At my son’s wedding in Seattle, the bride looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Starting tomorrow, you’re no longer part of this family. I’m the boss now—not you.” I smiled, walked away like it didn’t hurt, and canceled the $80,000 I’d promised for their first home—right there at the reception, while the music was still playing.

“What if we do it differently?” Ruth suggested. “What if we don’t tell Daniel directly? What if we make sure he finds out himself?”

I looked at her. “How do we do that?”

“The restraining orders are public information,” Ruth said. “Anyone can look them up. So is the court judgment. What if someone at Daniel’s work happened to run a background check? What if someone happened to mention they saw something concerning?”

“That’s manipulation,” Thomas said.

“So is what Amanda’s doing,” I replied.

“But Ruth is right. If I tell Daniel directly, he won’t believe me. He needs to find the information himself.”

Thomas closed the folder.

“I can’t tell you to do this,” he said. “But I also can’t stop you. Just be very careful, Helen. If Amanda figures out you’re investigating her, she might do something dangerous.”

“Let her try,” I said.