my son’s photos covering all her walls. Some of them, I couldn’t even recall sharing with her. Then, to my shock, I found some of his clothes on her sofa, alongside a box containing his shoes and socks. The whole scene felt disturbingly eerie.

When I asked how she had gotten there, she told me that my husband had given them to her. It’s true my husband and I had decided to pack away my son’s belongings as part of moving forward, but I never imagined he had given them to her. I started shaking.I knew she had loved him deeply—she had always longed for a child of her own—but this felt like an unhealthy obsession. Without another word, I grabbed the box and left. That was the last time I ever saw her.