My parents threw me out at sixteen after I lost my leg. Nineteen years later they wanted a million dollars for my sister — to hide why a 24 -year-old woman may never walk again.

And at the end, at the door, she asked me one question.

She did not ask for anything. She did not ask why it happened, or what my sister was like, or whether I was sorry, which I had prepared for.

She said: did you know it had your name on it?

And I said: yes.

She thought about that for a moment.

And she said: okay.

Then she said goodbye, and I walked to my car.

I have been asked since, by somebody who cares about me, why I did not explain. The lawyer. The press. The reasons. All of which were good.

And the answer is that she had not asked for my reasons. She had asked a yes or no question, and she was entitled to the yes.