My husband refused to walk my 17-year-old daughter, his stepdaughter for nine years, at her high school senior night. “That’s something a real father should do,” he told her. But when her name was announced Thursday evening, her 79-year-old grandfather appeared with his walking cane and proudly accompanied her onto the court.

And then the girls on the visiting team, in their white jerseys over on the far sideline, started clapping.

And then their parents, on the other side of the gym, stood up too.

I had both hands over my mouth.

I didn’t decide to put them there. They just went there. And stayed. And I could feel my face getting wet against my palms.

My father didn’t look up at any of it.

He kept his eyes on the floor in front of his cane. The same way he always watched his footing in the barn.

Kaylee had her head turned toward him. Saying something low.

And next to me, Travis stood up.

At first I thought he was just standing because everybody else was standing.

But he wasn’t clapping.