‘The reason he didn’t ask you is because you’re inclined to cause a scene if you take umbrage,’ said Peggy, barely holding on to her temper. ‘And Betty is not a creature – she’s your grandson’s mother and your son’s very much loved wife. If the reason you’ve come here is to cause trouble, then you can just turn round and sling your hook.’

‘I’m not going anywhere until I get my son back,’ Pauline said, folding her arms.

‘You’ll have a hard time of it if you’re going to go about it in this fashion. Brendon isn’t going back to Tamarisk Bay unless he’s absolutely certain he and his wife and son are welcome there.’

‘I can’t believe he let that woman force him into marriage by getting pregnant,’ Pauline said crossly. ‘Surely, Peggy, you must understand how ashamed I am that my son has fathered a child out of wedlock? And to a cripple of all things.’

Peggy slapped her; the hard, flat sound echoing in the silence.

Pauline clutched at her reddened cheek in shock. ‘How dare you strike me,’ she gasped.

‘I’ll do it again if you don’t shut up, sit down and listen to a few home truths,’ growled Peggy. ‘Go on. Sit down.’

Pauline sat, still clutching her cheek, her eyes wide with fear as she looked up at Peggy. ‘You have no right to talk to me like that.’

‘I have every right to say as I please,’ Peggy said with deceptive quietness. ‘This is my home and my kitchen and you came here uninvited.’ She leaned a little closer. ‘Others might not be willing to tell you how they really feel about you, but I hold no such qualms,’ she said, her emotions now tightly under control.

Pauline cringed back into the chair, speechless as Peggy continued.

‘You are the most unpleasant, whining, whingeing woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to know. The world is not against you, and neither is your son – it’s you who puts everyone’s back up and makes their lives a misery. You see insults and slights where none were intended. You’ve alienated your sister with your jealousy; you don’t speak to your mother because she doesn’t spend every day of her life feeding your extraordinary need to be the star attraction in the show that is Pauline. As for Frank, you’re damned lucky he hasn’t found another woman who will love him and admire him for the wonderful, caring man that he is.’