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Kate had managed to calm Zoe down with a bottle of milk and cuddles. She’d also kissed Noah’s boo-boo better. Liam, she’d found, was in a makeshift fort behind the trees in the back of the garden. The four-year-old was angry, but when Kate asked if she could come into his fort, he’d agreed. She was glad he hadn’t asked for a password.
Kate herded them into the boys’ bedroom and one by one, sponge bathed them with warm water. Their clothes were dirty and food stains had crusted over. They would have been relieved to get changed in to some fresh clothing.
It broke her heart to see them that way, but she knew that no one could ever blame their mother. Sarah had been through a lot in the last few weeks. Having to care for three little kids solo after the death of one’s husband was a lot to ask of anyone. She was glad that Sarah had messaged her.
When Kate got the text message, she didn’t hesitate. Regardless of how little she knew Sarah or the other woman, Louise, she knew that she needed to help. And besides, it was better than spending another day at home waiting for Evan.
“Kate?” Louise knocked on the door.
“Come in,” she said, putting a t-shirt over Noah’s head.
“If you’re done, maybe you can come down and we can get these guys to eat something.”
Louise was a beautiful woman in a mousy kind of way. Her light hazel eyes, covered with an overgrown dark brown fringe, glowed with kindness. Kate wondered how old she was. “We won’t be long,” Kate said with a nod.
When she finished dressing the children, she carried Zoe on her hip and led the other two down the stairs and through to the kitchen where Sarah sat blowing into a cup of hot tea.
“Hi kids,” Louise sang when they’d filed in.
“Mommy!” Noah cried when he saw his mom. “I hurt my finger.”
Zoe wrestled herself off Kate and ran to her mom’s side, crying once again.
Kate glanced at Louise. “I think we need to give Mommy some time to have some breakfast,” she said. But her words were ignored, and the crying grew even louder when Liam hit Noah on the head.
“Do you have Charlotte’s number?” Louise asked Sarah, who pointed to a list of phone numbers on the fridge. “Is she the woman that owns the Strawberry Fare Cafe?”
Sarah nodded.
“Oh, that’s my favorite cafe.” Louise lifted the phone off the cradle and proceeded to make a call.
“Who wants some cereal?” Kate asked the children, copying Louise’s enthusiasm.
“Me!” Liam raised his hand.
“No,” Noah countered his big brother, “I want cereal.”
Zoe remained in Sarah’s lap, sucking her thumb. Her nose and cheeks were bright scarlet.
“There’s plenty of cereal for everyone,” Kate said. “Can we all move to the breakfast table, please?”
Kate sighed in relief when the boys did as they were told. She opened the cupboard and grabbed the boxes of Cheerios and Cornflakes. She set a bowl each in front of the boys and asked what they wanted. After she’d filled their bowls, she turned to Zoe. “Do you want to eat anything, honey?”
Zoe buried her head in Sarah’s neck.
Kate felt powerless. She didn’t really know how to look after children. She’d hoped they couldn’t tell just how out of her element she was. She wasn’t made of parent-material. It was just as well that Evan didn’t want children. She shuddered at the thought of the kind of father Evan would make...and the kind of mother she would be.
“Okay,” Louise said as she returned to the kitchen. She set the phone back down in its cradle and turned to them. “Charlotte says that her husband Ben will be here in thirty minutes. They can take the kids for as long as you need.”
Kate was relieved that Louise had taken charge. Had they been in the Philippines, she might have been of more help. She would have been able to offer more solutions. But in Carlton Bay, Kate felt like she was just a child herself. She was as reliant on her husband as the kids were on Sarah.
Being in Carlton Bay—married to Evan—was like depending on her parents all over again. She did whatever Evan told her to do, just as she did with her parents when she was younger. She cried in the bedroom whenever they’d get into an argument, also as she did when she was a teen. And she waited for him to give her money when she needed to buy something—exactly how it was when she was still at school.
Her life, as she knew it, had regressed.
She had regressed.