Lucas and Carlisle didn't seem interested in much of anything. Sometimes they didn't even feel as hungry, but neither did I.
"Boys, you need to eat."

"But Mama," Carlisle whined, "Shouldn't we wait for daddy? I'm not hungry."

"Me either!" Lucas joined in, their dull eyes pleading at me to tell them about their father's arrival, and if I would let them go back to their toys.

"Dinnertime for you two is right now. Go sit at the table."

Rebecca came in through the backdoor, her son Thomas at her side and a pan of food in her hands. She's been coming over a lot more recently, helping me cook as well as giving the boys extra time with their friend.
The boys all seemed to pick at their food, Thomas clearly feeling awkward eating when the others barely did so. Eventually the two went home, leaving the leftovers behind to sit in our fridge. Again my children grew quiet, absorbed in their playthings.

The knock at the door startled us all, not expecting my neighbor to return so fast. However, the man who had opened the door was not Rebecca, and he had not been expected at all.

"Sara," Richard smiled, "It's so nice to see you, it's been months."

"What're you doing here? I thought you moved up north?"
"I did, but it wasn't as great as I thought, and Becca had given me an excuse to come back home." His eyes softened as he frowned sadly, pulling me into a hug. "Why haven't you called me?"

I shook my head, "We've been doing fine on our own, waiting for Carl.." The voice in my throat cracked and painfully squeezed. A burning liquid formed into my eyes already.

"Honey, I know you have, but I think you need a little help for now."

At this time I wasn't in the mood for negotiating, or claiming that I couldn't be a sufficient mother for my children. I could. "Richard, I think we'll do fine. Just, go for now?"

"If that's what you wish. I'll be at the Bed and Breakfast up the road if you need me, alright?"

My response was the shut the door on him, falling in a spell of tears.

Richard was my best friend when Carl went away for war. It wasn't uncommon that he'd come over and help take care of the boys, or play around with them. Occasionally he'd take them to the day care, or just bring us for walks around town. He was there to help fill a blank a mother needed when no other help was around. To Lucas and Carlisle, he was like a second father, to me, he was someone I could confide in, someone to talk to when I was lonely.

"Mama!" Lucas squealed down the hall as he ran to meet me at the door. There was a paper in his hand, probably a drawing of his that he wanted to show me. Before I knew it, his feet were slipping across the bare wooden floor and he was about to tumble down.

"Lucas!" My eyes widened as I lurched forward to barely catch my son's head before it hit the hard surface.