A voicemail began in a wounded voice.

“Ruth, honey, everybody got overheated.

This family has been through too much.

Come home and we’ll discuss it like adults.”

Another voicemail arrived twenty minutes later.

“Josephine, you ruined a night I worked hard to organize.

You owe me an apology before your mother comes back.”

By the fourth voicemail, he was threatening to change the locks.