I buried my husband, and no one knew that in that very same week, I had bought a ticket for a one-year cruise. When my son dropped three cages in my living room like I was his maid, I knew my mourning was finished. My daughter-in-law didn’t even say hello. She just shoved the cages onto my rug and said, “There are your instructions.” I smiled. By dawn, when the ship set sail from Miami, my absence was going to completely ruin their lives.

The house still smelled like candle wax and funeral lilies when Austin walked in without knocking. Ernest had been gone just one week. I had put him in the ground…