"I can see why you moved out here, Darling. It's beautiful! The reefs and the... the people-" Vanessa's head follows a group of shirtless-twenty-something-year-olds as they stride past, so distracted that she staggers into Kate's path and very nearly sends the both of them sprawling on the footpath.
"Mum!" Kate groans, feeling her face flush as she just manages to keep herself upright. "Can you not?"
"Hon, I'm not dead yet." Vanessa quips, flashing a smile towards her daughter. Kate glances around, checking that Henry is still with them. The young boy is several steps in front, so engrossed in walking Samson that he is oblivious to the scene behind him. Following on after Henry, Kate rolls her eyes as Vanessa continues to talk. "What I don't understand is why you'd pass up all of this to sit on a boat for months at a time. I mean, does it really matter if people fish a little?" Knowing that arguing the importance of maintaining the Economic Exclusion Zone will acheive nothing, Kate simply shrugs, and Vanessa ploughs on. "So, I think you should see a friend of mine. Her name is Crystal, and she's very lovely. She's quite perceptive and I'm sure she'll have your memories back in no time. She does live in Brisbane back home but... well, you could always come to stay for a little with me. That would be fun, wouldn't it?" Vanessa hands Kate a deep purple business card. Kate catches up to Henry as he pummels a pedestrian light button, and scans the business card quickly.
"God, Mum, I don't need a tarot reader!" She has to fight the urge to tear the card into pieces. It was so like her mother to have a psychic.
"She doesn't just read tarot!" Vanessa defends, her arms raised in defence. "She's helped me with some big decisions lately. She's a true clairvoyant and-"
"Now that's an oxymoron." Kate interjects, not even bothering to hide her contempt.
The light turns green and Vanessa seizes Kate's hand, squeezing as though she's a toddler and not a grown woman. "Oh, now what happened to the little girl who used to beg me to take her to the forest to look for fairies?" Kate pulls her hand away fast.
"She grew up." Kate deadpans. "And got a job. And stopped believing in this... nonsense." She tries to hand the card back, but Vanessa folds her arms, and Kate shoves it into her pocket to join several crumpled lolly wrappers.
Vanessa sighs in a tired sort of way and continues on. "Well, either way, I think you should come to stay with me for a little. You're obviously quite confused about what's happening and-"
"I just... I want to be somewhere familiar. I like being home. With Henry." Kate's gaze travels to Henry once more, at the joyful look on his face as he leads Samson around. "I just want to be a good Mum to him."
She expects more protests from Vanessa, but is pleasantly surprised when none more come. Instead, Vanessa digs into her bag and draws out a hairclip, securing her own blonde locks. Kate wonders vaguely whether there was an ethical blonde hair bleach her mother was using, or whether her judgement at chemicals did not yet extend towards her physical appearance.
"So... you never did tell me." Vanessa interrupts, and Kate steels herself for another attack. "Henry's father?" The older woman purses her lips, and Kate forces herself to shrug.
"He's dead." She answers. thinking of chocolate mousse and throwing Molotov cocktails at mercenaries. "Jim died before Henry was born. I don't know what he has to do with-"
"Your Dylan said that he was in the defence force too." Her lip curls. "You do seem to have a type, don't you!"
Kate drags her sunglasses over her eyes. "Do we have to talk about my love life?"
"What love life?" Vanessa challenges. "From what I've heard, you've practically shut up shop! All I'm saying is you can't live like a nun forever."
"Henry!" Kate calls out, ignoring Vanessa. "Want an ice cream?"
"Ness is kind of weird." Henry muses quietly as Kate sits with her back resting against his bed, watching Henry play with his Lego. There's a quiet sort of intensity that seems to radiate from him as he concentrates on each individual piece, joining them together to make different creations. She wishes she could employ the same effort and get some memories back.
"She's always been weird." Kate agrees, and Henry gives a relieved smile. Perhaps he'd thought she would tell him off for saying it. "Even when we were kids."
"We?" Henry frowns, and Kate inwardly curses at her slip of the tongue.
"Ah, I meant me. When I was a kid." She corrects. She's not exactly sure why she's hiding things from Henry, other than the reasoning that if she hadn't already told him, she'd probably thought he didn't need to know. "Do you like her?"
"She's... she's not like Grandma and Grandpa. Or Nan and Pop." He muses, scrunching up his nose, before catching her gaze. As if he knows she's confused, he adds, "Grandma and Grandpa are Dutchy's Mum and Dad. And Nan and Pop are Jim's."
"Thanks." She forces a smile. It shouldn't be up to Henry to fill in the blanks of her life. "But... do you like her?"
"She's funny sometimes. And she's weird with what she says but... she's normally right? Like I was telling her about how Dominic won't play with me at school if Brendan's there, and she told a really long story but she basically said that Dominic doesn't sound like a good friend either. And it's true. Dominic shouldn't ignore me just because Brendan's there."
Kate turns in alarm to face Henry. "Are people... is school hard?"
"Sometimes." Henry shrugs nonchalantly. "But I play with Luke and Josh now and they're nice. So it's better now."
Kate knows only guilt as she peers at her son. "You didn't tell me that before."
He shrugs once again. "Well, you had other stuff to worry about."
The guilt increases, and Kate crouches down in front of him, fixing her gaze on him. "Henry, I always want to hear about how you're going, okay?"
"Okay." Henry agrees, just as a motorbike rumbles outside. Henry jumps up. "That'll be Dad."
Kate frowns. "Dutchy's coming over?"
"Ness invited him." Henry grins. "Come on!" And tugging on her hand, he pulls her downstairs.
"So, Dylan. Henry tells me the wedding is off." Vanessa begins, and Kate very nearly chokes on her mother's vegetarian lasagne. From the moment Vanessa had told her she was cooking, Kate had known this dinner would be a disaster. And now her mother was interrogating Dutchy as though he was a level one perp.
"Mum!" Kate groans. "Can you not?" They've hardly even had three bites of the food for goodness' sake, and her mother wanted to get into that now. Come to think of it, she was pretty sure she didn't want her mother to discuss it ever, but that was definitely asking too much.
The older woman waves a hand in lazy dismissal of Kate's discomfort, as though Kate was nothing more than a hysterical toddler. "Darling, I'm just making conversation. So how did you propose to Kate?" She turns back to Dutchy.
"Uh..." Dutchy hesitates, looking between Kate and Vanessa. "Well, I just... um... asked her?"
"But where? What did you say?" Vanessa presses.
"We were on the wharf off Hammersley. And it was sunset. And I'd asked Henry before, and he had said yes. And so I asked her." Dutchy's gaze is locked onto Kate's. She'd seen the video of it all on 2Dads USB of forgotten memories, and his description was understating everything he'd said and done, but she understands why he's playing it down. "But I'd rather marry Kate for... who she is, rather than a version she's not sure of." He seems to have predicted Vanessa's next questions, and is already answering them. "We ended things because she's not in the right place to be pressured by a preexisting relationship on top of everything else."
"Oh, nonsense." Vanessa waves away Dutchy's words. "I'm sorry, but that's bullshit."
"Please don't curse in front of Henry." Kate's voice is low and dangerous, and perhaps Dutchy senses her rage, because he brushes a hand against hers, so briefly she might have imagined it.
"Look, Vanessa. I know you feel strongly about this, but... it wasn't a decision I made lightly. And it's not something myself or Kate feel comfortable speaking about. So I think it's best we drop the subject."
But Kate finds herself bubbling with rage, as she peers up at her mother. "Why is it that your openness to discuss everything under the sun only seems to extend to my life, but the moment I mention-"
"I really hope you're not going to become a petulant child right now." Vanessa murmurs in a warning tone, and there could almost be sparks flying from both of their eyes as they lock onto each other.
"Well, you're here." Kate holds her arms out wide. "So why don't we talk about my brother?"
"Henry..." Dutchy begins gently, turning to the young boy. "Why don't you go and check Samson's been fed? I'll come get you in a minute." Despite having hardly touched his dinner, Henry nods, his eyes wide, and scampers towards the back door.
All three adults wait until Henry has left the room before Vanessa turns to Kate. "Your brother is not the reason you've gone around the twist."
Kate slams her cutlery down on the table. The clatter echoes throughout the living room. "I haven't gone around the twist, as you so eloquently put it. But I'd like to talk about him. After all, he was the reason you didn't want me around at home, wasn't he? Because I kept believing in him?"
"Enough!" Vanessa snaps, turning to Dutchy. "Dylan, I'm sorry you have to hear this-"
"She's already told me about Isaac." Dutchy interjects. "Everything about him."
Vanessa's nostrils flare, but Kate is beyond reining in now, as she continues. "The minute he got arrested you made him feel worthless! Always going on about what a disappointment he was."
"I never thought he was a disappointment. How dare you say such a-"
"And then he OD'd because you couldn't forgive him. But it wasn't his fault!"
"No," Vanessa agrees, her own voice rising dangerously. "It was yours!"
There's a ringing silence in the wake of her words. And then Kate pushes herself into a standing position. "Gee. Thanks, Mum." And she sweeps from the room without another word.