They exchange a quick grin.
Shirley watches them with a knowing expression. “It’s so good to see you two working together like this. I realise it wasn’t easy for either of you at first. Do you still have parents, Kim?”
“They live in Far North Queensland. But we’re not particularly close. Oh, there’s no big falling out, but”—a sideways glance at Danika—“they didn’t particularly care for Chris. Turns out they were right. I’ve told them he’s dead, but I haven’t actually told them about…all of this. I don’t need the lecture, to be honest.”
Danika’s parents wear identical expressions of outrage.
“Surely they would support you?” Shirley says.
“Eventually.” Kim takes a tiny sip of wine. “And I’ll tell them—eventually.”
Shirley and Paul exchange a glance.
“Kim, you and Bella are welcome here anytime,” Paul says. “We consider Bella, like Cami, to be our grandchild.”
Tears prick at the back of Kim’s eyes. She knows she should have told her parents, but first it was all too raw, too stressful, too painful. Then it was all too bizarre, too unbelievable, andyes, still too hurtful. She just didn’t want the drama and outrage her parents would have brought, so she kept the knowledge to herself.
She told them Chris was missing, and they were supportive, offering to fly down, which she declined. Their brand of support wasn’t what she or Bella needed at the time. Later, when she knew the truth, she told them that Chris had died, but there wasn’t going to be a funeral. Nothing else.
Suze is her confidante now. But Shirley and Paul’s embracing of them feels good. Feels welcome. She looks at Danika, who gazes back with a soft smile. A nod. It’s enough. Kim’s heart overflows with the acceptance of these people, who have every reason to push back and reject both her and Bella.
She reaches out with both hands. Danika takes her left, Shirley her right. Paul joins hands with his wife and daughter. The contact is comforting, and she feels the weight behind Shirley’s words in her touch.
“Thank you all,” she says.
“Can we go see Suze and Jorie at the market?” Bella asks as they drive back to St Kilda from Shirley and Paul’s.
“Sure, why not.” It’s been a while since they’ve gone to the St Kilda Esplanade markets.
Suze reads tarot cards and sells crystals, tarot decks, and books. If things are quiet—which they seldom are there—she’ll give Kim a free three-card reading. Kim isn’t at all sure she believes in the tarot’s power—the readings are more, “Whatever you are worried about won’t be as bad as you think” rather than, “Watch out for a red-headed woman in a green jumpsuit when you’re at Coles on Monday at 9:07 am. She’ll try to stealyour wallet from your unattended bag.” and she thinks that the most “accurate” readings are when people adapt the generalities they’re told to events in their own lives.
Suze shrugs when asked about this, and says that she has many repeat customers, and they say she’s mostly accurate in her predictions.
“I want to get Cami a present,” Bella says.
“Sure, we can look.” Kim resigns herself to traipsing around the crowded street market for the next couple of hours while Bella darts from stall to stall and, inevitably, ends up back at the first one.
The market is as crowded as expected. Kim finds a vacant space and pays the exorbitant parking fee. “What do you want to get Cami?” she asks.
“Don’t know yet.” Bella marches up to the first stall, which sells magnesium cream for muscle aches and restless legs, and Kim mentally revises her estimate to three hours.
Suze is busy with a customer when they pass her stall. Kim waves, but Suze is intent on the cards and doesn’t see her. Jorie isn’t there. “We’ll come back,” Kim says to a disappointed Bella, who’d been hoping Jorie would help her pick out a present.
When they loop back—still present-less—Suze is completing a sale for a crystal pendant. They wait until she’s free, then go across.
Suze hugs them both. “Jorie’s over at the playground with Dasha’s son.”
“We’re looking for a present for Cami,” Bella says. “You can tell the future. Please can you do a reading for me and tell me what she’d like?”
“Hella-Bella, Suze’s readings aren’t for that sort of?—”
“I can try, if it’s okay with your mum.” Suze raises an eyebrow in query.
“Sure.” Kim suppresses a grin. There’s no psychic ability needed to answer that question. She’s sure Cami would love the string of glow-in-the-dark ducklings, the crystal to hang in her window and catch the light, the paint-it-yourself plant name tags—all things they’ve already looked at.
Suze seats Bella at the card table with the appropriate amount of fuss and dignity. She sits facing her and shuffles the cards, then holds the deck out to Bella. “Pick three cards, and hand them to me face down.”
With a serious face, Bella picks three cards, and Suze places them one by one. She turns up the first card.
