When we took a break, Grant stood beside the window and said, “I never thought Eleanor would leave you everything.”

“Why?”

He considered the question.

“I thought she’d finally trust me to manage it.”

I felt the old impulse to explain that respect didn’t require surrender.

Instead, I looked at him and said, “She wanted me to have choices.”

He nodded once, but I couldn’t tell whether he understood.

There were still documents to finalize and judicial review to come.