“Bill, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I was out, running an errand. Karen called me and said something was going on with Amanda. You couldn’t find her, and you might need help, so I came over. I saw the open door. I thought someone might have broken in again.”

“Did you buy a gun?” I spoke in a whisper, knowing Amanda’s opposition to his talk of arming himself. I’d agreed with Amanda’s position in the past, but in the moment, I was glad my father-in-law had arrived ready for action.

“No,” he said. “Are you kidding? I don’t want Amanda mad at me.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a screwdriver with a worn yellow handle. “I used this. I stuck it in her back. She fell for it. Fortunately.”

“And if she hadn’t?”

Bill shrugged. He hadn’t had a plan B.

Dawn made a low noise from her position at the table. I looked her way, listening, and couldn’t tell if she was laughing or crying.

“I’m calling the police,” Bill said.

“Go ahead,” she said, her words muffled.

“What brought this on, Dawn? It’s all over. It was over yesterday.”

She said something else, but the words were too low and again too muffled for me to understand. I asked her to repeat herself, and she lifted her head and said, “My parents.”

“What about them?” I asked.

“I did it for them,” she said.

“I was already giving them money. Why didn’t you just ask me to give them more?”

She leaned back, tilting her head until she stared at the ceiling. Her eyes were full of tears, but they didn’t spill. Her compressed lips and taut jaw told me she was fighting to keep them back. She lowered her head and said, “It’s not to give to them. It’s to give them something.” She tapped her fingers against the table. Rat-a-tat-tat. “To give them a grandchild, another chance after they lost Maggie. And since Emily isn’t going to get married. And I’m not close either.”

“What is she saying, Ryan?” Bill asked. “Buy a grandchild?”