“You did?”
“Oh, jah. I thought it was stupid because there was only one answer.”
“What was that?”
“Raising my girls all alone was hard, of course,” she said with a small smile. Remembering the burden of having to do everything herself and how lonely she was at the end of each day, she added, “It was all hard. However, when people asked me how I was doing, I never felt that they really wanted to know my feelings. Or if they did, they didn’t want to help.”
Suddenly, Emma felt a bit melancholy herself. Here she’d been trying to ease William’s mind, but all she was doing was dredging up old memories best left forgotten.
But to her relief, he let out a breath of air, then blurted, “Sometimes kids ask me if I miss my mamm. I think that’s a stupid question, too.”
“Because of course you do. She was your mother and you loved her.”
He nodded. “She was my mamm and I loved her. And then she got real sick and died.” He swallowed. “The girls’ daed died three years ago?”
“Jah. He did.” She gave him another little squeeze before dropping her arm. “Some days it feels like a mighty long time ago. Others, it feels like it was just yesterday. But I promise, it does get easier. It might never be easier to understand why the Lord took him away from me so early, but each day, my heart feels a little lighter.”
“My daed said the same thing.”
Emma felt her stomach turn a little somersault at his mention of Jay. She didn’t quite understand it, but knowing that Jay had gone through so many of the same things was comforting.
But she would tackle how she felt about that another day.
“Hungry yet?” When he nodded, she grinned. “Gut. Let’s go get you a snack and you can play with Frankie and the girls. Then we’ll get started on homework. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Minutes later, as she watched him running with Frankie, Emma sighed. He was such a sweet little boy but had so many burdens. She hoped she could be a person in his life whom he could continue to share his worries with.
Of course, she was sure Jay and Ben and Mark tried their best, but experience had taught her that sometimes a child needed a mother’s patience and understanding to completely let his guard down. Though she could never replace his mother, she hoped she could one day be his friend.
Two hours later, Ben came to pick up William, Tricia by his side. Of course, Emma sent Ben home with a container of cookies. She had just waved good-bye to them at the front door and was about to head back inside when she spied William looking back over his shoulder at her. After the briefest of pauses, he smiled.
It melted her heart.
She wasn’t sure why the Lord had put the Hiltys into her life, but she was sure it wasn’t a mistake. That little boy needed her. And she knew she needed him, too.
Chapter 11
Where did the time go? Jay wondered as he leaned against the chain-link fence at Pinecraft Park on Friday night. Watching Mark play basketball and William play tag in the nearby field, he felt a true sense of peace. Now that they had been in Florida for six weeks, he felt certain that moving here had been the right decision. It was almost starting to feel like home.
Not that it had been an easy adjustment. He, Ben, and Mark had their hands full, working outside in the Florida sun every day. The heat and humidity was hard to get used to, especially since it was September. By now, he was used to anticipating cooler weather and seeing miles of fall foliage. Instead, temperatures were in the eighties and he had months of being warm to look forward to. Before long, he was sure he and his boys would end up packing their winter gear and sending it north to his brothers’ families.
All in all, the boys were doing all right.
Mark had had a couple of days when he’d been moody and sullen. Only after practically forcing him to sit down and really talk about his feelings had the boy revealed just how much he was missing his friends from home. Jay had encouraged him to write to his buddies and to take advantage of the phone shanty down the street to give them a call.
Now two of his best friends were planning to come to Pinecraft in November, after the fall harvest. Though November was still a couple of months away, those plans had been all Mark needed to perk up.
After a bit of a rocky start, William was finally settling into school. The only bit of concern Jay had about him was his new bond with Emma. Jay was worried about William trying to find a replacement for his mamm, but it was Ben of all people who’d given Jay the best advice.
“Emma is a nice lady, Daed. The best. You shouldn’t worry about how she and William are getting along.”
When Jay had pointed out that it wasn’t Emma’s kindness that worried him but rather William’s growing dependence on her, Ben had given him even more thoughtful words of wisdom.