For a moment no-one moved, then Kate reluctantly rose to make it. All her life she’d believed her grandmother to be a selfless, kind woman with the best interests of her family at heart – her whole family. Now Kate wondered what else had happened over the years to even things up, as Granny had put it.

“We have to sort this out.” Milt turned to his mother, his voice firm. “And I want the girls to be part of it.”

“Last week you said you wanted to wait until Natalie got back.”

“I’m sure she’ll approve any decision the girls and I make.”

Kate put a cup of tea in front of Olive and went back to her seat. Olive lifted the lid from the sugar bowl and put a teaspoonful into her cup, stirring it slowly. “I don’t like being ganged up on.”

“What would you call what you and Connie are doing?”

Olive looked at her son, put her teaspoon on the saucer, clasped her hands and pursed her lips.

“We’ve been over this, Mum. Connie has been compensated and she’ll inherit your nest egg one day. She can’t keep dipping her hand in.”

“She’s not.”

Bree leaned in, spoke softly. “We’ve discovered you’re getting two allowances from the property. And that one of them, the bigger one that used to be for you and Pa, is going to an account in Connie’s name.”

Olive lowered the cup she’d been raising to her mouth. It rattled on the saucer.

“Was that your idea or Connie’s?” Milt asked, his tone soft like Bree’s.

Olive’s face paled. Kate didn’t like to see her being harassed but they had to have answers. “Take your time, Granny.”

Olive gave her a weak smile then turned her gaze back to her son. “When Natalie set up the new account for me I was so busy trying to get my head around that, and deal with…deal with being on my own and moving house, I assumed the old account had been closed. A couple of months ago I was visiting Constance and I was looking for some card or other. I pulled everything out of my purse and she noticed the card for the old account. I said there’d be not much in it, that you’d opened a new account in my name.” She sighed. “Constance checked.”

“And you decided to help yourself,” Milt said.

“I didn’t, I wouldn’t…” Olive’s chin went up. “You obviously weren’t missing it.”

“That’s not the point, Mum. I don’t know how we overlooked it but with the volume of accounts Natalie deals with…I’m sure she would have noticed eventually.”

“I don’t understand why Aunty Connie is stealing from us.” Laura shook her head.

“She’s not stealing.”

“What would you call it then, Mum?”