My son and daughter-in-law laughed when I walked into the courtroom. “Ha-ha, now we’re going to leave her with nothing,” Daniel whispered, certain the bruises they had put on my body would convince the judge I was confused, unstable, and hurting myself, but they had forgotten one important thing about me.

We sat in the garden.

She asked about her grandfather.

Not the money.

Robert.

“What was he really like?”

I laughed.

“He cheated at Scrabble.”

She looked horrified.

“No.”

“Constantly.”

We talked until sunset.

Before she left, she hugged me.

Then she asked one final question.

“Grandma, were you scared that day in court?”

I thought back to the navy coat.

The cane.

Daniel laughing.

Vanessa smiling.

The photographs of bruises displayed like evidence against me.

Judge Mercer opening the file.

And that small recorder inside my coat.

“Yes,” I told her.

“I was terrified.”

She seemed surprised.