The little boy on the plane asked why I was carrying a wedding dress

Dear Delyara, I was flying home with my daughter’s wedding dress after her engagement ended. The bridal shop would not refund it, and she could not bear to keep it in her apartment, so somehow it became my luggage. I carried it onto the plane because I was afraid the airline would lose it. A little boy across the aisle asked if I was getting married. His mother looked mortified. I said, “No, my daughter was supposed to.” He asked, “Did she change her mind?” Children have no respect for the polite boundaries adults build around pain. I said yes. That was not exactly true. Her fiancé left after admitting he loved someone else. My daughter did not change her mind; the future changed it for her. The boy said, “Maybe she can wear it for something else.” His mother apologized again. I told her it was fine. For the rest of the flight, the dress lay across my lap like a sleeping person. It cost more than my first car. It had been fitted to my daughter’s body for a day that will never happen. When I got home, I hung it in my spare room. I have not told her. She asked me to donate it. I said I would. I am not ready to let a stranger become happy inside something my daughter cried herself out of.