Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Danika
“I want to send Bella a Christmas present.” Cami lolls against the kitchen bench. Her chin juts in the same way that Chris’s used to do when he wanted something he thought would be refused. “She’s my sister.”
Danika considers. In the six months since Kim and Bella dropped out of their lives, Cami has seldom mentioned them.
Oh, at first, she was heartbroken. She wrote out a plan in red marker, a list of all the things she could do to get Bella to be her sister. It started with calling her to play soccer and ended with sleeping on the front step of her apartment so that Bella would trip over her in the morning.
That last one was definitely creepy and stalker-ish, even if the stalker was an eight-year-old girl who just wanted to see her sister.
Then the heartbreak morphed into anger. Surly, arms-folded, refusing-to-talk anger, and no matter what Danika did, it was the wrong thing.
Even Cami’s favourite pizza became something she had always hated.
Cami’s teacher summoned Danika to the school, as Cami was being disruptive in class.
She was seeing the therapist again, but the only things that seemed to give her pleasure were soccer and spending time with Sylvie.
Danika had tried to talk to her about it. “I know you’re sad that Bella won’t see you, sweetie. I miss her too. But we have to give her time.”
Cami had responded with a scowl. “I hate Bella, and I hate Kim, and I don’t care if I never see them again.”
Danika knew that wasn’t true, but she was at a loss how to respond.
She misses Bella too, and she misses Kim even more. Their growing closeness, blown apart by the secret that had to come out. Detonated by Chris from beyond the grave. Fucking Chris. The bile at the thought of his name rises more and more often now.
Danika is angry at Kim, too, although rationally she realises it’s misplaced. Kim is protecting her daughter, as she should. Danika can’t override that.
She never got to find out how the four of them could have grown together. What she and Kim could have been. That one brings her to a shuddering halt, hollowness blooming in her chest. The feeling she’s lost something precious.
Cami’s anger gradually abated, and Bella started creeping back into conversations. At first, it was that Sylvie missed Bella. Then she wondered what soccer team Bella now played for.
And now this.
“I missed her birthday,” Cami continues. “It was 4 December.”
With a start, Danika remembers that. Did Bella have a party? Probably. It was what nine-year-olds did. Balloons, too much sugar, presents, lots of games and giggling.
“What would you get her if you could?” Danika says. Not a yes, not a no. Just a request for more information, as if Cami had filed a building plan with the council.
“I’ll write to the Matildas,” Cami says, “and tell them my sister won’t talk to me and ask them to send me something from the team to give to Bella.”
Danika smothers a smile. That would be Cami’s dream gift. Even if the Australian women’s soccer team sends something, there’s every chance it won’t make it to Bella. “You’ve probably left it a bit late. The mail is slow this close to Christmas.”
“But can I try?” Cami’s eyes are wide, hopeful, and she twists her hands together in front of her. “Pretty please?”
“Sure. Why don’t we look to see if there’s an email address to write to? But don’t get your hopes up. The Matildas must get a lot of requests like this.”
“Can we do it now?”
Danika looks at the mess of shopping on the counter. She puts the peas and hash browns in the freezer. The rest can wait. “Sure.”
There is indeed an email for the Matildas, although it’s fairly generic, like it goes to some faceless admin person. Danika opens a new email. “What do you want to say?”
Cami thinks. “Dear Matildas, my name is Camille Henshall and I am eight years old. I play soccer, and my coach says I’m pretty good. One day, when I’m old enough, I want to play for the Matildas. I’m best in midfield, and I can run really fast. My favourite players are—”
“Slow down, I can’t keep up.” Danika backspaces out a typo.
“Kyra Cooney-Cross and Katrina Gorry,” Cami continues without missing a beat.
“I want to score goals like Kyra, and Katrina has kids, so I hope you’ll pass my message on to her.
See, I just found out I have a sister. She’s the same age as me.
We have the same daddy. We were friends, but Bella is sad now because our daddy is dead, and she won’t speak to me. ”
Danika types as fast as she can to catch Cami’s words.
“Bella plays soccer too. She likes to play midfield. Her favourite player is Mary Fowler. I was thinking if I sent her something really good for Christmas, something from the Matildas, maybe even from Mary, then Bella might talk to me again.”
Cami’s voice wobbles. “I miss her so much. Please can you help? Love, Camille Henshall, but you can call me Cami.” She waits impatiently while Danika edits the message, then reads it back to her.
Satisfied, Cami bites her lip. “Do you think they’ll answer?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. They must get a lot of requests from people. But we can hope.”
“They’ll reply.” Eight-year-old confidence shines like a beacon.
The Matildas reply. Three days before Christmas, an express post bag comes, addressed to Cami.
Cami’s eyes grow wide when Danika tells her, and she bounces into the kitchen. “Let’s open it now.”
There are some signed photos, a drink bottle, and best of all, a child-size Matildas shirt. It’s number eleven, Mary Fowler’s number.
Cami’s eyes go like saucers. “She signed it,” she whispers and touches the black lines with her finger.
There’s a second shirt, too, number twenty-three—Kyra Cooney-Cross’s, although that one’s not signed.
Cami’s mouth opens and closes like a goldfish.
Danika spreads the contents on the kitchen counter.
“There’s a note here, too.” She unfolds it and reads, “Dear Cami, we loved your email, and if we can help in some small way to reunite two soccer-loving sisters, then we are happy to help. Mary is currently in Australia, so could sign the shirt for Bella. Good luck, Cami, and keep enjoying soccer. We’ll look out for you in the future. Marci, and everyone at Matildas HQ.”
“Wow.” Cami plonks on the floor as if her legs have given out. “I’m going to work extra hard at soccer now.” She bounces back up. “Bella will love this. Can we send it now so she might get it?”
There’s no way it will arrive by Christmas.
Danika bites her lip. She promised Kim she wouldn’t call, but she said nothing about not leaving a present for Bella by the front door.
“I have a better idea. We’ll drive over and leave the parcel for them, and then we’ll have fish and chips on St Kilda Pier. ”
The joy on Cami’s face is worth the disruption to her day. Danika finds a shoebox, and Cami packs the signed shirt and two of the photos into it. She writes, To Bella, happy Christmas, love Cami xox on a card, and they include that too.
Cami insists on wrapping it herself. Even though the resultant parcel is untidy, Danika pronounces it perfect.
They reach Kim and Bella’s door unseen and put the parcel on the step.
“What if someone takes it?” Cami whispers.
“I’ll text Kim once we’ve gone and ask her to check the step.” She ruffles the top of Cami’s hair. “We’ve got fish and chips to find.”
Cami ducks away and jumps her way down the stairs.
They’re sitting at the end of St Kilda Pier fending off the seagulls who are trying to steal their chips when Danika’s phone chirps with a text.
Parcel received, thank you. Bella will open it on Xmas day.
She shows Cami the message. Cami nods and eats a bit of fish. “She’ll call me.”
Her confidence is both thrilling and heart-breaking. Danika wishes hard that it’s not misplaced.
Danika’s phone rings at eight on Christmas morning. Kim’s number. Her heart stutters. She can’t see how this can go terribly wrong, but equally, there are many levels of how it could go, from barely okay to wonderful. She answers the phone. “Hi, Kim.”
“Hi, Danika. Happy Christmas to you and Cami.”
“To you and Bella, too,” Danika says. She waits.
“Bella loves the present. She’s wearing the shirt now, and I don’t think I’ll get it off her to wash until she outgrows it.
She wants to thank Cami. And Danika”—a swift, indrawn breath—“I want you to know that Bella had already told me she misses Cami. I don’t know what she’s going to say, but please know that she was already working toward seeing Cami again before this. ”
“Oh,” Danika says faintly. Maybe, just maybe, Cami’s idea will work. “Shall I get Cami now?”
“Yes, please,” Kim says. “I’ll get Bella. Danika, I’m happy with whatever the girls decide between themselves.”
She nods, then realising the stupidity of the gesture, says, “I trust them to be sensible. Just so you know, though, I’ll put the phone on speaker, and I’ll be listening in to what they say.”
“Me too.” The sound of footsteps on wooden floors echoes over the line. “Here’s Bella now.”
“Give me a moment.” Danika goes into the living room where Cami, dressed in her Matildas shirt despite the heat, is pulling out pieces to make the Lego dinosaur, one of her Christmas presents. “It’s Bella,” she says, and puts the phone on speaker and holds it out.
Cami jumps up, and Lego spills everywhere. Her face is flushed pink with heat and excitement.
She grabs the phone and sets it down on the table, face up. “Hello, Bella?”
“Hi Cami.” Bella’s voice is tentative, shy, as if she’s talking to a stranger. “Thank you for my present. I love it so much. It’s the best thing I got for Christmas. And Mary Fowler signed it too—I’m never going to take it off.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Cami says. “I wrote to the Matildas and told them about you and me, and they sent that. I’ve got a Kyra Cooney-Cross one, but it’s not signed.”
“Are you wearing it?”
“Of course.”
The kids’ voices are growing stronger by the second.
Danika imagines Kim listening in as well.
Her feet will be bare, and she’ll be wearing those baggy hippie pants of hers, and probably a singlet top.
Her bare shoulders won’t be that brown yet, because of all the time she spends indoors, but— She stops.
Since when does she think of Kim so clearly?
She focuses back on the girls’ conversation.
“I rejoined my soccer team,” Bella is saying. “I missed playing so much. Netball is a silly game.”
Cami giggles. “You’ll have to score like Mary Fowler.”
Bella giggles too, and Danika’s body loses tension with her shaky exhale. It will be all right. Already the girls are finding their way back to each other.
“I missed you,” Bella says. “I have Jorie, and we’re best friends, but I missed you. You’re different.”
“Because we’re sisters,” Cami says matter-of-factly. “That’s why we love each other.”
Oh Cami. Danika holds her breath. So black and white. So straightforward. Is her brave daughter about to get her heart broken again?
“Yeah,” Bella says in a small voice.
Danika lets go of her breath in a shaky exhale.
“Do you want to come over here and practice soccer?” Cami asks.
“Yeah, please.”
And that’s it. It’s done. Cami hands the phone back to Danika, and when she presses it to her ear, Kim is on the other end.
“When would you like to come?” Danika asks. “You’ve probably got plans, being Christmas.”
“Tomorrow!” Cami jumps up and down.
“Tomorrow is Boxing Day,” Danika tells her. “We’re going to see Granny and Gramps.”
“The next day then.”
“Bella and I are going out with Jorie and her mum—we’re taking a ferry ride to Queenscliff.”
They bat days back and forth until they settle on six days’ time, New Year’s Eve. Kim and Bella will come to Danika’s house, and the kids will play soccer. Danika doesn’t know what she and Kim will do. Drink tea and eat scones, maybe. Whatever. This is about the kids.
But as she ends the call, she realises Cami is not the only one excited about the day.