‘I can’t do anything,’ she wailed. ‘I’m useless. I’ve never done anything except live here. I’m a leech. When you sell up, what the hell am I going to do?’
Sebastian pulled back, framing her tear-streaked face with his hands. ‘You’re not a leech.’
‘Yes I am.’ The wailing intensified.
‘Well, OK. Maybe you’re a bit of a leech.’
She spluttered a laugh and he hugged her tighter.
‘But you’re also my sister and I love you, bar the blood-sucking bit. It’s OK. It’s all going to be OK.’
‘How? How is it going to be OK?’
It was a decent question, and he didn’t have an answer. ‘I don’t know. Not yet anyway. But it’s going to be OK.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I shouldn’t have listened to him; I shouldn’t have believed him over you. Or Mummy.’
‘I don’t think I need the apology. But she does. She’s the one you really hurt with your wild accusations.’
For once in her life, Olivia didn’t push back. Instead she nodded and said, ‘I will. She didn’t deserve that. I mean, there’s no one less likely to go all Connie Chatterley and have a secret love affair with someone, is there?’
‘As much as I’d like her to find someone – be happy – I genuinely don’t see it.’
‘It’s not like there’s anyone around here to fit the bill, is there? I mean, practically everyone in Kirkshield is of pensionable age. I suppose there’s a few single men – but it’s not as though she’d have anything in common with someone like Robbie. They don’t exactly move in the same circles, do they?’ Olivia shook her head.
Sebastian frowned at the idea of their mother with another man. Which was completely irrational; if anyone deserved a shot at happiness, it was her. Then he studied his sister for a moment. Maybe there was more than one way to bring happiness into his mother’s life. ‘Liv, if I’m going to make this creaking behemoth of an estate work, I’m going to need all the help I can get.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well. Thing is, I kind of agree with you about the unfairness of my inheriting this entire place. It does seem very out of step with the twenty-first century.’
‘That’s because it is. As far as I can see, it’s nothing more than a way for the lucky few to hang on tight to as much as they can. And if I’d been born Oliver, rather than Olivia, you’d be the one left with nothing.’
Sebastian grinned. ‘The irony being that there’s still nothing, even though on paper I’ve got it all. In fact, there’s less than nothing.’ He shuffled some papers, drawing out the one he’d shown Jess – the bank statement displaying the full horror of the estate’s finances. He passed it to Olivia. ‘Take a look.’
Olivia scanned the sheet of paper, her eyes widening in a similar way to Jess’s. She twisted the paper and pointed to a figure. ‘Is this a minus?’
Sebastian stifled a laugh – she’d used the same phrase as Jess had done. But it wasn’t in the slightest bit funny, and Olivia tilted her head at his unexpected response. ‘Yes,’ he conceded. ‘That’s the overdraft. That’s why I need all the help I can get. And now you’ve seen how difficult this is going to be, I wouldn’t blame you if you perform the biggest back-pedal ever with your offer of support.’
‘Really?’ She looked defiant. ‘I’ve spent the last ten years hiding my relationship from my father, when it would have been far easier to have bowed to his will and given Candida up. Married some chinless wonder and pretended I enjoyed having him sweat all over me. No. You’re looking at a woman who doesn’t give up, or give in. It’s almost like you don’t know me at all, little brother.’
Sebastian smiled. ‘And there she is – that’s the Olivia we’re going to need.’
‘Right,’ she said, scanning the figures on the paper again. ‘First things first. Let’s see what we can trim immediately. Cars. I love my Landy, but I don’tneedit. That can go.’
‘I’ve already contacted the garage about the Evoque, too. They’re collecting it this week.’
‘Good. I think Mummy should keep her Audi, though. Perhaps we could all share that.’
‘I’ll let you ask her,’ he said.
‘Ask me what?’ Their mother was in the doorway. ‘What’s going on in here? You two look like you’re planning something – and doing it together, for once.’ She looked amused.
‘Seb’s finally realised my worth, and I’m helping him sort out his life,’ Olivia said. ‘But, seriously, we’ve got to make some drastic changes around here. Cut out the dead wood.’ She looked more animated than Sebastian had seen for years. ‘Oh, another thought. We can let Jess go. It was my idea to have her here in the first place, and I agree with you now, Sebastian. It was insensitive of me to replace Elsa, the “Angel of Death”, so quickly. I just thought it would be good to have some help over Christmas – but we can manage without her, can’t we?’
Sebastian didn’t fully hear the last part of what Olivia said, he’d got stuck on the bit about letting Jess go. ‘No.’
‘No? No to which part?’
