The light outside began to fade.<\/p>\n
Maddie sat on the living room rug, lining up her toys.<\/p>\n
Bentley had moved to the kitchen table.<\/p>\n
His backpack rested beside him instead of on his shoulders.<\/p>\n
I took that as a good sign.<\/p>\n
He had started to believe he could stay in one place for a while without something going wrong.<\/p>\n
I made a simple dinner.<\/p>\n
Soup, bread, and sliced apples.<\/p>\n
Maddie ate slowly, telling me about a toy she had misplaced.<\/p>\n
Bentley listened to every word.<\/p>\n
When she finished, he helped her wipe the table.<\/p>\n
I watched him carry the plates to the sink.<\/p>\n
He was careful.<\/p>\n
Too careful.<\/p>\n
He checked the floor for crumbs and put the bread back into its bag.<\/p>\n
He had learned to treat food as something that might run out.<\/p>\n
I wanted to tell him he didn't need to worry about that here.<\/p>\n
Instead, I showed him where I kept the bread and fruit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you're hungry, you can ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if you need something for Maddie, you can ask me for that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if it's late?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if it's late.\u201d<\/p>\n
He seemed to store the answer somewhere inside himself.<\/p>\n
After dinner, I helped Maddie get ready for bed.<\/p>\n
She wanted her stuffed animal beside her pillow.<\/p>\n
Then she wanted it under the blanket.<\/p>\n
Then she decided she wanted it beside her again.<\/p>\n
I went along with every request.<\/p>\n
Bentley stood in the doorway, watching us.<\/p>\n
When I finished, Maddie reached for his hand.<\/p>\n
He took it.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you stay until I sleep?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sat beside her bed.<\/p>\n
I left the door partly open and returned to the kitchen.<\/p>\n
The telephone sat beside the coffee maker.<\/p>\n
I checked it again.<\/p>\n
No missed call.<\/p>\n
No message.<\/p>\n
I felt my worry hardening into determination.<\/p>\n
I had made one attempt to contact the hospital.<\/p>\n
That wasn't enough.<\/p>\n
I needed to make sure someone understood the situation clearly.<\/p>\n
Amber had been gone for nine days.<\/p>\n
Her son said she had fallen at work.<\/p>\n
He said she had called from Ball Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n
He said she had undergone surgery and sounded confused during their last conversation.<\/p>\n
He had not heard from her for six days.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, he and his three-year-old sister had been alone.<\/p>\n
Those were the facts.<\/p>\n
I didn't need to add anything to them.<\/p>\n
They were serious enough.<\/p>\n
I picked up the telephone again.<\/p>\n
Before I could make another call, Bentley appeared in the kitchen doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
I put the phone down.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing new. I'm trying to find out what's happening with your mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded, but I could see the fear returning.<\/p>\n
I pulled out a chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome sit with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you want her to come home,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I know you're afraid that asking for help will make things worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you can't be the only person who knows what's happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was quiet.<\/p>\n
I continued carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine if something happened to you while you were looking after Maddie. Who would know she needed help?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
I regretted the example as soon as I saw his expression.<\/p>\n
He was already imagining dangers.<\/p>\n
I didn't need to give him another one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm sorry,\u201d I said. \u201cI didn't mean to frighten you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached across the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't have to stop wanting her. You don't have to stop loving her. Getting help doesn't change any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He rubbed his thumb against the edge of the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom was scared when she told me about the homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she tell you what she was afraid of?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she never knew how long she'd stay somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes she had to leave people she liked.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the words settle heavily between us.<\/p>\n
Amber had told her son about the uncertainty of her childhood.<\/p>\n
Perhaps she had wanted him to understand why she worked so hard to keep their family together.<\/p>\n
Perhaps she had wanted to prepare him for a world she didn't entirely trust.<\/p>\n
But Bentley had heard the fear more clearly than the lesson.<\/p>\n
He had taken his mother's history and turned it into a warning.<\/p>\n
If anyone found out they were alone, the worst thing he could imagine might happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can understand why that frightened you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you and Maddie need to be safe tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we sleep here?\u201d<\/p>\n
The question came so quietly that I almost missed it.<\/p>\n
I felt my throat tighten.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked relieved, but only for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill we have to go back tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe'll work out tomorrow when it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He seemed to accept that.<\/p>\n
I didn't want to promise something I couldn't guarantee.<\/p>\n
But I could make sure they weren't left alone that night.<\/p>\n
I found clean blankets and prepared a place for Bentley to sleep.<\/p>\n
Maddie was already asleep in the back bedroom.<\/p>\n
I checked on her and tucked the blanket around her feet.<\/p>\n
Bentley stood behind me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe likes it when someone stays until she's asleep,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gets scared if she wakes up and nobody's there.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what about you?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you get scared?\u201d<\/p>\n
He shrugged.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
Finally, he nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn't ask him to explain.<\/p>\n
I simply rested my hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt's all right to be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to be brave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've been brave for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes filled again.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don't have to be brave every minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stood very still.<\/p>\n
Then he leaned against me.<\/p>\n
It was brief.<\/p>\n
A small, uncertain movement.<\/p>\n
But I felt the weight of it.<\/p>\n
He had been holding himself together for nine days.<\/p>\n
He had been making breakfast out of crackers, getting himself to school, and trying to keep his sister calm.<\/p>\n
He had been waiting for a telephone call that never came.<\/p>\n
And now he was finally allowing another person to see how tired he was.<\/p>\n
I held him for a moment.<\/p>\n
Then I let him go.<\/p>\n
He wiped his face and went to sit on the bed I had prepared.<\/p>\n
I returned to the kitchen.<\/p>\n
The telephone was still there.<\/p>\n
I picked it up and looked at the number I had tried earlier.<\/p>\n
I couldn't keep hoping someone else would notice what was happening.<\/p>\n
I couldn't keep treating the problem as if it would disappear once the children had eaten and slept.<\/p>\n
Feeding them was necessary.<\/p>\n
Giving them a safe place was necessary.<\/p>\n
But neither thing answered the question that had brought us here.<\/p>\n
Where was Amber?<\/p>\n
And why had she been unable to call her children for six days?<\/p>\n
I took a breath and prepared to make another attempt to get answers.<\/p>\n
This time, I would explain everything I knew.<\/p>\n
Not because I wanted to frighten Bentley.<\/p>\n
Not because I wanted to interfere in Amber's life.<\/p>\n
Because two children were waiting for their mother, and waiting alone had already cost them too much.<\/p>\n
The light outside began to fade. Maddie sat on the living room rug, lining up her toys. Bentley had moved to the kitchen table. His backpack rested beside him instead … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36411,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36391\/revisions\/36411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}