Michael’s forfeited share was placed into protected trusts for his two children, my grandchildren, to be used for their education, their medical needs, their housing, the launching of their adult lives.

Michael himself could not touch a cent of it.

My own attorney asked me, gently, whether I wished to challenge that arrangement, whether after everything I might want that money handled differently.

“No,” I said.

“After everything?” he asked.

“Especially after everything,” I told him.

Because my grandchildren had done nothing.

They were children.