Joseph jerked awake later that evening, and sat up, not knowing where he was at first. But he saw the clock on the wall, which showed it was 9:18 PM, and things fell into place. He'd fallen asleep on the couch again, this time while going over Mike's homework. Joseph reviewed the last questions, found no errors, and set it aside. He heard the low hum of the refrigerator and a dog barking in the distance, but nothing else. Walking through the house, he peeked into each room, and saw his grandparents asleep in theirs, his siblings in theirs. Checking Daddy's room, he heard snoring and remembered his father's long hours.

Longing to go back to sleep, but in his own bed, he recalled he hadn't touched the homework he'd been given and made a face. Repeating third grade would be awful, and his family would be so disappointed, but Mrs. Webb had warned him that could happen.

Despite his worries, Joseph knew there were other things that needed to be done, things that were more important. He headed for the laundry room. There, he put everyone's dirty clothes in piles, and put some from each in the washer, so all of them would end up with clean things. After he started the machine, he turned and flinched to see his father watching him.

"I heard sounds in here. For a minute, I expected to see your mother standing there." Daddy's voice cracked, and he looked like he'd fall over. Studying Joseph, he added, "You look so much like her." He cleared his throat and surveyed the laundry. "Don't worry about this, okay? You have school in the morning, so go on to bed."

"Yes, Daddy," Joseph said. However, instead of minding his father, he waited a few minutes after his father had walked away, then tiptoed down the hall. Peeking into his parents' room, he saw Daddy sitting on Mama's side of the bed. He held their wedding picture, and his shoulders were shaking. Clasping the photo to his chest, he lay down. Joseph rubbed his own chest, where it felt tighter than ever, and gently shut the door.

He hurried to the refrigerator and opened it. Grandma used to bake a lot but hadn't since Mama went away. Joseph grimaced but held on to hope that his mother would come home. Taking wheat bread out of the fridge, he set pieces on the kitchen counter, after which he located ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. He carefully made three sandwiches for Daddy to take to work and stuck them in plastic baggies. He made five more, one for him and each of his siblings to take to school. Izzy hated tomatoes, so he left them off hers.

Only a few brown paper bags were left in the cupboard, so he wrote "lunch bags" on the grocery list hanging on the refrigerator. After sticking the sandwiches into bags, along with apples and small bags of Cheetos, he wrote everyone's names on the outside of their lunches.

Next, he transferred the clothes from the washer to the dryer, started a new dirty load, and went in search of his brothers' backpacks. Going through them, he pulled out broken crayons, graded work, crumbs of food, trash, dirty socks from Mike's pack, and a soiled pair of briefs in a baggie from Ben's. He wiped out each backpack with antibacterial wipes, following up by doing the same with the girls' packs. Nobody had done this since Mama left home.

Sofi had an unfinished page of math problems, and Ben had a "Matching Exercise" sheet. Joseph laid them on the kitchen table, so they'd be seen at breakfast. So they could be done before they left for school.

Trying to think of what else needed to be done, he looked around and realized how quiet it was. He pulled the dry laundry from the dryer, carried it to the front room, and dumped it on the couch. Once he'd started more dirty stuff in the washer, he folded all the clean clothes and carried them to his siblings' dressers. Mama usually chose outfits for Ben and Izzy to wear to school, so Joseph did the same, setting them where they couldn't be missed. He wrote notes saying, "Have a great day! I love you," and put one out for each of his siblings. That was another thing their mother did.

The washer was still going when he checked, and he hummed a song to himself while he waited. His mother had sung it to him when he was little, and to the other kids.

A wave of overpowering sadness washed over him. Missing Mama, longing for her to be all right and come home, he sank onto the laundry room floor and cried.

He dozed off without knowing it, and didn't hear when his father returned later, gently picked him up, and carried him off to bed. He didn't feel his father kiss his head, either.

Saturday, October 20

"Margaret looked better," Lucy commented to her son-in-law when they got home from the hospital. "Her cheeks had more color than last time."

"Maybe so, but the doctors say there's no change," Samuel replied. "She could wake tomorrow or next month, or a year from now. Then again, she might never wake up."

"We have to think positive and have faith. Heavenly Father…"

"Don't talk to me about God and faith," he snapped, then instantly wilted. "Please forgive me, Lucy. I'm so frustrated I could scream, but I have no right to take it out on you. This situation isn't your fault." She patted his arm. "I believe in God. I really do, but I just don't know how much longer I can go on with the way things are."

Lucy exchanged glances with her husband. "When we talked to George and Maria last night, they said they'd offered to keep the children for a while. I hope you don't agree. Families shouldn't be divided."

"You tell them 'no,' all right?" Thomas added. "They told me they'd asked you to stay with them, too, but I agree with Lucy. Moving away would be a bad idea."

Rubbing his forehead, Samuel grimaced. "You've been good to us this entire time, letting us live with you and helping all you could. And you've always treated me kindly, like I mattered, and you've been supportive of me, but…"

"You're my daughter's husband." Lucy interrupted him. "And you do matter. A great deal. You're a part of our family. I may not've given birth to you, but I love you like I do my own children."

"I do, too," Thomas told him. "And our main concern is your welfare and the children's. They're blood of our blood. We were there for their births, every single one, and they've always been here with us. They know no other home or life. Uprooting them and going to another state would be hard on them, especially since they're already coping with their mother being gone. And if you took them away, they wouldn't be able to see us like they're used to."

"I know that" Samuel replied. "But I'm not blind. You've been having a harder time, and it's not fair of me to ask you to take care of the kids." Nodding to Lucy, he addressed her. "You cook for us, do our dishes, clean our clothing, help my kids with their school things, and tend to us in dozens of ways, but every day, I worry you'll collapse under the strain." Eyeing Thomas, he added, "You help all the time, too. Driving the kids to school if they miss the bus, cleaning up after them, helping with homework, and much, much more. Yesterday, what I'd feared actually happened. You lost your balance and went down."

Thomas shrugged. "I wasn't hurt."

"Maybe not, but you could've been. You could've broken something."

"We don't like our limitations any more than you do," Lucy said, "but they're a natural part of life and getting older."

"George and Maria believe you're doing more than you're able to," Samuel said. "They told me I'm expecting too much of you."

"George is our son, but he has no right to blame you for our choices," Thomas said, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "And his drinking has made things hard on his family. That's why he lost his job, and they're probably thinking you'd give them money each month if you were with them."

"He did mention putting something toward the bills."

"And we're not caring for the children as much as you or our son think we are," Lucy added. "Joseph is doing much more than you realize."

"Well, you doing even a little is too much, because they're not your responsibility. They're mine and Margaret's. She can't help now, and I haven't been doing my share."

"You are doing your share. Besides that, we love those children," Lucy stressed with a fierce determination. "They're not a burden to either of us."

"You may not feel that way, but Maria would have an easier time watching them."

"Don't send us away!" Mike yelled as he ran into the room.

"This is our home," Joseph added from behind his brother. "We don't want to go anywhere else. We don't want to live with anyone else."

"You're supposed to be in your room and asleep," their father stressed, "not out here listening to a private conversation."

"But you were talking about us." Raising his voice, Joseph held his head a little higher. "That makes it our business and that's why we listened. We don't want to leave Mama behind."

"I won't go." Stomping around, Mike threatened, "I'll run away."

"Boys…," their grandmother began.

"No one's running away." Samuel sighed. "I'm not upset that you listened. I would've done the same thing. Come here." He hugged his sons. "Don't worry. You're not going anywhere. Neither am I. I'd never leave your mother. I waited for years to meet someone wonderful, and she's the love of my life."

Saturday, November 24

"Don't get your hopes up," Dr. Walters said. "I know you saw Margaret's leg move, but that can happen. It doesn't necessarily mean she's coming out of the coma."

"But it wasn't just her leg," Lucy argued.

"She moved her hand, too." Thomas added.

"I understand. Synapses still fire and signals move through the body and nerves even when a person is unconscious, and that can cause involuntary movement. However, people have been known to remain in comas for years. I think it's time to consider moving Margaret to a long-term facility for the kind of care she requires. We're a small hospital and not set up for long-term care. Also, we need the bed."

"I don't think we can afford that." Samuel's voice was gruff.

"Your insurance would probably cover it," Dr. Walters said.

"We don't have insurance."

"I thought you and your wife both worked full-time."

"Yes, but our employer doesn't provide insurance. He pays most of his employees under the table and doesn't give anyone benefits."

"Oh," Dr. Walters replied. "I don't know what the answer is, then."

After the physician walked away, Samuel turned to his in-laws. He felt sick to his stomach and overwhelmed by sheer hopelessness but tried to hide it. "I appreciate Sister Richards and Sister Ortega watching the children in the lobby. Would you please thank them for me?"

"You're not coming out there with us?" Lucy asked before glancing at her husband.

"No. I want to stay with Margaret longer. Do you think you can watch the children for a few hours?"

"Of course," Thomas replied. "We've both been feeling much better today. We can watch them the rest of the evening if you want."

"Thank you." Samuel entered his wife's room as his in-laws headed for the elevators down to the main lobby.

As he walked down the hallway, Joseph's heart pounded like crazy, and he had a loud rushing sound in his ears. Even so, he tried to act normal and hoped nobody working at the hospital tried to stop him. His grandparents were in the lobby speaking with other members of their church, and none of his family had noticed him leaving.

He reached Mama's room, opened the door silently, and froze. Daddy sat in a chair by the bed, leaning forward with his head resting on the mattress by Mama. He held her left hand, and Joseph heard him snoring.

Going around to the other side of the bed, Joseph reached for his mother's other hand. Putting his mouth by her ear, he whispered. "Please come back to us, Mama." He fought to keep his voice low so Daddy wouldn't wake up, but the words spilled from his lips as he told his mother how each member of their family was doing, and how badly they missed her.

Tears rolled down his cheeks, but he didn't notice. He didn't notice his choppy breathing either.

At first, he didn't feel the hand touch his face, but then he realized he was looking into loving eyes. "Mama," he gasped. "You're awake!"

"Yes." Her voice was very faint and hoarse.

It was the most beautiful thing Joseph had ever heard. "Daddy!" he yelled. "Wake up!"

His father's eyes popped open. Uttering a broken cry, he grabbed Mama, hugged her, and didn't seem to care about the tears streaming down his cheeks. "I love you so much," he repeated again and again, pulling Joseph into their hug as well.

"And I love you," she whispered.

After holding a cup of water to her lips so she could take some sips, Daddy took her into his arms again. "I don't want to let go of you. I'm afraid I'll wake up and find out this is just a dream."

"This isn't a dream," Mama said. "It's real."

She turned to look at Joseph, opened her arms for a hug, and he flew into them. Once he drew back, she tenderly cupped his damp cheek. "I heard you praying for me," she told him. "So many times. And I couldn't stay away. You needed me."

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