Life continues on for the Harvey-Lawsons as they start to actually move into their home, and as Matthew and Alice formally announce their engagement, George and Imogen Harvey arrive in Ballarat. - Dee
A few more visits down to Melbourne occurred over the next few weekends - Matthew joined when he could and Alice was happy that he and her sister got along; as she traveled, work on the house continued, and the day she and Anna would move in permanently was in the very near future. They were at the house this weekend as Cora hinted that their parents might visit soon, and Alice didn't want Anna anywhere near them.
"Mumma!"
She grinned and caught Anna as her daughter ran into her arms, "Finished putting your boxes in your room, my girl?"
"Yes, Mumma. Are we staying here tonight?"
"Yes we are! We're moving in the rest of the boxes and I want to try and unpack as much as we can."
"Can we make a blanket fort?"
"A blanket fort?"
"Gideon makes them with his older sister sometimes."
"I made a few with your Auntie Cora," Alice smiled and nodded. "Alright, go and grab as many blankets and pillows as you can and bring them into the parlor; we'll set it up after dinner."
"Are you making it, Mumma?"
"Not today, I still have to stock the pantry," Alice pushed Anna towards the bedrooms so they could stockpile blankets, cushions, and pillows. "Auntie Jean is going to stop by with a picnic basket."
"Can we have a picnic in the fort?"
"We'll have dessert in the fort, my curious girl, and read ghost stories!"
"Are they scary?"
"You'll have to see." Kissing Anna's forehead, she and her daughter pulled together the components for their future fort.
A knock on the door interrupted their plotting over how the fort would go in the parlor, and Alice opened it with a smile when she saw Jean waiting there with a basket.
"Special delivery," her friend smiled and offered the basket with one hand - the other resting on her steadily growing bump - just beginning to be obvious to the town.
"Thank you for this, Jean, I think we'll be relying on your culinary skills until I can start going to the grocers and fill the pantry."
"Not to worry, you'll get settled when you get settled, Alice, and I don't mind cooking for you and Anna. Matthew here too?"
"No, he's got a late shift at the station tonight, so it's just me and Anna tonight."
"We're making a blanket fort!" Anna popped her head out from behind Alice as her Auntie Jean laughed. "Will you stay, Auntie Jean?"
"No, I'm afraid lying on the floor all night is not my ideal form of fun, and Baby Blake is also not fond of it."
"Is Baby Blake kicking? I felt my baby cousin kick when we visited Auntie Cora."
"The baby's kicking, but not quite strong enough for everyone else to feel, Anna, you've got to wait a little longer for that."
Alice leaned down and whispered into Anna's ear as she stopped the girl from darting back into the house; her daughter nodded, "Yes, Mumma. Thank you for the food, Auntie Jean."
"You're very welcome, Anna. Enjoy your fort," Jean smiled when Anna hugged her (gentle around the bump).
"Have a good evening, Jean, I suspect it's nice around the house again with Lucien back at work."
"I can certainly get lots of gardening done without worrying about him killing my plants."
"Something tells me he's still going to kill your plants at some point."
"Oh, he can certainly try, Alice. Once you've moved in, I'll give you some clippings from the garden for here."
Alice smiled and shook her head, "They'd likely die, Jean."
"Then I'll give them to Matthew," her friend's eyes twinkled as Alice laughed. "Enjoy the dinner and the fort, you can bring the dishes back whenever you'd like."
"Thank you again."
With Anna bouncing beside her, Alice wished Jean a goodbye and brought the basket into the still bare kitchen; Jean had - as always - prepared quite a spread for them, they'd probably have enough for lunch the next day. They tucked in with gusto - keeping the slices of chocolate cake for later once they'd constructed their fort in front of the fireplace.
The couch cushions and chair cushions were thrown to the floor along with the pillows and a few blankets as Alice started a fire (the nights were still chilly even as spring had fully sprung); overhead Alice overstretched two sheets from the backs of the chairs and couch - using books to weigh down the edges as Anna moved the pillows and blankets inside around until they had a proper nest. Changing into their pajamas, Alice and Anna brought one of the cake slices over by the fireplace and shared it between them.
"Can we do this every night, Mumma?"
"It wouldn't be special if we did it every night, Anna."
"Once a week then?"
Chuckling, Alice tickled her daughter lightly, "How about once every two weeks? If we start getting bored of it, we'll go to once a month to make it extra special."
"Deal."
"Good, now, let's put this plate in the sink, wash up, and then we'll read some ghost stories before bed."
"Yay ghost stories!"
It was dark by the time Matthew walked up to the front door; the house - his future home with his girls - was also dark, save for a little bit of light filtering through the parlor window curtains, and Matthew wondered if Alice was still up and about. Entering with a faint sigh, he hung up his hat and toed out of his shoes before shuffling into the parlor; he stopped short at the sight of the furniture all out of sorts and sheets stretched across all of it by the light of a dying fire.
His curiosity piqued, he moved closer to the fire and had to smile at the sight of Alice and Anna curled up under the sheet fort - Goose squished between them, a torch in danger of falling out of Alice's hand off the edge of the cushion, and a thick novel of Edgar Allen Poe's complete tales open on the floor in front of them. Getting down with some difficulty (though easier than it had been months ago before starting his exercises), Matthew smoothed Alice's hair back from her face - grinning when she let out a faint grumpy whine as she stirred.
"Hey there," Matthew leaned down to kiss her forehead as she woke.
"Hi," she smiled, "good shift?"
"Eh, long, a bit boring, but boring is good these days."
"True."
"I see you two had fun tonight without me, though."
Alice's cheeks flushed even as she smiled, "Anna wanted to make a blanket fort, I used to make them with Cora so I didn't see the harm… though I think I got talked into doing one every two weeks."
"Oh, I think that's feasible, sweetheart. Is there enough room in there for me?"
"I think so if we budge up some, will your leg be alright?"
"Nothing a nice massage and a hot bath wouldn't fix in the morning."
"Alright, you'll need to get into your pajamas, then," Alice smiled when he leaned down and kissed her forehead again. "Need help getting up?"
"No, no, might as well use the damn exercises Lucien makes me do, you stay there."
Somehow he managed to get up off the floor by scooting back away from the fort and pushing up on one of the chairs (thankfully not upsetting the fort itself). It didn't take him long to change into his more comfortable pajamas and rejoin Alice and Anna in the parlor; Alice had shifted Anna further over in the fort, and put the torch and book away by the time he came back.
"Might need your help getting in, sweetheart."
"Of course," she smiled and supported him as he got back down on the floor. "I think you can crawl if you get your right knee on the cushions, my dear."
Her suggestion worked and soon Matthew settled back on the cushions with a gusty sigh - causing Alice to giggle as he rolled over onto his side and pulled her close.
"That's better," he kissed her softly. "So, blanket forts and ghost stories are going to be a thing in this house, hm?"
"And picnics in the backyard, science experiments in the study and morgue… would you have it any other way, Matthew?"
"No," Matthew kissed her again, "no, I'm going to love our new normal. We're going to be very happy here, I think."
"I do too."
"Jean said she'd bring over clippings for the garden once we've moved in, I trust you've already picked some out?"
He smiled and nuzzled her neck, "Might have had my eye on some of her plants, yeah. I want to start getting the backyard ready if you can spare me."
"Certainly, that'll give me a chance to slip in some interesting things while you're busy."
"Interesting things?"
"Things like your birthday present, dearest."
"Alice," he groaned even as she giggled. "Do you have to tease?"
"It's fun," she dropped a short kiss to his lips, "and it gives you something to look forward to."
"We'll have to be quiet, no more floor between us and our curious girl."
"That's true." With another kiss, Alice settled into his arms and smiled when their daughter subconsciously snuggled closer in their fort. "I'm sure we'll be good with some practice."
"And hope she has some invites to sleepovers," Matthew grinned against her skin as she giggled again.
"You tease just as bad as I do, my dear Matthew."
"Eh, you love it," kissing her neck and then her cheek, Matthew held her close. "Sleep, sweetheart, we get to start unpacking our house in the morning."
"Our house," she hummed, "our home."
"Yeah, our home."
With one last kiss to her cheek, Matthew smoothed his hand up and down her side as Alice slowly slipped back to sleep - slumping into his arms as she drifted off, and Matthew smiled at the sight of his two girls sleeping. He couldn't wait to see this every night.
She had no idea why he'd brought them here. She wanted to be in Melbourne to see her daughter and grandchildren - to escape however briefly from her husband's control - and yet George had hauled her onto the train (she had no clue how he'd afforded it, Peter had put his foot down about giving them money with Cora still in the hospital and so close to the birth of their third child).
George had been in a tizzy after their last visit to see Cora in hospital, and Imogen feared another beating, but he only went so far as to grip her tight enough to bruise as he hurried her along; Of all the places to go, Imogen thought an old mining town like Ballarat would have been the last on her husband's list to visit (bigger cities were better for him to pass unnoticed), but he'd insisted on it.
He didn't let her go anywhere without his permission, and as of right now she was locked in their hovel of a hotel room - waiting anxiously for his return; it would either be good or… very bad. So, she set about tidying the already tidied room as she waited - ending up in the rickety chair by the window where she tried to observe the world outside without disturbing the slightly sheer curtains.
His stomping footfalls on the stairs alerted her to his return and Imogen jolted up from her seat by the window like she'd been electrocuted; George barged in and flung a newspaper down on the bed.
"That bitch!" he slammed the door and immediately started to pace the room. "How dare she and the brat hide from us!"
"W-who, dear?" Imogen stammered out, her shoulders tensed as George turned his glare onto her.
"Our long lost daughter, of course," he pointed towards the newspaper. "That bitch!"
Imogen inched over to the bed and picked up the paper; on the front page was splashed some news about a new building being opened by someone named "Tyneman", but as she flipped down below the fold, Imogen saw what had enraged her husband.
Alice, her oldest daughter - full of fire and a brilliant mind even at a young age - peered up at Imogen from the black and white photo of her standing arm in arm with a taller man leaning on a cane.
'TRUE LOVE PREVAILS,' was the bold title, and Imogen bit back a smile at the utter joy on her grown up daughter's face, and she could just make out a ring on Alice's left finger in the photo. 'Matthew Lawson, Chief Superintendent of Ballarat Police, and Dr. Alice Harvey of the Ballarat County Hospital have announced their engagement. Meeting through work little over a year ago, Lawson and Harvey began courting after Lawson's unfortunate accident in the line of duty revealed their bond to each other and he fought to return to her side after months of recuperation in Melbourne. No date has been set, but the happy couple is busy planning the ceremony-'
"She's gone to see Cora," George ripped the newspaper from her hands before she could continue reading the article. "She's been to see Cora and Cora didn't tell us! How dare she?"
Imogen couldn't blame her daughter hiding Alice from them, she knew George's demands were hard on their younger daughter - Imogen herself was wearied by the constant working to keep their home and food, the debt collectors calling, and George expecting Cora and her husband to help provide the money he gambled away (or drank).
"I will most certainly be talking to Cora about this, but first to reconnect with our other brat," George had resumed his pacing. "She's a doctor, bound to have loads of quid, I'm sure I can persuade her to pass some on to us."
"How, dear? It's been decades since we've seen or talked to her."
"I'm sure she's just as susceptible to threats as her sister is, Imogen," her husband glared at her. "If not, I'm sure you can persuade her."
She didn't think it likely, but if it prevented another beating, Imogen would do it; the chance to speak with her eldest again after so long was tantalizing as well, and maybe - just maybe - Alice would cooperate enough. Imogen hoped she could keep George away from her, that he wouldn't bother her as much as he had the Rogers, but after decades of being locked into this marriage with George, she knew the hope was futile.
"It says here she works at the hospital," George held up the paper. "I'll try there first, but I want you to go around and gather up information."
"Me? Go out?"
"Are you stupid? Did I stutter?" he rounded on her - chasing her back into the corner. "Yes, you will go out and you will return here every night before six. You wouldn't want me coming and hunting you down, would you?"
"N-no, dear. I promise to be here before six, I promise!"
"And don't be obvious about the information gathering, I don't want Alice on to us until it's too late."
"Yes, dear."
Her husband backed off and stalked out of the room - slamming the door as he left; Imogen breathed easier as she slumped down on the floor in the corner, and the tears started.
She hoped Alice was braver than she was, but Imogen also knew it would hurt if Alice refused George's demands; torn, between wanting to protect her daughters and wanting to protect herself, Imogen wept.