Evelyn went to the microphone at ten past four.

She talked for about six minutes, and Sarah said it was, for the first five of them, an entirely conventional speech — the family, the name, three generations in Arizona, her late husband’s father, the responsibility that comes with continuity.

And then she said: “Which is why this family does not lie to itself.”

And she turned and looked at Michelle.

“Before I stand up in front of my friends and introduce these two children as Lawsons,” Evelyn said, “I am going to ask their mother one question, and I would like her to answer it out loud.”