My seven-year-old granddaughter found a diamond ring at the grocery store and gave it back to its rightful owner. The following morning, a stranger appeared at our front door and declared, “There’s something you need to see. And you need to see it right now!”

“Brandon claims your father doesn’t want to see Harper,” I brought up.

“That’s just what he keeps saying out loud,” Natalie insisted.

“You don’t believe him?” I asked.

“He’s kept Mom’s diamond ring right beside his bed on the nightstand for nine full years,” Natalie pointed out. “I truly think he wants to make things right, but something powerful is stopping him.”

“What did Paige ever do that was so terrible to him?” I asked, genuinely wanting to understand the history.

“She married your son Ryan,” Natalie said plainly.

“Ryan?” I asked in disbelief.

“Dad demanded that she marry someone from a wealthy family,” Natalie explained. “Ryan worked as a mechanic fixing public school buses. Dad literally called him a low-class mechanic with zero future right to his face in front of Paige.”

“Ryan was the most honest, hard-working man I ever raised,” I said fiercely, my heart swelling with pride and grief.