Stunned, Pip stuttered, ‘H-hi.’
‘Are you surprised to see us?’ Matilda asked.
‘Yes. Wow, um, this is Grommet,’ she told Matilda and her parents, Molly Dunlop and Mr Blair.
‘Ignatius,’ corrected Violet.
‘Grommet,’ Grommet said firmly, holding out a hand. ‘Pleased to meet you all.’
‘A police officer called Constable Payne called us last night and said you were in the Byron Bay area but you’d vanished again,’ Mrs Browning told them once the introductions were over, drinks had been poured and everyone sat around the table, except Bill, who was in the kitchen. ‘We flew up first thing this morning.’
‘But how did you know…?’ Grommet stopped and turned to glare at his mother. ‘This was why you didn’t want us to go to the beach, isn’t it, Mum?’
‘I just phoned Constable Payne to tell him that Pip had turned up safe and well.’ Violet frowned first at Grommet and then Pip. ‘They were going to call for a search party! All those people out searching when Pip was perfectly safe and well. I had to say something!’
‘Mum!’ Grommet looked very cross. ‘You could have asked me.’
‘You would have said no. I thought he’d just come out to see for himself that Pip was all right. But instead…’
‘We were at the police station when you rang,’ Matilda told her. ‘At first, the police didn’t want to tell us where Grommet lived. They said they couldn’t give out confidential information.’
‘So how did you find out?’ Pip asked.
‘I cried,’ Matilda replied, looking quite happy about it. ‘A lot. Until they told us.’
‘Molly promised them we wouldn’t cause trouble,’ Mr Blair said, putting his arm around the police officer.
‘Oh,’ Pip said. ‘Wow. You got a plane all the way from Sydney just for me?’
‘I was already in Newcastle, actually,’ Molly told her. ‘I’d just spoken to Ray Simpson, the man whose van you stowed away in.’
‘Oh.’ Pip hunched her shoulders. ‘Is he okay?’
‘A bit of a headache from the accident, but otherwise he’s as right as rain, although the van was wrecked.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Ray Simpson isn’t!’ said Mr Browning. ‘He’s happy it was too damaged for repair because now he’ll get a new van to drive. He’d been after one for ages.’
‘I also talked to a lady who said you were very brave in helping to rescue the other driver when his car caught fire,’ Molly told her.
‘He’d been drinking all night,’ Matilda chimed in. ‘So in a way you stopped a drunk driver.’
‘But not in a way I would recommend,’ Molly added.
‘I’m really sorry about it all.’ Pip thought it was a good time to start explaining but Houdini had other ideas.
‘Houdini! No!’ Bill shouted.
Everyone dashed into the kitchen where Houdini stood with a large bone in his mouth, surrounded by shredded gift wrap.
‘Looks like he found his present, Dad,’ said Matilda.
‘It’s not his fault. He hasn’t had much to eat in the last few days,’ Pip told them.
‘Talking of food, would you all like to stay for lunch?’ Bill asked the Brownings, Molly and Mr Blair. ‘There’s plenty.’
‘Yes, please,’ Pip said, hoping she was included.
As Grommet and his parents sorted out extra chairs, plates and cutlery, Pip herded Houdini outside. The Brownings, Molly and Mr Blair followed. Houdini sat next to her, dropped the bone and stared up at them, licking his lips gratefully.
‘He was a hero,’ Pip said, and told them about how he’d spotted Old Toothless and saved Pip from Constable Payne. ‘I couldn’t have got this far without him.’
Mr Browning looked as if he thought that might have been a very good thing. ‘Lindsay and Matilda were desperately worried,’ he told her. ‘I was too.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Pip hunched her shoulders, remembering the other times she’d apologised like this, except on those occasions it had only been a biff on the nose and the unauthorised museum trip. ‘About all the trouble, and letting you down and making you worry.’
‘Pip, if you’d waited until after New Year, we could have helped you without causing all this grief for the Brownings,’ Molly said.
‘I don’t think Pip could wait,’ Mr Blair said with an understanding smile. ‘Could you?’
Pip shook her head. ‘I just wanted to find out where I belonged.’
Mrs Browning looked a bit tearful. ‘You haven’t told us what you discovered. Did you find anything out about your mother?’
In the momentary silence, Pip realised that Grommet, Violet and Bill had joined them. Everyone was waiting with bated breath for her answer.
‘I thought I’d found her but I was wrong. She just looked a bit like Cass,’ Pip told them. ‘But Grommet’s told me all about her that I feel like I know her a little bit better. I think understand why she thought she couldn’t be my mum properly.’
‘And have you found where you belong?’ Mr Blair asked.
When Pip’s eyes met his, she thought he already knew the answer to that question. ‘Grommet said I can stay here with him if that’s all right with everyone.’
‘Is that what you want, Pip?’ Molly asked.
‘Yes.’ Pip nodded. ‘Houdini likes Grommet, too, and Grommet always wanted a dog.’
‘Well, that’s all right, then,’ Mrs Browning said, mustering a smile.
‘But I thought you would come back to Spring Hill with us. Mum said you could!’ Matilda looked crestfallen. Pip hoped she wouldn’t start crying again.
‘Pip has to do what’s best for her,’ Mr Blair said. ‘Molly can help sort things out with the police and Child Protection, can’t you, Molly?’
When the police officer nodded, Matilda sniffed and managed a watery smile for Pip. ‘I suppose we can see you and Houdini in the holidays.’ She looked at her parents, who nodded. ‘Mr Blair told the principal that we wouldn’t be at school today because we were coming to Byron Bay to see you, but we have to be back for Monday. Oh, I’ve got the best news for you. Spiro got blacklisted by the museum for misbehaving. He’s never allowed to darken its doors again, Ms Bristow said. And he gets detention every day right through till Christmas!’
‘Great.’ Pip grinned, although she thought the teacher taking him for detention would likely suffer far more than the incorrigible Spiro.
‘Go and get changed for lunch, Pip,’ Violet said. ‘Your dry clothes are on the stairs. Ignatius, once you look respectable you can make yourself useful in the kitchen.’
Grommet crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, careful that only Pip could see.
Pip laughed at him, and as she walked into the house to wash her hands, she glanced back at all the people who gathered around the colourful table, talking and smiling.
She thought about how desperate she’d been this morning. Who would have thought today would have ever turned out the way it had?
When she returned, Matilda waved her pink phone at Pip. ‘Can I show her, Mum?’
‘Be quick. No phones at the table, Tilly. We don’t want to be rude.’
‘Pip, you have to see this! It’s even more amazing than Spiro being blacklisted! You’ve gone viral!’ ‘What?’
Bill came through from the kitchen, carrying platters of food. ‘I’m not surprised she’s caught something, living on the streets for days.’
Everyone else laughed.
‘It means lots of people are watching her on the internet,’ Matilda explained. ‘Someone posted a video. Look!’
Everyone crowded around the phone she held. Pip watched as Matilda played the video, and a shaky picture of Pip appeared, singing, haltingly and out of tune.
Pip winced. She was so bad. And listening back, she realised now that she’d got a lot of the words terribly wrong. Matilda giggled. Even Mr Blair was shaking with laughter. And when Houdini started howling on the video, Grommet roared uncontrollably.
Then Frankie appeared, and everyone went quiet, watching.
When it ended, Matilda put the phone away and food was passed around.
‘I can’t believe you met Frankie J.,’ Molly said, looking impressed. ‘She’s going to be a major star! You know she wants to thank you in person for helping her get back on track.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ replied Pip, pleased. ‘But if she does, perhaps Matilda could come along too.’
When Matilda squealed with excitement, Mr Browning rolled his eyes and said, ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to stop her.’
‘Tuck in, everybody!’ Grommet ordered. ‘Don’t let lunch get cold.’
People were laughing and eating and talking over each other. Pip relaxed. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives, which was a bit strange when you thought about it. The Brownings and Grommet’s family – and her own! – had only met each other an hour or so ago but it was as though they’d known each other for years.
She suddenly realised she had no idea what Grommet, Violet and Bill’s last name was – and Ty’s. Would she have to change her last name now? Did it mean that she would no longer be a Sullivan?
No, Pip decided, she wouldn’t be changing her name. She was Pip Sullivan. That’s just who she was.
Pip felt a weight on her foot, looked down and saw Houdini sitting there. She reached down a hand to scratch his ears.
‘You’re the best, Houdini,’ she murmured, looking down into his silly comical face with its tongue lolling out. ‘You stuck with me all the way from Sydney. Right to the end.’
As if in response, Houdini did what he did best, and farted explosively.
‘Houdini!’ everyone cried out indignantly, and Pip laughed.