No one had.
Obviously.
Danika pleats the doona between her fingers. The house had been in joint names, so had come to her automatically. Chris’s estate had given her enough money to pay it off. But that money had come from Chris’s bank account, from his superannuation, from the life insurance… Morally, if not legally, that should have been shared with Kim and Bella.
She’s not worried she committed fraud—she had no way of knowing—and she’s not sure what a court would decide now, if it came to it. But Danika knows what she should do. Because she and Cami got everything, and from what Kim said, she and Bella got nothing except what was already in their apartment.
Her head buzzes with static. If she divides everything fairly, she’ll have to sell the house. There won’t be enough money for Kim and Bella’s shares otherwise. And maybe while she could mortgage the house, she doesn’t want that financial commitment hanging over her. Her job pays okay, but notthatwell.
She gets out of bed and goes to the kitchen, makes a cup of chamomile with honey. The night is warm, so she goes outside and sits in the slouchy chair on the deck. Beady eyes stare down at her from the rafters. Brushtail possum. She should get a trap from the council, relocate it to bushland before it finds its way into her roof space.
But if she has to sell the house…
Will they have to go to the courts for this? Maybe not, if she and Kim can come to an agreement. If she doesn’t have to touch Cami’s money in trust, then maybe informal would work.
But maybe Kim will be awkward about it. Push for a court settlement. How would a court decide? And maybe, too, it would be salacious enough—two women, one man, two daughters—that it would make the news. The girls’ identities would be hidden, but hers and Kim’s most likely not. Which means the girls’ identities would not be so hidden.
Danika’s thoughts spin in increasingly tight and panicked circles.
Damn Chris. How dare he leave her in such a fucking mess? How dare he be soarrogant, soentitledas to think he could have two women, twowives?And so cowardly that he didn’t tell either of them—taking away their autonomy, their right to decide, their right to walk away from such a weak man.
She looks around the garden, swivels to stare back at the house—the house that she’s lived in most of her married life. Cami has lived nowhere else. But now, it’s tainted. Indeed, it’s been tainted since the day Kim knocked on the door for the first time. But then, she hadn’t thought of the repercussions that right now are clenching her tight, demanding she do the right thing. She’d glossed over them.
Another thought pushes its way up. Kim said that she had no will or life insurance for Chris. So Kim must have known—or guessed—she was effectively disinherited, although she probably assumed Chris had left a will. Kim hasn’t mentioned challenging it. Is there a time limit for such challenges? She pulls out her phone and searches. Six months after probate is the deadline for challenge, and a court is unlikely to set aside the will if the assets have been distributed. They’re past that, but these are unusual circumstances.
A challenge would be messy.
And expensive. The bloody lawyers would doubtless end up with most of it.
Danika sets her phone down and tips her head back on the chair. She knows what she has to do. And she will. But she can’t just blunder in—there are so many repercussions to this, not least the changes it will bring to her and Cami’s lives.
“Camping,” Kim says over the phone the next week. “Bright. How about the weekend after next? Bella’s school will let her leave at lunchtime. If Cami’s does the same, we could be there by late afternoon and stay two nights.”
Danika’s grip tightens on her mobile. Of course, camping would come up. And before the barbecue at her parents’, she’d have been excited. Would have looked forward to building more connections with Kim and Bella. And yes, she would have anticipated what might happen with her and Kim alone in the small tent.
With the girls in their tent, too close for anything…more to happen, but still private enough for kisses. For learning, for seeing where this buzz in her stomach, this low thrum of desire for Kim, might lead her.
But now, with the knowledge of what she has to do about property, about money, slammed squarely in the forefront of her mind… Well, to continue building a happy blended family with Kim and Bella while she’s holding a secret so big, feels wrong. Deceptive. Even though at the time of Chris’s death, at the time of the Grant of Letters of Administration, she’d had no idea.
“Does that suit you?” Kim asks now, and Danika realises she’s been listening to the chaos in her mind and hasn’t answered Kim.
“I think so,” she says, “but I need to check with Cami’s school. I’ll call them now and let you know.”
“That would be great.” Kim’s voice hums with pleasure. “There’s still a couple of riverside sites available, but they go quickly.”
“I’ll get back to you.” Danika ends the call and sits for a moment. Can she do this? Spend time with Kim, close, together-time, and act as if she’s not torn up about what she must do? Act as if she’s holding no great secret? Cami’s face floats into her mind, with her big eyes, fine, light-brown hair, and pointed little chin.
She will go camping. Of course she will, because this is about Cami and Bella, not her.
She calls the school. They’re fine with Cami leaving early. As she had known they would be.
Cami will be over the moon.
Danika just has to find a path through this for herself.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kim
