"Protecting Ruth," Helen said.
"Protecting the idea of Ruth," Mark said. "Which is not the same as a deed."
Lydia felt the old push and the old holding at once. "She can leave her own house to whoever she wants. It's hers."
"And we will be the ones left with the taxes and the roof and the fight," Mark said. "You live in a walk-up. You don't know what this place costs when it starts to fail."
"I know what it costs when nobody comes," Lydia said, and was sorry at once, not because it was false but because it was a weapon, and she had not meant to bring weapons into a hospital.