Chrys awoke from the best night's sleep she had experienced in 6 years and stretched. Rubbing her eyes, she got out of bed and crossed her room to open the window, like she did every morning. She poked her head out and looked around. There were no figures in the distance coming home to her. Only the lonely sun rising into the clouds, shining an eerie purple blue light through them.

And then it hit her. She flew through her bedroom door and tore through the house. Random pieces of furniture were missing. She kicked their bedroom door open and gasped. There was nothing. Everything was gone. Clothes. Furniture. Beds, even. All that was left was a strew of random things on the floor. She sank to her knees against the door and bawled. They were gone. They were fucking gone. They had left her without even saying goodbye.

It was all too much to take. She cried and cried for almost an hour and a half before dragging herself back to bed. What was she going to do without them? She hadn't known they were leaving so soon. She might have felt worse if they had told her when they would be leaving. She would have dreaded it's passing every day; but now they were gone and none of the details mattered. She felt their absence like a disease in her soul.

It was then that she noticed the envelope on her bedside table. With quivering hands she reached from it, extracting the letter from within. With tears in her eyes, she read.

Dear Chrys.

We know you'll be upset when you realize that we've left. We're sorry, this is something that we have to do. And we meant everything we promised. We will come back for you as soon as we're settled and have the chance. After all, we won't be able to get on without you cooking and cleaning up after us for long. We'll be crawling back to you in no time. We've paid off as much on the house as we could with what we sold, and you'll be fine for a good while so don't worry about anything. Once we get a right job we'll send money to you when we can, so don't worry about getting a job yourself. You should have enough food to last you until then and if you don't, Ole man Buckley promised to feed you should you ever be hungry. Don't ever forget that we love you, 'Mum. We'll do everything and anything in our power to get back to you as soon as we can. Please take care of yourself. And should you ever need it, Da's gun is in an old box on top of the fireplace.

*Leats go deo,

Your Boys.

She gingerly folded the letter back into the envelope and placed it into the drawer or her bedside table. She laid back down in her bed, alone, and continued to sob. She knew it would be a long time before she could bring herself to drag her way out of bed.

For weeks she only left her room to use the restroom and eat maybe once a day. The pain of their absence was close to unbearable. It wasn't even just an emotional hurt. It was physical. She could feel it in her heart and in her bones, sucking all of the energy out of her.

It was a bright and cool morning near spring's end when Chrysanthemum finally snapped out of the catatonic state that had been plaguing her. She had spent what had been left of winter and the better part of spring overcoming her heart-sickness. It was time, she realized; to stop being a baby and come to her senses. However, she didn't completely regret having felt sorry for herself for so long. The down time had given her some room to think. Think about what she was going to do now; how long she would have to wait before her boys came back to her. She also spent a lot of time contemplating the twins' actions the last night they were all together.

She could still feel Connor's mouth lingering on her own, and Murphy's touch burning on her skin. Did those actions mean that they felt the same way for her as she did for them? Surely not. She wasn't even really sure what it was she felt. They were probably just trying to take her mind off of them leaving. After all, either of the twins would be a right catch for any girl. They were handsome, kind, and responsible…well, semi-responsible. They were aware of the effect they had on women, and used it to their advantage from what their mother had told her. She'd told Chrys that the two of them brought home plenty of girls when they were younger. There couldn't possibly be any reason for them to desire her. She wasn't incredibly thin like most girls found attractive in this day and age, but she was far from plain. Or at least that's what her mother had always told her. She felt a stab of pain from the loss of her mother. It quickly faded though, as most pain does with enough time.

She was finally able to convince herself that they thought of her as nothing more than a sister. Their affections had been meant to be taken in a platonic way. For her to have ever thought otherwise was silly, she reasoned. But as much as she tried to convince herself that is was silly and she really shouldn't, she knew that she would still have feelings for the both of them.

Being inactive and alone in the house had been slowly driving her mad. What she needed was a job; a reason to get out of the house and meet people. It wasn't like she needed the extra income. She didn't have to worry about utilities or anything of the like; the boys made sure of that. She still had plenty of vegetables and other food stored from the previous year, but she hadn't gotten around to laying any seeds down this spring; and it was much to late in the season to reasonably do so. She would have to wait until summer.

Chrys gathered all of her laundry, including her bedding, and threw it all into one large load. She then proceeded into full on spring-cleaning mode, and didn't slow down until most of the house was spotless and in order. All except for one room…

She stood in front of the door down the hall from her own bedroom and let out a deep breath she had been holding. She hadn't been through that door since the day she realized they were gone; but lingering at the back of her mind all this time was the realization that she would eventually have to go in there and face her emotions. She ran her hand along the smooth hand crafted cherry wood until it reached the cream colored porcelain knob. She took another deep breath and opened the door, exhaling loudly as she entered the room.

It only stung a little, to her surprise; to see their room in shambles and uninhabited. She carefully gathered any stray items on the floor and tucked them away. She came across a few articles of abandoned clothing as well. She took one of Murphy's old flannels and brought it to her face, deeply inhaling the scent of him from it. She gathered one of each of their shirts and vowed not to wash them. She wanted the comfort of knowing at least the scent of them could remain in her presence. She threw the rest in with her laundry to use for clothes of her own. After she had all of their things packed up and the room was properly swept and polished, evening had already descended outside. Chrysanthemum decided that now as as good a time as any to go into town and ask around for a job; so she went off to fix her hair and makeup while waiting for her clothes to dry.

*Leats go deo is Gaelic for Forever yours