I want that recorded, because for about eleven months afterward there was a version of this going around in which I detonated my husband in front of a ballroom, and it is not true and it would have been catastrophic.

What I actually did at that event took about ninety seconds and was entirely lawful and I would do it again tomorrow.

I went.

That was Halloran’s suggestion, not mine — she said a sudden absence was itself a signal.

I wore navy and my father’s watch.

He gave a speech at about half past eight.

It was good.

He was very good at that particular thing and I had watched him do it eleven times over the years and had always been proud of it, and I stood at a table near the front and watched him work a room and felt nothing at all.