Hushed voices reached her from the kitchen. The door was pulled to but, as often happened, it hadn’t latched. Her dad was talking and then Granny said something about her mum. Kate pressed herself to the wall and listened. She was in desperate need of a cup of tea but curiosity got the better of her.

“Did Natalie tell you?” Milt asked.

Kate held her breath. Maybe Granny knew something about her mother’s hasty departure after all.

“Of course not,” Olive said. “Your father did. Do you think he would keep that kind of secret from me?”

Milt groaned and Kate leaned closer, puzzled. If this was something Pa had known about it must have happened a while ago.

“No point in putting your head in your hands, Milton,” Olive snapped. “The past is past. Have you done something else to upset your wife?”

“No.” A chair creaked. “And it’s none of your business what happens between Natalie and me.”

“If it affects the property it is.”

“Oh for f—”

“Milton!”

Bree stepped into the passage from the quarters. Kate put a finger to her lips and waved her over. She took up a position on the other side of the door.

“You don’t have to worry about the property any more,” Milt said.

“Connie’s worried.”

“Hell’s teeth, don’t tell me she knows.”

“Knows what?” Bree mouthed and Kate shrugged.

“Of course not. Her concerns are about me.”

Milt snorted.

“And an income for her,” Olive said.

“Tell her to go out and earn one then.”

“There’s no need to be snappy. The world has changed since you took on the property. Ideas about sibling reparation have changed.”

“Connie was well compensated and Dad’s will made it clear.”

The bathroom door opened. Laura stepped out. “What’s—?”

Bree and Kate both put urgent fingers to their lips, silencing her. She came to stand beside Bree, her hair enclosed in a swirl of towel and her eyes wide. She leaned in.

“She feels this place is still partly hers,” Olive went on.

“She can think what she likes but it’s not. This property is an asset, Mum, not a bottomless pit of money. You know that. Connie knows that. She’s married to a farmer—”

“With much more marginal land and three sons.”

“And I’ve got three daughters. I have to think about their future.”

Kate looked from Laura to Bree. Both stared back at her open-mouthed. It sounded as if Connie was after a piece of the property. That had never been mentioned when they’d had a family meeting about the future a year ago.