“There’s something your mother never knew,” he said.

I braced myself for a confession — a hidden debt, an unpaid bill, some last worry he wanted to hand off.

Instead he pointed to the closet and asked me to reach behind a row of old winter coats and pull down a leather briefcase.

I set it on the bed and opened it, and inside were legal contracts, private investment statements, and certified trust documents.

“Your mother always assumed I lost everything when I closed my wealth-management firm and retired,” Walt said.