Chapter 14

Saturday 28 May 2022

Larissa spent most of the flight with her head down focusing on her university project, and playing around with data exercises from the stats text book. Julian understood this a bit so he helped her when she got stuck. She felt like she understood the statistics better after all this, well enough to complete her project. Then she settled down and had a long sleep. She was still asleep when the plane started to descend into Melbourne, and the stewardess woke her up. Julian was starting to wake up too, and she tickled him to accelerate the process.

There was a huge group waiting for them excitedly as soon as they came into the arrivals hall. Pretty much the same group as came to the airport when they left. As soon as Layna led them out of the door, a huge cheer started. What a lovely experience, and Larissa had wonderful hugs with all her friends and family. Steph was first, of course, and when she’d hugged everyone else, she went back to Steph and held Rachel and Steph at the same time.

Everyone was desperate to know more details of what happened on the trip, so they all trooped over to the hotel in the airport carpark and filled up the corner of the hotel bar, and the four of them gave a trip report. But the very first thing that Layna did very much caught them all by surprise. Larissa was waiting for it, and watched Layna switch her ring to the right finger and then hold her hand up. There was an instant storm of congratulations and enthusiasm, and everyone had to hug them both all over again. Larissa was pleased for Layna, that she got that response. One of the staff came over to them, so Larissa broke off the crowd and explained that she was sorry about the noise, and it wouldn’t happen again, but while he was here, how could they get thirty coffees for everyone?

Between them all, Joe, Layna, and Julian explained to everyone what happened through their trip. Larissa could’ve stood out in the middle too, but she had Suzy fixed to her like a clam on one side, and Steph on the other, and Rachel in her lap, and it was hard to think how it could be better than that. Sweet, so she was happy to let them do the talking. They only gave a very brief explanation of the discussion in the White House - said that was for the team on Monday.

At home, it was lovely to get back in Fiona’s arms again, and they sat out on the deck and did the whole explanation all over again.

She spent the morning unpacking, washing and cleaning up. While she was loading the washing machine, she got a message from Alison, which she’d been waiting for:

✉ Alison: I went for a ride this morning, after I got home (all night flight)
✉ Larissa: Don’t play with me here, just tell me!
✉ Alison: :-) Landon agreed to come to the ball with me tomorrow night
✉ Larissa: Great! I’m super pleased for you
✉ Alison: He wasn’t surprised. He’s no dummy, and you were pretty direct, so he figured out what I was thinking
✉ Larissa: Of course he’s no dummy! Running a farm ... I know how hard that is
✉ Alison: We ended up having a really long chat about our lives. I see that I let my family trick me into underestimating him a lot
✉ Larissa: I’m glad. I’d hate to think we led you wrong!
✉ Alison: You didn’t. I’m having dinner with Landon and Grandpa soon.
✉ Larissa: +1. We really like your grandpa. That plane trip to Chicago was wonderful
✉ Alison: Yes, it was very lovely indeed
✉ Alison: Also, Dee and I had lunch with B3, and he’s very happy to take Dee not me. Specially after yesterday. He was more than a bit terrified by that
✉ Larissa: I should think he was. You’re an amazon!
✉ Alison: We’ve all agreed it’s going to be a surprise tomorrow night. We’re just going to turn up together
✉ Larissa: I’m looking forward to the photos, you’re going to blow people’s minds ;-)
✉ Alison: Wait till you see my dress. If I can sort it in time. It’s going to blow mum’s mind
✉ Larissa: Looking forward to seeing it! But you blow your mum’s mind anyway. Is that a problem?
✉ Alison: We just talked now. She’s resigned to what I’m doing after yesterday. I think that Grandpa talked to her
✉ Larissa: I bet he did. OK. Send me photos! I have to go do the washing
✉ Alison: Love you. I’ll send photos

Deanna arrived a little early, while they were still doing chores. Larissa offered her to sit on the deck while she finished hanging out the washing, but Deanna wasn’t having that - she helped instead. Julian was still out doing the shopping with Alan, so Deanna helped Fiona and Larissa tidy up in the kitchen. Once Julian was home, they put the shopping away, prepared lunch, and then they sat out on the deck with Deanna. Alan and Fiona were there too, listening. Once they’d got past the normal pleasantries, and they’d told her about their trip to USA, they got to business.

“OK,” Deanna said. “So as I told you, now is a uniquely good time to run with your idea. I know that you hadn’t thought it through, so we’ve done that now, and your idea has had a pretty wide exposure. Our feedback is mostly really good, and so we definitely want to go ahead. How are you feeling about it?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and whenever I do, I think about all the women I know who’ve been damaged by alcohol fuelled violence and abuse, and I always decide that if I can do something to reduce it a little, then I must, and whatever the price, I must pay it. But Julian says that I won’t pay it alone, he’ll pay it with me, and so will my friends and family. So I won’t do it unless they back me, and I’m talking to them all this evening when we also tell them about our trip.”

Deanna smiled. “I really appreciate your willingness to do what it takes. Most people would run away screaming, afraid of such exposure.”

“Well, I’ve had plenty of exposure, you know about that, so I know how that goes, and I think I can wear it. But it can’t be about me. I’ll do what I need to do, but I don’t want to do anything that I don’t need to do. I don’t want to do stuff that just gets me more exposure.”

“I understand. Julian, what about you? Would you be part of the campaign? What do you think about this?”

“I think it’s awful that women suffer from violence, and it just keeps happening. How can we not do everything we can to stop it? How can I not do it? And if my awesome wife can do something to reduce it, I’m all in to support her. But what do you have in mind?”

“Thanks, I wish all men felt as strongly about that. Generally, Larissa, we’re planning to run a coordinated media campaign, an interview for you on A Current Affair, a documentary piece about your life on Sixty Minutes, a national TV advertising campaign featuring you as the face of the campaign, and social media - a mix of memes and short videos of you, or other famous people supporting you, and we’re going to sell ribbons to tie around your upper arm to indicate that you support the campaign and follow the rules.”

Pretty much what Larissa expected, though the ribbon idea was pretty cool. “You have the pull for the media work?”

“We have some pull, but after the last two weeks, they’re interested in you anyway, so that turned a chance into a certainty. My God, Larissa, you’re so easy to market it’s hard to believe.”

Larissa shrugged. “It’s not what I set out to do. I just want to help people, and help Layna, in particular, or all this is a waste of time.”

“Well, keep doing what you’re doing. But we are still concerned about them digging dirt on you. Both for its impact on the campaign, and more particularly, its impact on you. So how do you feel about that?”

“Sure, you need to understand that there’s plenty of dirt to be dug up from back then. There’s all the guys and girls that fucked me when I was a drunken mess. I’m sure that some of the guys I banged and then passed out on will have photos of me naked. Probably legs spread, whatever. So I’m assuming that someone will dig up those stories and photos. But that’s not new territory for me.” She told Deanna about the guy at the party, and Deanna laughed the same way. “So that’s from before. And they’ll all be illegal anyway, but I refuse to be shamed, for the sake of my sisters. Since then, as far as I know, the only stuff people could dig up on me are that I like dancing in my underwear, but hell, we did that at our wedding and posted it to YouTube, so that’s kind of nothing. There’s a video someone took of Julian and I having emergency sex, and if that surfaces, I want a copy.” Deanna laughed for that one too. “And there’s a photo of me kissing Zara that goes around. But that’s the opposite of secret, and she has it on her bedroom wall. Other than that we’ve done some wild parties that people might talk about, but I’ve never drunk anything, and I’ve never screwed anyone but Julian, and never will. Everyone at those parties knows: sex not drinking.” She told Deanna about their deal about not drinking, and the wild party with the girls from their course, and getting each other to go down in front of the whole party. “Student party, right? And that’s us living the dream.”

Deanna shook her head. “I think I wish I was young again!”

“There is one way people could look for trouble on me, which is to dig into my family past. You know about my mum, what she’s doing now?”

Deanna didn’t, and hadn’t picked that up at the dinner. She was left shaking her head when Larissa explained. “Unbelievable, Larissa. So what does Bob think?” Right, she’d have to consider that.

“I don’t know, and I’ll find out this weekend, probably tonight. But I expect that he’ll be supportive. He’s been really good about that sort of stuff so far. But he’s got an edge - he might bite back if people go too far.” She told Deanna about what he did about the photos Peter Nutter’s photographer took of her.

Deanna shook her head. “I think I need to talk to Bob. I can’t afford to make mistakes with those kind of men.”

“I understand. I’ll ask him about it. And I don’t think you’ll get any other surprises like that from the rest of our families. I’m talking to them tonight so I’ll see.”

“Just how many people are you talking to tonight?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe fifty? I asked less than that but more friends and family keep wanting to come.” Larissa shrugged. “We’ve had to move it to fit everyone.”

“Could I come and listen? I’d really love to do that, and I really don’t want to make any difference, people can say what they think - I really want to hear that.”

“You could, I guess. What do you think, Julian?”

“We could not tell everyone who you are until afterwards?”

“Sure. Anyway, dirt. What do you think? Oh, no, there’s more. Uni gave me a leg up this year, which was really nice, but they think it was by the rules, and I didn’t ask for it. But that’s made some of the other girls jealous, and the bitchez said some nasty things. I figure it was one of them who talked to the magazine. But I don’t pretend to be a great student, just a lucky one.”

Deanna smiled. “That one won’t bother us. We have a plan for dealing with the rest, which is what you’ve said, that’s why you don’t drink. Are you willing to say that on national TV?” Larissa nodded. “Wow, you’re tough, Larissa, really, but I totally agree about refusing to be shamed. The only thing I worry about from what you’ve said is the Bob thing.” Larissa nodded. She’d definitely have to talk to him about that.

“Ok, another thing we need to talk about is help for you, Larissa. I certainly understand what you said, that you need help, and how personal it is. I’m still working on it. We can’t pay you directly for appearing in the campaign - that would be counter productive, because we’d be paying you. it’s much more powerful if you’re doing it voluntarily.” Larissa nodded, she agreed about that. “But we can pay your costs, and I’ve asked our lawyer whether that’s a legitimate cost. She’s still looking into it. So I said I would have an answer today, but I don’t.”

“That’s OK. I understand these things take time, but you don’t need to worry about it, I think I can handle it myself.”

“Really? Wow! But how?”

“Oh, it’s not sorted yet, so I don’t want to say. Maybe tonight I’ll explain.”

“OK. That would be useful for me, but believe me, we’ll cover your costs generously. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is our feedback. There’s some concern that people drink socially to deal with social anxiety, and we don’t want to make their problems worse.”

“Right. That’s why I said one drink, not none. I certainly don’t want to make things worse for them, and I have friends like that. But actually, that’s it’s own problem, not unrelated to abuse and violence, what can we do about that?”

“There’s some things we can do, if you’re willing to say it the right way, so that’s good. The other thing is that alcohol is an aphrodisiac, and many people need it.”

Larissa frowned. “More than one?” Deanna nodded. “I don’t know. Why is that? I sure don’t need it, or any of my friends. Julian makes me feel really good, so I’m always up for it. Hell, we didn’t do it last night on the plane, Julian could easily talk me into doing it right now out here on the deck.”

Fiona laughed, and said, “You better believe her, Deanna. That’s something we see often, they decide to get it on, and never even make it to their bedroom.”

Larissa laughed. “True. But we’re not the only ones, my friend who’s fave place for a screw is on the lounge there!”

“So are we done here, or is it intermission?” Julian asked. “Deanna, it won’t take long. About an hour, I reckon.”

Deanna burst into hysterical laughter, and then said, “I’m not sure whether you’re joking. No, I expect that if I encouraged you, you’d just do it.”

“Well, you could watch, or you could get yourself off. If you want to. I’m sure one of us can kiss you good if that helps.”

Deanna laughed uncertainly. “No, that’s fine. I’ll call my husband and demand we have a siesta. If he hasn’t been drinking.”

“You should definitely do that. But seriously, I assume there’s research into that, right? I’d hate to think that the only way people can enjoy sex is if their judgement is impaired by alcohol. Sounds like exactly the kind of trouble they should avoid.”

“Yes. I’ll get my researchers to look into that. And I don’t want to get in the way of a good bout of sex for you both, so are we done? I’m really looking forward to tonight.”

They agreed that they were done, and said goodbye, and then they did both get into it, though Julian and Larissa did make it to bedroom. After the shower ran out of hot water.

Then they let themselves have a nap afterwards.

They arrived at Dave’s place early, in time for dinner. Anyone who wanted to could come for dinner, and bring a contribution. The weather was OK, so dinner piled up on their back table, and everyone sat on the back lawn to eat. But first, Larissa had hugs and kisses with Dave’s entire family. What a lovely experience, and at the end Toni held her tight and wouldn’t let go. She ate dinner with Toni still holding her like a clam. There was a theme there, she knew, Suzy and Toni. That worked.

Dinner kept being interrupted by hugs and kisses for all the various family and friends arriving. Maria and Aaden, her mum and Bob, Mary, Matt, Ella, Isabella and Mason. Her mum clammed up to her on the other side from Toni. Ruby, Pete, Chelsea and Liam. Brianna, Anna, Phil and Scott. Steph and Xander turned up, and her mum let go of her to hold Rachel, so Steph could have a prolonged hug with Michelle. Ross and Amelia came with them. The project team all turned up, with partners. James and Sophie arrived. Who else? Asha and Jaiden turned up with Willow and Lucas. Ah, Deanna arrived. She introduced Deanna without saying who she was, and let her observe, though she did have to ask her mum and Mary not to spread it around, since they recognised her, of course. Then wow, Lucy and Sarah turned up! She had no idea about that, and they were full of glee at her surprise that they’d come down to Melbourne for the weekend. Ah, Alan and Fiona. Sweet, she knew they were coming, and it was special because they usually did family things through the weekend. Last - she thought it was last, anyway, Thomas and Jane walked in with Micky and Dan, and she had more hugs and kisses. A long combined one for Jane and Micky. Right, she was complete, all her friends that were coming were here. Oh, Suzy’s family turned up too. Her sisters too, then, all here. And then Hamza came - Julian had invited him, since he wasn’t doing that well.

Even Layna’s parents came - that was really big, and Larissa shed her clams to take the time to meet and talk to them. She could tell they were nervous, still wearing masks and not eating, and she made sure they understood she was fine with that. They came with Joe’s parents and sisters, and she was introduced to them too. Well, there were way too many for Dave’s lounge room now, how would that work?

After dinner, everyone helped move all the furniture out of their lounge room so that they could all squeeze into their lounge. While that was happening, Kat took Larissa aside with Sal and Toni.

“Ok,” Kat said. “Toni, it’s been nearly three months since your discipline from Larissa. Tell Larissa how you’re doing.”

“Larissa, what you did that night changed me completely. I know you were trying to just teach me not to drink, but you did far more than that. I don’t know what exactly it was, and maybe some of it was waiting to happen inside me anyway, but since that night, not only have I never been tempted to have a drink, I also changed to stop sleeping with anyone. I don’t need to do that until the right person comes along. Instead, I’ve been concentrating on building good friendships, and doing it right, and I think I’m much better for it. Working out my principles and choosing to be like you and Layna, I started to see how and why I was making those wrong decisions. Even my school work has never been better. And Karate is doing wonderful things for my discipline as well.”

“Wow,” Larissa replied. “That’s a really lovely thing for me to hear, thanks. What about Blake and his guy at Layna’s project?”

Toni laughed. “That’s for fun. I made sure that Blake knows I won’t actually do it, and he said it’s funny enough that I can keep saying it.”

“That’s not all,” Kat said. “As Toni’s mum, I can tell you that she’s getting on with all of us at a deeper level, and particularly much better with both of us.”

Larissa really did feel good about that. She’d wondered whether what she’d done with Toni had been over the top, but it really felt like she needed to make a big impact, based on what Zara and Michelle had been thinking. It was nice to know she hadn’t screwed up there.

“Thanks. I’m really glad for you, and I feel really good hearing that.”

“I don’t know what you’re going to spring on us tonight, Larissa, but I guess it’s got to do with what was in the magazine this week. I just want you to know that I’m with you completely,” Toni said. “I couldn’t love you more than I do. You’re something very special to all of us, and now I really understand why.”

Sal nodded intensely. “We all feel the same. Choosing to meet with you was one of the best decisions of our lives, and we’re really happy we did that. But you know that. Now, I’m hanging out to see what tonight is all about.”

That was lovely, and put her in a great mood. She walked towards the lounge room, and ran into Zara and Michelle waiting for her. “Toni told you?” Zara asked her. When Larissa nodded, they smiled and pulled her in for a joint hug. “You’re remarkable, and we love you very much. You’ve given so much to us.” Larissa enjoyed the hug, and then Zara said, “We were wondering, do you want to sleep over? We’ll leave the lounge floor covered by our camping mattresses and you and anyone who you want to can just do a naked sleepover in a pile.”

“Sounds lovely, actually. What would the rules be?”

“Whatever you want them to be, really. I mean, we have our rules, of course.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to Julian about it, and ask a smaller group if they want to join us.”

“OK,” Michelle said, “but it’s time for us to get ready.” They went and found Layna and Ella, and the four of them retired to Michelle and Tim’s room where Ella and Jo helped them get prettied up like they were for the Women’s dinner, though they had their hair like they did at the White House, which was a bit tricky for Ella, and Jo and Ella helped each other. When they were done, Michelle, who’d watched, went out to check whether everything was ready.

“Thanks, Ella,” Larissa said. “You’re always there in the background doing the little things. I really appreciate it.”

Ella gave her a lovely smile and said, “I’m happy to do it for you both. You both looked just so good that night, and I’m pleased your friends get to see it in person. You looked almost as good at the White House, but I’m a sucker for a full evening dress, so I prefer this look. Though those necklaces were amazing. How much were they worth?”

“We didn’t want to know,” Larissa said. “They were worth enough that they came with their own security detail.”

“Yes. Too much,” Layna said. “And they did look great, but we were seriously over wearing them by the time we could take them off.”

“I understand,” Ella said. “One day that’ll be me, I hope, dressed up for a fancy night like that.” And right there, Larissa knew that she’d insist, next time, that Ella was in on the show. She gave Layna a significant look, but Layna wasn’t ready to say anything yet. Oh well, a subject for later.

Michelle poked her head in and said, “We’re ready, and so are the guys.” In the corridor, they found Julian and Joe wearing their suits.

Larissa kissed Julian who said, “Babe, you look even better than I ever dreamed you did.” She tucked her hand into his arm in the classic conventional fashion and followed Joe and Layna into the lounge room.

For the first few seconds there was silence, as they processed what they were seeing. Then there was an explosion of noise as everyone tried to say what they thought all at once. When the noise finally quietened down, Julian nudged Larissa and she realised that it was her night, and her idea to do this as well, so she should say something.

“Hey everyone. So Layna and I thought that we’d get dressed up so you could get a feel for what our last couple of weeks have been like. It’s been pretty crazy, honestly. These dresses are the ones we wore for the women’s dinner the week before last, but our hair is done like we had at the White House. Joe and Julian are wearing what they wore at the White House. Before I get into what I want to talk to you about, does anyone want to comment about the dresses or suits?”

“I want a photo with you!” Bob called out.

Larissa shrugged. “Tell you what, when we’re done, anyone can do photos with whichever of us of you want, OK?” Plenty of love for that response. “Oh, and I forgot, Ella did our make up in Canberra, and Ella, what a beautiful job you did.”

Ella got plenty of applause for that, and she smiled from where she was standing at the back and said, “You have to tell them where you were when I did yours!”

Larissa grinned and told them all the story, and then Steph - who was running the projector for the night - brought up photos of Larissa changing and her mum and Mary helping, and Ella doing her make up. She got plenty of cheers from her friends who wanted to know whether she also did tonight’s change on the road. “Oh, it was too far, or I sure would’ve!” More hysterical laughter followed for that, and then someone started a chant that went ‘Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!’ and everyone got in on that. “Oh, alright, you can have a kiss.” She didn’t even need to say anything, Joe and Julian kissed for them all. That caused a gale of laughter that Larissa just loved. When that stopped she grinned at them all, and leant over and kissed Layna. Then they did their dance for everyone, with their little steps.

Once the noise dropped down, she said, “OK. So now that we have the frivolities out of the way, I know you all want to know about the White House visit, and the shooting. So Layna and Joe are going to tell you about the white house, and Julian will tell you about the shooting, and then I’ll get to talking about what I really want to talk about, and Julian and I will talk a bit more about that at the end.”

Layna and Joe told them all quickly about the whole trip to the USA, though they skipped over the part about the shooting, and then went back and talked about how the White House visit went. As Larissa expected, they only quickly covered the actual details of the discussion in the White House - team only, for Monday morning, Layna explained. Any questions? Oh yes, there were lots of questions. The last question Layna took, looking at her watch, was whether she’d go again.

“Umm, no. That wasn’t fun, and I wouldn’t want to do it again. Julian and Larissa felt the same, deeply unhappy with them.” She frowned. “But I might have to. Anyway, your turn, Julian.”

Julian told them all about the shooting, and what followed. Lots of shaking heads, but as he said, what else could they do but help? Just about all of them had watched the livestream of the incident anyway.

Once that was done, Larissa stepped out to the middle beside the screen, where Layna had been standing, and said, “OK. So I got invited to this women’s dinner by the Victorian Minister for Woman’s affairs, and she organised for me to talk at it. I got a plus one, but it had to be a female, so I chose Layna, which was a difficult choice. So many of you should’ve got to go, but Layna stood to gain the most, so Layna did it with me. And of course, there was the whole red carpet thing, which got way out of hand for us, but sure, whatever.” Steph played a video she had of the red carpet. “Then, inside, it was the cream of Australian women - actresses, pop stars, Olympians, politicians, etc. Now there were three speakers, Zali Steggall and Grace Tame, and they were both awesome. They got standing ovations, and so they should’ve. I would’ve danced on the table if I could’ve, I was so moved by them, but there was no way I was getting up on the table in this dress. Mum and Mary were there, and they listened to them. What did you think?”

“Hell yes, both of them were brilliant,” Mary said. “Awesome work to get them, and they really got us all fired up.”

“Right, thanks. And then it was my turn. It was hard to believe I belonged, and I was pretty nervous, but Layna gave me a pep talk that Julian had concocted with her for me.” She turned to Layna. “Layna, that really was a big deal - you timed it exactly right, I was about to fall apart.” She got lots of smiles for that. “OK. So this is the speech I made that night, the women’s organisation got me a copy for tonight.”

Steph pushed the go button, and there she was. When she clicked for the video, the picture changed like a zoom meeting would - this was a slick rendition of her talk. She thought she had overcome the nervousness but she could see now, she was a little scattered and breathless for the first minute or so, particularly when she talked about her imposter syndrome. But then she settled, she could see, and now she looked around the room - all her friends watching were focused on the screen, watching her go. Great.

When her talk stopped, she went to say something but had to stop because they were all applauding. When it stopped, she asked if anyone had any questions before she went on. Bob started it by saying, “Larissa, you’ve really turned into a very effective speaker. Mary told me it was very good, but that was better than I imagined.”

“Yes,” Mary said, “the other women at our table knew who you were to us, and we asked them for an objective opinion, and they said that while Zali and Grace gave inspirational speeches, you were inspirational in a different way, and they found you quite formidable.”

“Well, thanks, I guess. But bits are scary, which we’ll talk about tonight. What I said was a pretty tough for Mum though. Mum, do you want to say anything about that?”

“Yes, I do,” her mum said. “I told you beforehand to say whatever, and I thought I meant that, but then it all came screaming back, and it was hard to listen to the first part, and again tonight. It’ll never be easy. But then, as you said, you got saved, by people in this room tonight, who I’ll always owe my life to, and you were reborn into this beautiful butterfly that fills my heart with love and hope, and I loved it and loved listening to it again, even though it’s such an emotional thing to listen to.”

“Thanks mum, I understand. And for those of you who don’t know, it was Dave and Kat I saw on the beach, and Sal and Lem who saved me with them, and thank you for letting me tell the beach story. Many people wouldn’t. I do owe my life to them, and particularly Sal, and I’ve been busy paying it forward and back ever since. And tonight is more paying it forward.”

Then she had some questions around how it was received, so she talked about what people said to her, and what Deanna had said. That was it for the questions, so she went on.

“So I didn’t really think through that bit about alcohol. I mean, I think a lot about the problem, and way too many of us here in the room have lived that.” Lots of nodding in the room. “And the idea around not making love after alcohol as an easier thing than the Larissa pledge, that was knocking around in my head, but pulling it together as a declaration of war, that kind of was a last minute thing that was partly from just how I was feeling after helping Steph all through the night before.”