The little girl asked why I was wearing her mother’s scarf

Dear Delyara, I work in a charity shop, and last month I bought a blue scarf that had been donated because I liked the pattern. Today, a woman entered with her little daughter. The child stared at me for a long time, then said, “That’s Mummy’s scarf.” Her mother froze. She explained quietly that they had donated clothes belonging to the child’s grandmother after she died, not realizing the scarf had been among them. The girl had always associated it with her mother because the grandmother lent it to her often. I immediately took it off and offered it back. The woman said no, that donating meant letting things continue somewhere else. Her daughter disagreed. She started crying and said Grandma’s scarf should not be on “a shop lady.” I knelt and asked whether she wanted to hold it. She pressed the fabric to her face and stayed like that for several seconds. Then she wrapped it around my neck herself and said I could have it but must “look after the smell.” There is almost no smell left, only detergent and perhaps perfume I had not noticed before. Tonight, the scarf is hanging over my chair. I do not know the dead woman’s name. Somehow, I now feel responsible for not washing away the final thing her granddaughter believed was still inside the fabric.