Daniel nearly laughed. Patricia had attended two of Lily’s birthdays in seventeen years. She had missed school plays, basketball games, Christmas dinners, and the funeral of Daniel’s wife.

When Lily was ten, she once asked why Grandma lived thirty minutes away but never visited. Daniel had no answer then. He had one now.

“She didn’t raise her,” he said. “She barely knows her.”

Downstairs, Patricia stood before several television cameras in the blue coat she usually reserved for church. “My granddaughter has always been extraordinary,” she told a reporter.

“Our family is extremely close.”

Scott stood beside her and nodded gravely. “She gets her courage from us,” he added.