Emma loved suppertime. She could pretend that nothing had happened and that life was just the same as it always had been. The family gathered at the table in the soft light. Mary Ellen bowed her head and led the family in prayer. Then the meal began.

It was now May of 1944, and the news of war seemed far away, but haunting. Over the past year or so, many changes had entered the simple life Emma had once known. Grandma had returned home from visiting after recovering from her stroke, she still found it hard to speak. Olivia had contracted Tuberculosis, and she and John had to move to a sanitorium. Rose had married her childhood sweetheart, leaving Serena and Jeffrey with a loving family.

They had stopped getting letters from John Boy and Jason. They knew where they were through the Red Cross, which reassured them only slightly. Emma had just recently found out that she was pregnant again, and she and Ben couldn't wait to meet their new baby. John Curtis had turned five in the Fall, and Jonsey was just like a second father to him. The warm, friendly man visited wherever he could, as he was stationed at Camp Lee. Ben had joined the Seebees last week, and Jim Bob had enlisted in the army. Elizabeth was going to graduate in June, and just like John Boy, she was heading to Boatwright University.

Yes, the once full of life house was down to just eight people. Grandma, Mary Ellen, John Curtis, Emma, Ginny, Erin, Elizabeth, Serena and Jeffrey. The boys who weren't over seas visited whenever they could, and Emma was almost sure that Paul would propose to Erin soon.


The afternoon was hot, and whoever wasn't at work or school was in the kitchen. Grandma bustled about, as busy as ever. Although she couldn't speak anymore, her grunts and shakes and nods of her head told everyone what they needed to know. Emma was washing dishes, while keeping a watchful eye on Ginny and John Curtis, who were jumping around and laughing.

"Ginny!" John Curtis folded his arms. The toddler stated up at him with wide, blue eyes, her red hair bouncing. "Don't grab me, it's bad, I know, momma said." Ginny just babbled and hugged her big cousin's legs.

"Elizabeth and the kids should be home soon, Grandma," Emma smiled as she finished her work and absentmindedly put a hand on her abdomen. At Grandma's nod, she walked over to her daughter and nephew. "Johnny, would you do me the special job of looking out for Jeffrey? I know that he'd want to see you."

"See Ginny, I'm a big boy." John Curtis smirked and ran over to the couch on his tubby legs, clambering up to peer through the window.


"I am soooo hungry." Erin remarked as she fried the chicken. "J. D somehow thinks that all that he has to do is one piece of paperwork, then he can go off and 'supervise," She snorted.

Elizabeth mashed the potatoes almost aggressively. "I miss the boys, a lot. What would they be doing if they were here?"

"Ben would be running around like an idiot and annoying everyone." Emma blinked back a few surprise tears as she thought of her husband.

"John Boy would be quoting poetry, and lecturing Elizabeth on how to behave at Boatwright." Mary Ellen chuckled as she put Ginny into her highchair.

Erin thought for a moment as she set the set the chicken on the table. "Jim Bob would be clammering about his car, and how it won't start, and how he needs extra money."

"Jason would be at the piano, playing as loud as he could, playing the same notes over and over again, until we would scream at him to stop." Elizabeth finished.

Lost, the four sisters looked at each other, each with tears in their eyes. They hadn't realised how much they missed the boys, the boys who had always been there for them when they needed them the most.