‘They are willing to discuss repayment,’ she said.

‘It isn’t an agreement yet.’

I felt relief and anger at the same time.

So much pain had grown around numbers on a spreadsheet.

Yet the numbers mattered, because they represented years of choices my father had made without asking me.

Whitney called that evening.

She had heard about the settlement talks and wanted to know whether her own trust was affected.

I told her to speak with her own lawyer.