“Are you all right?”
“Who are you calling?”
“My children. Robert made this mess in my name. I’m not cleaning it up quietly.”
***
Hanna arrived first. Steven came ten minutes later.
They stopped when they saw Claire.
“What is she doing here?” Hanna asked. “Mom, are you fighting with Claire now?”
“Who are you calling?”
“Sit down.”
“Mom, yesterday was hard enough.”
“So was missing my husband’s funeral because you believed a lie, Hanna. Sit.”
Claire told them everything.
Hanna shook her head. “Dad said you couldn’t face his illness.”
“I faced every appointment until he pushed me out.”
Steven picked up the bank statement.
“Sit down.”
“He took Grandma’s money?”
“Yes.”
“But he returned it.”
“The money matters,” I said. “But it wasn’t the worst thing he took.”
Neither answered.
“He took your trust in me, and you handed it over without asking one honest question.”
Hanna’s face crumpled.
