I said nothing.

The following year, during Callahan’s christening, Finanella cornered me near the church coatroom while I held my newborn son. In the softest voice imaginable, she said, “Money can buy a beautiful nursery, dear, but it cannot buy manners.

I do worry about what our grandchildren may absorb from being around it so much.”

I stood there rocking my infant against my shoulder. I said nothing. By then I understood that confronting Finanella only made the air around us colder for several days.

Grantham never defended me while it happened, and he never returned to the subject afterward unless I forced him.

Two years later, Willamina’s catering business lacked the money to complete Finanella’s birthday dinner. I quietly paid the entire bill so the event would not be canceled.