Every January I Sent My Son-in-Law $40,000 for My Granddaughter. Then She Whispered, ‘Grandpa, Follow Dad.’

She began to cry harder.

“Mark told me she wasn’t well.”

“Did you know she died?”

A long pause.

“Yes.”

The room seemed to shrink.

I had imagined almost every version of her explanation, but none prepared me for hearing that word.

“Eleanor sat at this family’s table and loved you through every mistake you made,” I said.