Are you actually serious right now? Sophie blurted out, her eyes wide in disbelief. Youd miss my wedding just because your grans fallen ill?
Eleanors voice tightened, slightly hurt. Its not just my gran, shes my favourite grandmother and she was rushed to hospital last night.
So what? Sophie shrugged. All old people get sick, its part of life. My weddings in two days! You know that only happens once, right? And you promised youd be my maid of honour!
Sophie, I cant just go about celebrating when someone I care so deeply for is suffering. How can you not get that? Eleanor stared at her friend, genuinely bewildered.
I dont get it! And I dont plan to! Youve stitched me right up, Eleanor! I dont want to know you anymore!
***
Sophie went through the whole wedding without Eleanor.
And for nearly a month, there wasnt a peep from Sophie. Not a call, not a visit. She was genuinely upset.
But eventually, she cracked. She turned up at Eleanors place and, without so much as a hello, declared
Ellie, we need to talk! You must think Im completely heartless, but its not my faultI swear, Im allergic to the word gran.
What do you mean? Eleanor looked thrown.
Literally, Sophie marched herself into the kitchen. Ill explain, she said, fishing out a bottle of dry white from her bag. But only if youre up for listening.
Im ready, smiled Eleanor. Ive missed you, you know.
***
You might not believe it, but once upon a time, I had a gran too, Sophie began, steadying herself. She did everything in her power to make us strangers. The whole family couldnt stand her. Nobody speaks about her. Not even dad and I went to her funeralmum had to go alone. Truth be told, I dont even know where shes buried.
Wow, Eleanor said softly. What on earth did she do?
It was ages ago. I hadnt even started school yet, and wed just moved to London back then. It all started with a promise, one I basically grew up on.
Once your granddad and I are gone, all this will be yours, Sophie, gran would tell me, setting out steaming plates of cottage pie at the table. Youre our only granddaughter!
Mum would always nod approvingly, dad smiling beside her.
It was like some family sacred pact. I was the sole heir to a flat with polished oak flooring, the scent of antique furniture, and a view over the old square park. I believed it as surely as the sun rising. It felt inevitable. Then
Granddad died suddenly, heart attack, right there in the kitchen at that same table. The world collapsed. Gran shrank overnight, small and dull. Mum and I sobbed for days, while gran barely blinked, as if shed run dry of tears ages ago.
For six months, she hardly spoke to anyone and rarely stepped outside.
Then, one day, she bounced back and declaredquite dramaticallyIm leaving. For good.
Mum nearly choked on her fishcake.
Leaving where, mum? Why? How are we meant to cope…without you?
But gran wouldnt hear it. Im going back to the place I was born. Nora, my cousin, has plenty of space for me. Want to see out my days at home. Its stifling here.
Yeah, right. Stifling. In a three-bedroom flat overlooking the park.
We tried to talk her out of it, even offered for her to move into our two-bed semi. Yknow, so she wouldnt feel so lonely. Gran refused.
No matter what, she wouldnt change her mind.
A month later, the flat was sold. We found out last. Gran rang with a cold update. Thats it. Sold the flat. Gave the money away. I feel calmer now.
Turns out shed loaned the lot to her cousins daughter, some Jacqueline, who was supposedly going to start up a tailoring business and promised to pay gran back with extra interest. Gran believed her; said it was better for the money to be working. Never thought about us at all.
She told mum on the phone, outrightYour husband would just waste it all away. I know him. This way, the money stays in the family and youll get help whenever you truly need it.
Gran failed to factor in that Jacqueline was, frankly, a fraud. The business never opened and the cash disappeared. Gran fell out badly with Nora and Jacqueline.
In the end, gran had to use the scraps she had left to buy a miserable little flat looking at a grey wall in a dingy part of town, moving away from her lovely relatives.
Three years we didnt hear a word from her, then she rang: voice trembling, desperate.
Daughter, please get me out of here. I made a terrible mistake
Mum wanted to drop everything and dash over. Dad, however, stood his ground.
No way, he said, so firm and final that mum looked pale. Shes made her bed, let her lie in it. Theres barely enough room for us here, let alone taking care of her in her old age! Absolutely not! She sold OUR flat! Mine! Yours! Sophies!
Mum and dad shouted at each other all night long. I lay in bed, crying. In that moment, I was furious with both gran and dad. Herfor being so gullible and betraying us. Himfor how hard he was.
She died the next year, not ill at all, justgone.
Before she passed, she managed to leave her new flat to me. There you goI became the lucky owner of a cramped little place in a decaying town Id never stepped foot in, and never wanted to.
Mum went to the funeral alone. Dad refused. I didnt go either. I simply couldnt. I just couldnt forget that London flatthe dream we lost, and how gran was so blindly foolish.
After the funeral, mum tried to get our money backsending letters, visiting those relatives who just threw up their hands.
Money? What money? There arent any receipts. She simply helped us outit was a gift.
And thats all. Tens of thousands of pounds that couldve changed our whole lives, vanished into thin air.
For years now, Ive carried this splinter inside me. Every single time mum, teary-eyed, whispers, If only we still had that flat in London, I silently tell gran exactly how I feel about her. I dont remember her cabbage pies, her warm hands, her soft voice. My memories of her have been poisoned by that one foolish act. She didnt just lose money. She destroyed our family. She ruined everything. The lingering pain after she was gone is something I can never shake off. So now you understand? Sophie blinked away a tear.
Eleanor sat quietly.
Cat got your tongue? Sophie finally broke the silence. Are we alright?
So, Eleanor replied slowly, your gran made a mistake, put her faith in family, and you curse her for it? She didnt raise your mum? Didnt care for youor think about you, even after you stopped speaking to her? Youre something else, Sophie. Turns out, I dont know you at all.
Youre not getting it! Sophie was pale. She
I understand everything, Eleanors voice had a hard edge. To hate a loved one whos gonefor what, really? Seems you lot didnt love your gran, you only loved her three-bedroom London flat. Cant you see how much she must have suffered over that mess? How much regret she carried?
Who, gran? Sophies eyebrows shot up. Not a chance! She never even said sorry!
Right, Eleanor said thoughtfully, then caught herself: Oh, heckIve completely forgotten! I need to goIve got to see my gran
Right now?
Yes, shes waiting
Will I see you tomorrow? Sophie asked, hiding her hurt as best she could.
Of course! Eleanor replied
They never spoke again.
