CHAPTER 14: 14. The Review
The foundation’s board opened an internal review of the disputed letter. Grant temporarily stepped back from public speaking while administrators checked records. Local gossip moved faster than facts, and several strangers contacted me asking for an interview. I declined every request. I had no interest in turning my sons’ childhood into a spectacle. Priya reviewed the documentation and told me the board had identified inconsistencies between the foundation statement and the support records. The organization would correct its files and examine how the statement had been approved. That was all we knew. I resisted the temptation to imagine punishments before any decision was made. Grant’s name still carried weight, and institutions often moved slowly when powerful people were involved. But the record mattered. For years, he had presented absence as generosity rejected. Now someone was checking the paperwork. One afternoon, Miles found me reading an update for the third time. “Mom,” he said, “you taught us not to obsess over results we can’t control.” I raised an eyebrow. “I also taught you to do your homework.” “I did mine,” he replied. “Have you eaten lunch?” He had me there.
