Not even two hours after the Allens decided to take Charlotte under their roof, Charlotte's grandmother Mrs. Rollings, having returned from her community service and welcomingly invited Lorraine and her mom for a cup of tea, suddenly decided to change her mind about leaving for the mountains and instead insisted on raising her granddaughter herself.

"It's final, and there's no reason to discuss it," she said, placing her hand firmly on the table. "If I raised my son better, he would not have divorced you, Joanne, not taken away Charlotte, nor have died of drinking two years later. Raising the girl is my duty and my burden to carry."

"I'm sure that Alice wouldn't see Charlotte as a burden," Lorraine's mom pointed out. "Why not give this important task to someone who would enjoy it?"

"I insist," Mrs. Rollings waved Lorraine's mom away. "I deserve my punishment. Besides, had I given it up, I would feel like forfeiting my only chance at redemption."

"Well, if it's so important to you, then perhaps Charlotte should stay with you." Lorraine's mom concluded that Mrs. Rollings was now satisfied and proceeded to sip her tea. Surprisingly, the conversation was far from being over.

"Is that so?" Mrs. Rollings looked very displeased, and her tone was rather petulant. "Do you seriously agree that I deserve this obligation of raising my son's daughter?"

Lorraine's mom put down her cup and ran her hand through her straightened black bangs. All she did was let Mrs. Rollings have it her way, but Mrs. Rollings's reply sounded like an accusation.

"Didn't you just say you deserved it?" Lorraine's mom finally managed to say. "As far as I understand, you're feeling uneasy about the way you raised John and now want, uh, redemption..."

"Oh, come on, Joanne, what in the world does John's behaviour have to do with my raising? When he divorced you, he was already over thirty years old and had spent more than ten years away from home. Don't you see how there must have been other influences that made him step on a wrong path?"

"Uh, sure," Lorraine's mom shrugged, still not understanding what Mrs. Rollings was getting at.

"They all get worse when they move out. Take Jack, for instance," Mrs. Rollings mentioned her younger son. "What a great boy he was, always ready to help his mom. Even when Susan started dating him, he would still make sure that I had everything I needed. And what now?" Mrs. Rollings almost yelled, leaning forward and looking straight into Lorraine's mom's eyes.

"Well, what now?"

"And now," Mrs. Rollings almost hissed, "he isn't even here to help me move to my friend's place in the mountains!"

"Oh!" Lorraine's mom exclaimed and nearly laughed in relief, finally comprehending what the talk was all about. "Excuse me. So all you need from me is some help with your move?"

"Nah, don't bother with it," Mrs. Rollings switched gears again, now confident that Lorraine's mom wouldn't backtrack anyway.

"It's alright, I'm on vacation and I have time," Lorraine's mom said, again trying not to laugh.

"How kind of you. I'm serious, however; there's no point in moving if I can't find someone to help me lease this apartment and sell some of the furniture..."

***

When Mrs. Rollings led Lorraine's mom to the other rooms to help her estimate the amount of work to be done, Charlotte, who was indifferently mopping the floors throughout the whole adults' conversation, approached Lorraine and asked what she thought of Mrs. Rollings.

"Nothing much," Lorraine shrugged. "She's a little weird.” She couldn’t express what exactly was off, though.

“Yep, she first argues with you until you agree with her, and once you do agree, she suddenly changes her point of view. Very cool.”

“How do you put up with her?"

That last question was the hardest for Lorraine to pronounce; being sympathetic to someone who didn't embrace her good advice a few hours ago just seemed wrong to Lorraine. However, she could now praise herself for doing something as selfless.

"It's a little annoying," Charlotte meanwhile replied. "However, I would say there are good things I got out of living with grandma, too. It also can be a lot of fun sometimes, like that time I nearly became Milady de Winter for real."

"Became who for real?"

"Milady de Winter(1). She's this awesome -- I mean, extremely evil character in a book. Man, are the memories of those days something to forever cherish..." Charlotte concluded, staring dreamily into space and purposefully making a long pause.

"Well," Lorraine said, having grown impatient, "what did happen?"

"That," Charlotte replied, having returned to reality, "is a story for another day."

"Why not tell it now?" Lorraine insisted, pouting her lips and raising her eyebrows. This cute pleading look had worked on everyone except her parents and Irma. Charlotte, however, only chuckled, patted Lorraine's shoulder, and proceeded to take the teacups from the table.

The only other thing Charlotte said before the adults' return was: "I know my grandma likes playing these games, but be assured that I'm better than her in that field."

Only before going to bed that evening did Lorraine realize that it wasn't soccer or basketball games and field that Charlotte was talking about.

(1) Milady de Winter is the main antagonist in Alexandre Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers”.