My eyes burned. I turned my face away before they could see and nodded.
"Okay."
I didn't know when I would disappear.
Since the only person they wanted to see was Lucy,
then I would give them exactly that.
When they heard my answer, father and son threw their arms around me at the same time.
Neil's voice cracked again.
"Lucy, thank you..."
"Thank you for forgiving me. And thank you for being willing to be Kent's mom."
Kent was still so little. All he knew was to burrow deeper into my arms, echoing his father's thank-yous.
I caught their scent, and the world tilted.
After all these years, they still smelled like gardenia.
It used to be my favorite scent.
I'd always bought that same gardenia detergent to wash their clothes.
Kent would cling to my legs whenever I hung the laundry out to dry, nuzzling against me:
"Mommy smells so good! So, so good!"
And Neil would always tell me:
"Every time I catch that gardenia on you, it makes me feel like everything's going to be all right."
It was a scent that belonged to the three of us alone.
Now they carried that same scent while holding another woman's body.
The revulsion rose in me, sharp and wordless.
I pushed them away and held my breath.