At first, she was grateful for their offer of stability amidst her grief. Yet, as months turned into a year, she realized she had exchanged her autonomy for a life at their mercy. The small allowance they gave her was a pittance, a mere token to placate her while they accessed her substantial savings. Her own son had transformed into a stranger with a veneer of familial obligation, and Christine was complicit, more interested in the glow of her phone than the woman who had become their unpaid housekeeper and nanny.

Margaret had spent countless nights lying awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering how things had unspooled so quickly. Her mind would drift back to her husband’s reassuring words, his belief in her strength. It was his voice that echoed now as she made her way through the terminal. He would have despised the way things had turned, the loss of dignity she endured.