They went inside and sat around
the kitchen table while Dorothy made hot chocolates and
Lawson tried to get to the bottom of his daughter’s
heartbreak. Matilda was being unusually close-mouthed.
“Is it your teacher?”
Matilda sniffled. She loved her
teacher. “Nope.”
“Did you do badly on a test?”
“Nope.”
“Is someone calling you names?”
“Nope.”
“Did you...get kicked off the
netball team?”
This time Matilda just shook
her head, looking progressively miserable.
Vic had an inkling what might
be wrong. “Is it a boy?” she asked gently.
Lawson’s head shot up in alarm.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he dismissed. “She’s eight years
old.”
But when Matilda wailed, “Yes,”
and dissolved into another puddle of tears he was forced
to reassess.
“Okay.” Vic stood. “I know
exactly what we need.” She went to the freezer and
pulled out the tub of ice-cream Lawson always had on
hand. The perfect salve for man problems. God knew,
she’d eaten gallons of the stuff in the last fortnight.
She retrieved two spoons from
the drawer and sat down next to Matilda. “What’s his
name?” she asked as she peeled the lid off and pushed a
spoon towards Matilda.
“Hamish Jones.”
Lawson, his head spinning from
the unexpected turn of events, subconsciously cracked
his knuckles. He didn’t know this Hamish kid, but he
disliked him – immensely.
Vic loaded her spoon with ice
cream. “Does he like you?”
Matilda nodded, her mouth full.
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?”
“No,” Lawson interrupted,
looking at Victoria as if she’d grown another head. “No.
That’s not good. She’s way too young for boys.”
Vic glared at him and then
looked back at Matilda. “Don’t worry about your Dad. He
thinks all girls are too young for boys. Even me.”
Matilda giggled. And Lawson
ignored her. “She’s eight. It’s ridiculous to be crying
over some silly boy.”
Vic noticed Matilda’s smile die
and tears filled her eyes again. How typical of him to
dismiss his daughter’s feelings because he was running
scared. She gave Matilda an encouraging smile and kept
it plastered to her face as she shot him a withering
look. “Not. Helping.”
He looked at Matilda as she
sniffed back more tears. To say he felt out of his depth
was an understatement. He sent Victoria a fix this look.
Vic dipped in for more ice
cream. “So is he your boyfriend, then?”
Matilda’s bottom lip wobbled.
“No.”
“Ah,” Vic said around a
mouthful. “But you want him to be your boyfriend?”
Matilda nodded. “But he wants
me to kiss him and I said I wouldn’t ‘cos Daddy always
says that you should only kiss a boy when you’re married
to him and now he doesn’t want to be my boyfriend.”
Lawson felt sick. Kiss him?
They were kissing at eight? He was going to school
tomorrow to kick little Hamish’s butt. How dare he...put
the hard word on an eight-year-old girl.
Vic raised an eyebrow at
Lawson. “Married?” she enquired sweetly. “You’re
kidding, right?
He shook his head. “Deadly.
Serious.”
Vic rolled her eyes. “I think
we better leave the sex education to me.”
Lawson clenched his jaw at the
thought of her in their lives, being able to discuss
girl things with his daughter. Like she was doing now.
As if she was born to be the mother of an
eight-year-old girl. “You’re going overseas, remember.”
Vic smiled at him. “No. I’m
not.” She turned back to Matilda. “Do you think it’s
okay for a boy, for anyone really, to make you do
something that you don’t feel right about?”
Matilda thought for a while. “I
guess not.”
“So do you really want a
boyfriend who’s going to be that selfish?”
Matilda shook her head. “I
guess not.”
Vic grinned. It was obvious
Matilda wasn’t one hundred percent convinced. “There are
two types of boys in this world, sweetie. Boys who would
never ask a girl to do something they didn’t want to do
and boys who think only about themselves and what they
want.” She looked at Lawson. “Isn’t that right, Lawson?”
He nodded vigorously.
“Absolutely.”
Lawson watched as Victoria dug
her spoon in again and her and Matilda sat and savoured
the ice cream together for a few minutes. She was
handling this beautifully and Matilda was hanging on
every word. Unlike his first reaction, which was to lock
Matilda in her room and not let her out until she was
thirty.
It was at times like these he
really felt that Tilly had missed out. He knew he’d been
a good parent and he knew he could tackle the inevitable
girl questions as his daughter went through puberty, but
he doubted he could manage them as well as a woman. As
well as a mother.
How much easier would his life
be, would Matilda’s life be if she had a mother? A rush
of something he didn’t want to analyse blossomed in his
chest as he watched Victoria with his daughter.
I think we’d better leave the
sex education to me.
That’s what she’d just said. As
if she was going to be around for it whether he liked it
or not. As if she didn’t doubt for a moment that she was
going to be part of their lives.
She’d handled this perfectly
and had always been great with Matilda. But Victoria had
sworn off ever being a mother. How fair would it be to
expect that of her? Even if that’s what she thought she
wanted. Had she thought about it from that angle?
Instant motherhood? Again?
Vic could feel him watching
them. “What type of boy do you think your Dad is?” She
noticed Lawson frowning in her peripheral vision and
ignored it.
Matilda swallowed a mouthful of
ice cream. “The first kind.”
Vic smiled at her. “And
wouldn’t you prefer to have a boyfriend who was like
your dad? Someone who knew how to treat a girl
properly.” Even though he didn’t have a clue how to
treat her properly. The way she wanted to be treated.
Matilda looked at her father.
“I want to marry someone just like Daddy.”
Vic felt her heart squeeze
painfully in her chest. She knew exactly how Matilda
felt. Lawson smiled at his daughter and the pain
intensified. They were such a duo, a team. And she
wanted in. “Probably best to stay clear of boys like
Hamish, then. Don’t you think?”
Matilda smiled at Vic.
“Definitely.” She spooned another mouthful of ice cream
in and swallowed. “So I shouldn’t let a boy kiss me
until we’re married?”
Lawson who was in the process
of taking a sip of his hot chocolate, coughed and nearly
choked on it. “That’s right,” he managed to gasp.
Vic glared at him. “No it’s
not. Your dad’s just being a dad. He’s supposed to say
that. Kissing is fun. But it is part of being grown up.
At your age it’s okay to have boys who are friends. But
it’s probably better to leave the kissing for high
school. Okay?”
Matilda thought for a moment.
“Okay.”
“High school?” Lawson demanded
as they pulled out of his driveway fifteen minutes later
to respond to a thirty-eight year old female with
abdominal pain. “How about uni? How about when she turns
thirty?”
Vic laughed. His outrage had
eroded the barriers he’d put in place and it was the
most natural she’d seen him since they’d done the wild
thing and she’d gone and ruined it by telling him she
was staying on Brindabella with him. “Oh hey, how about
never? How about she joins a convent?”
Lawson nodded. “Brilliant idea.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more sensible
suggestion.”
