Chapter 8 - The Money Question

The inheritance stopped being theoretical when Anna’s business van broke down.

It happened on a Monday morning outside a client’s house.

The engine made a sound Anna described later as “financial death,” then filled the street with smoke.

The mechanic called at four.

“Gearbox.”

Anna closed her eyes.

“How much?”

He told her.

She laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because the amount was almost exactly what remained on her highest-interest credit card.

That evening, she canceled dinner with Paige.

Work emergency, she texted.

Paige called anyway.

Anna stared at the phone.

Let it ring.

Then answered.

“What?”

“That was warm.”

“I’m busy.”

“With?”

“Things.”

“Specific.”

Anna sat at her kitchen table surrounded by invoices.

“Van died.”

“Oh.”

“Please do not say you’ll pay.”

Paige was silent.

“You were going to.”

“I was going to ask what you needed.”

“That is dangerously mature.”

“I’ve had practice.”

Anna rubbed her forehead.

“I need a van.”

“Do you have options?”

“Loan. Repair. Used replacement.”

“Want help comparing?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

The lack of pressure irritated Anna for reasons she understood too well.

“You can say something.”

“I did.”

“You sound like a therapist.”

“I’m trying not to become our family.”

Anna sighed.

“Come over.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

Paige arrived with takeaway and no cheque.

Anna appreciated the absence so much it made her angry.

They spread figures across the table.

Paige was better with spreadsheets.

Anna was better at knowing which costs were fantasy.

“No, I cannot cut supply expenses by twenty percent,” Anna said.

“Why?”

“Because clients notice if you replace decent products with scented blue water.”

“Fair.”

“And no, I cannot just raise prices ten percent overnight.”

“Why?”

“Because half my clients are old women who have had the same rate for five years.”

“That sounds like a business problem.”

“It is also a human problem.”

Paige nodded.

“Point taken.”

They worked until ten.

The cheapest option was a used van with a small bank loan.

Anna would still struggle for three months.

Paige looked at the totals.

“You have inheritance coming.”

Anna stiffened.

“There.”

“What?”

“You said it.”

“Yes.”

“I knew you would.”

“Anna.”

“I’m not using Mum’s money to fix my van.”

“Why not?”

“Because then every mile I drive becomes something she bought after failing me.”

Paige leaned back.

“That’s honest.”

“I know.”

“Is it also practical?”

“No.”

“Do you care?”

“Not tonight.”

Paige nodded.

“Then take the loan.”

Anna stared.

“You think that’s stupid.”

“I think it costs more.”

“Same thing.”

“No.”

Paige closed the laptop.

“Money is not morally cleaner because it comes from a bank.”

Anna looked away.

“Easy for you.”

The words landed harder than intended.

Paige went quiet.

Anna immediately regretted them.

“Sorry.”

“No.”

“It was cheap.”

“It was true.”

Anna looked at her.

Paige continued.

“I can talk about emotional purity because I’m not choosing between debt and a working van.”

Anna sighed.

“I hate that you say reasonable things when I want to fight.”

“I can be unreasonable if it helps.”

“No.”

They cleaned the table.

Before Paige left, Anna said, “I’m taking the loan.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t tell Margaret.”

“I won’t.”

“Don’t tell Jean.”

“I won’t.”

“Don’t tell the solicitor.”

“Why would I tell the solicitor?”

“I don’t know. Rich people network.”

Paige laughed.

Two days later, Anna received a call from Daniel Price.

She almost did not answer.

“Anna, I need to update you on the estate.”

Her stomach tightened.

“What happened?”

“The house has been valued.”

He told her the figure.

Anna sat down.

Forty percent of the expected net proceeds was more money than she had earned in the previous five years combined.

“That can’t be right.”

“It is an expensive area.”

“I know where Paige grew up.”

Daniel paused.

“Where you spent your early childhood too.”

Anna closed her eyes.

“Legally, what happens if I refuse?”

“You can disclaim the inheritance.”

“Then it goes to Paige?”

“Not exactly. The will specifies that a disclaimed share falls into the charitable portion.”

Anna frowned.

“So Paige does not get it.”

“No.”

“Did Mum do that on purpose?”

“I believe so.”

Anna laughed once.

“Of course.”

Daniel continued.

“There is another option.”

“What?”

“Accept it, then dispose of it however you choose.”

“Tax?”

“Potentially, depending on what you do.”

Anna rubbed her forehead.

“I hate this.”

“I understand.”

“No, you understand tax. I hate the meaning.”

Daniel was silent.

Then he said, “That is outside my expertise.”

“Finally, an honest professional.”

That Friday was sister night.

They were supposed to see a terrible romantic comedy.

Instead Anna told Paige about the valuation in the cinema lobby.

Paige nodded.

“I know.”

“You knew?”

“Daniel copied me.”

“And you didn’t say anything.”

“I thought you should tell me when you wanted.”

Anna stared.

“You are getting irritatingly good at that.”

“Thank you.”

“That was not praise.”

They skipped the film.

They went to a quiet pub and sat in a back booth.

Anna put both hands around a glass of water.

“I want to refuse it.”

Paige waited.

“But?”

“But I also want to pay my debt.”

“Reasonable.”

“I want to buy a better van.”

“Also reasonable.”

“I want to give Mia a proper contract.”

“Who is Mia?”

“My employee. The younger woman Mum saw me laughing with through the window.”

Paige’s expression changed.

“Oh.”

“She’s been with me three years. I can’t afford guaranteed hours.”

“You could with the inheritance.”

“Yes.”

“What else?”

Anna looked embarrassed.

“I want to finish university.”

Paige leaned forward.

“You do?”

“Yes.”

“What did you study?”

“Social policy.”

“That is unexpectedly perfect.”

“Why?”

“You have spent two weeks conducting a tribunal on family systems.”

Anna laughed.

“I liked the course.”

“Why didn’t you go back?”

“Life.”

“That answer sounds familiar.”

Anna looked at her.

“I know.”

Paige did not tell her what to do.

Anna noticed.

“Say something.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“That taking the money does not mean forgiving Mum.”

Paige’s chest tightened.

“Taking the money does not mean forgiving Mum.”

“That using it does not mean I think she made things right.”

“It does not.”

“That I’m not stealing from you.”

“You are not.”

Anna looked down.

“And that I’m allowed to want it.”

Paige reached across the table.

She did not take Anna’s hand.

She placed her palm upward between them.

Anna looked at it.

“You’re allowed to want it.”

Anna put her hand in Paige’s.

For a few seconds, both sat quietly.

Then Anna withdrew.

“I still hate it.”

“You can hate money and use it.”

“That sounds like something rich people put on cushions.”

Paige laughed.

The next week, Anna signed the paperwork acknowledging the inheritance.

She did not spend any of it immediately.

The house had not sold.

Nothing was liquid.

But accepting changed something inside her.

She had stopped treating refusal as the only morally clean response.

That same afternoon, Margaret came to the house.

Paige had invited her.

Anna had agreed.

They sat in the living room.

Margaret looked older than two weeks earlier.

“I heard the house valuation came back.”

Anna’s expression cooled.

“From whom?”

“Jean.”

Paige sighed.

“Of course.”

Margaret looked at Anna.

“Are you accepting?”

Anna’s jaw tightened.

“Yes.”

Margaret smiled with visible relief.

“Good.”

Anna’s eyes narrowed.

“Why good?”

Margaret froze.

“Because Helen wanted—”

“No.”

Anna leaned forward.

“Do not make my choice into Mum getting what she wanted.”

Margaret swallowed.

“You’re right.”

“I’m accepting because I chose to.”

“Yes.”

“I may use it on things she never imagined.”

“Yes.”

“I may give some away.”

“Yes.”

“I may waste some.”

Margaret blinked.

Anna almost smiled.

“That one hurt you.”

“A little.”

“Good.”

Paige laughed.

Margaret did too, cautiously.

Then Anna became serious.

“There is something else.”

Margaret waited.

“I want the family tree.”

“What?”

“The old one in Mum’s study. The framed genealogy chart.”

Paige looked at her.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not on it.”

Paige’s face fell.

She had forgotten.

The framed chart listed Paige beneath Helen and Thomas.

Only Paige.

Helen had commissioned it after Anna disappeared, perhaps before accepting that records should still include her.

Margaret whispered, “Oh.”

Anna continued.

“I don’t want it thrown away.”

“What do you want?” Paige asked.

“I want to fix it.”

Paige smiled.

They took the frame down that evening.

The old paper was too delicate to alter directly.

So Anna scanned it.

On her laptop, she added one line.

Anna Louise Reed.

Above Paige.

Not hidden.

Not inserted in a footnote.

A daughter.

A sister.

Then she printed the new version.

Paige found another frame.

They hung it in the study.

Margaret stood behind them.

Anna looked at the wall.

“That feels stupidly important.”

Paige nodded.

“It is important.”

Anna looked at her sister.

“Not because Mum wanted it.”

“No.”

“Because I do.”

Paige smiled.

“Exactly.”

Later that night, after Margaret left, Anna stood alone in the study for several minutes. Paige watched from the doorway without interrupting.

Anna traced her printed name with one finger.

“I spent years signing A. L. Reed because I didn’t know which version of my own middle name was real.”

Paige leaned against the frame.

“And now?”

“Now I know.”

“Louise.”

“Louise.”

She smiled faintly.

“It’s such a small thing.”

“It doesn’t feel small.”

“No.”

Anna looked at the family tree again.

“For the first time, I’m not being added as an apology. I’m just there.”

Paige felt her throat tighten.

“That’s where you should have been.”

Anna nodded.

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“Yeah.”

Then she switched off the study light herself, leaving the corrected family tree on the wall where anyone entering the room would see it first.