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We’ll go and see him together.’
    â€˜No. If I do it at all, I’ll do it on my own.’
    â€˜You’ll do it, believe me. And I’m definitely going with you to make sure of that.’
    The connection was closed abruptly. Regina sighed. She’d spoken too abruptly. She wasn’t a bully like her brother, after all. But she was really upset by her daughter’s unwanted pregnancy.
    She didn’t go back to join the others, couldn’t face them at the moment, kept seeing poor Minnie’s face. She wished she could do more to help her sister, but couldn’t think of anything.
    It was a rotten thing to do to anyone.
    Miranda kept walking through the heat of the afternoon. It was three miles from Sebastian’s house to hers and she hadn’t taken her car because of going to the funeral. He lived in a prestigious older suburb, one with most of its early colonial houses still standing in large gardens.
    You rarely saw people on foot round here, except for an occasional jogger. A large car with tinted glass passed her, waited for one of those high metal gates to slide open for it and moved slowly inside. Who rode in cars like that? She didn’t know.
    She wished she need never go back to her brother’s house again as long as she lived, wished she need never see him again. How could they have bought her a flat to live in without consulting her? Her money was tied up and she was being treated like a child – and a stupid one at that. It was too much.
    As she got nearer home, the suburbs changed, with modest blocks of old-fashioned flats standing up like sore thumbs in between run-down older dwellings. The street she and her father had lived in was no longer such a desirable place to live and the house was fit for nothing but demolition, but the land would be valuable, because the house stood on a quarter-acre block and someone would build three or four dwellings on it and make a huge profit, no doubt.
    She saw Sebastian’s car in her drive and realized he must have followed her, so turned sharp right, praying he hadn’t seen her. Hurrying along the next street, she took refuge in the park, sitting on her favourite bench. If she stayed here till dusk, surely he’d go home? She needed time before she faced them all again.
    She’d been sitting there for ages when she heard the faint whine of an electric motor and looked up to see Lou stopping next to her.
    â€˜Something’s very wrong,’ he said softly.
    She nodded.
    â€˜Tell me.’
    It all tumbled out and by the time she’d finished, she was crying into his handkerchief and he’d moved off his scooter to sit next to her. His arm felt so comforting round her shoulders. It was as if she’d known him for years.
    â€˜Why don’t you come back to my place and have a glass of wine?’
    â€˜Are you allowed—’ She broke off, realizing it wasn’t her business.
    He grinned. ‘Who’s to stop me having a drink? I do what I want these days and what I’d really like at this moment is to share a bottle with you and take that hunted look off your face.’
    â€˜I’d love to.’
    She was so terrified of meeting Sebastian on the way back that she insisted on waiting behind the street trees till Lou said the way was clear over the next stretch. The ridiculousness of this made him smile and before she knew it, she was smiling, too. But she still took care not to bump into her brother.
    By the time they got back to Lou’s place they were both breathless with laughter, exaggerating the need for caution and making passers-by stare at them. That foolish fun didn’t look to have done him any harm. In fact, he had more colour in his cheeks now.
    They took the lift up to his flat. As he’d said, the building echoed. Someone had got the acoustics very wrong.
    He parked his scooter in an alcove in his private hall, plugging it in to recharge, and made his way