure Cindy had never lived in Jamie’s cottage.
When Joe had brewed coffee, Gill had made ginger and lemon tea for her and Erica, and Coco had been provided with one of the bone-shaped dog biscuits she loved, they took their drinks and a plate of ginger biscuits out to the yard, Gill carrying her iPad.
‘You’ll never guess,’ Gill said, her voice brimming with excitement. She opened her iPad and turned it to face Erica.
Erica peered at the screen, at an image which looked very like Livvy’s cottage. She looked back at Gill and Joe who were both smiling widely.
It was Joe who spoke first. ‘We couldn’t believe it when we saw it advertised, and we didn’t want to say anything till our offer was accepted. It’s at the far end of the row of cottages, a deceased estate. It had only just come on the market, and after seeing Livvy’s place and what she had done to it, we snapped it up. We’re going to be neighbours!’
‘That’s… good.’ But Erica wouldn’t be staying there permanently. Once Livvy returned home, she’d have to find somewhere else to live. But she was glad Joe and Gill had found somewhere they liked, and she remembered how Gill had been so taken with the cottage when they visited her. ‘I’m so pleased for you,’ she said somewhat belatedly.
The other two didn’t appear to have noticed her hesitation as Joe described their purchase. ‘It’ll need a lot of work,’ he said. ‘The place has had the same owner for decades, but that’s what makes it so perfect for us. Gill can’t wait to have the kitchen rebuilt, and I must admit to having plans to redecorate the other rooms.’
‘Including the bathroom,’ Gill put in. ‘You should see it, Erica.’ She rolled her eyes.
‘I’m looking forward to doing just that. When do you expect to settle?’
‘That’s the beauty of it,’ Joe said. ‘Given it’s a deceased estate, we are able to get the keys in the next few days and can start to get quotes, though of course we can’t actually do anything till the sale goes through.’
‘Wow!’
The morning passed quickly with Joe and Gill sharing their plans, and making Erica wish she was in a position to purchase a home of her own too. But her time would come. She had been lulled into a sense of false security, assuming they weren’t going to ask her about Jamie, when Gill said, ‘Joe says you and Jamie have broken up. He met Jamie in the hotel earlier this week, said he was devastated, didn’t you, Joe?’
Joe rubbed the back of his neck, something Erica knew he did when he was embarrassed. ‘Devastated might be too strong a word. But he was upset.’
And broken up might be too strong too , Erica thought. There hadn’t really been anything to break up – a few meetings, a couple of kisses. She felt a shudder run down her spine at the memory of those kisses. ‘It wasn’t a good idea,’ she said.
But Gill didn’t intend to let it go. ‘Why not? You’re perfectly suited to each other. If you have some dumb idea in your head that you owe your late husband anything, you can disabuse yourself of that right away. As you know, I see women like you all the time. If I could have five dollars for every one of them who’d jump at the chance to meet someone as genuine and honest as Jamie Whittaker, not to mention he’s a hunk, I’d be a rich woman.’
‘I…’ Erica began, but Joe interrupted her.
‘Gill’s right,’ he said. ‘You’d go far before you’d meet a better man than Jamie, and I’m not just saying that because he’s a good mate.’
‘It’s not that simple,’ Erica said. ‘It’s… Briony. She thinks it’s too soon for me to be in another relationship, and I think she may be right.’
Joe and Gill looked at each other, communicating silently. It was Gill who spoke first, her voice gentle. ‘I know you’ve made your decision for the best of reasons, but don’t you think you’ve gone overboard trying to please your daughter-in-law who…’ She stopped there and looked at Joe again.
‘What Gill’s trying to say, sis, is that Briony isn’t you, and you’re the only person who can decide whether or not it’s too soon. I’d understand your thinking if you’d had a happy marriage like Barb and I had. As you know, I grieved for years, and if I hadn’t met Gill…’ he reached over to take her hand and squeeze it, ‘… I might have stayed single for the rest of my life. But I did meet her and I’m glad I did. It’s a rare thing to meet your special someone, and I’ve been lucky enough to find mine twice. If you think Jamie might be that someone for you, then I’d say go for it and to hell with anyone who tells you otherwise.’
Erica stared at her brother in surprise. This was such a departure from his usual way of talking. He must feel strongly for him to speak so bluntly. But she did get the impression the pair of them had planned this and were ganging up on her. For a few moments she didn’t say anything, too astounded to speak. Then she rose, surprising Coco who had been lying at her feet. ‘I can’t do this,’ she said. ‘I need to leave.’