Everyone suffers!
Fran has gone for a month now and everyone in the Sheffield household tries his/her best to cope with the new situation. The kids started to become even more independent as they were already before. Maggie offered to drive Gracie to her appointments such as her ballet classes, therapy, etc. All three kids are adamant that they don't want a new nanny. No one could replace Fran.
Even though they all manage the daily life, they miss Fran, her warmth and affection. When Maggie gets dumped again, she longs to sink into Fran's arms and cry on her shoulder. Her father really tries hard to cheer her up, but he was actually quite helpless. Brighton shuts himself in his room and withdraws from everyone. For hours, he sits there playing video games to escape reality. Gracie suffers the most. As the youngest, she had been Fran's baby. For her, it was the second mother figure she lost. Lately, she even sleeps in Fran's bed. It still smells like her and she threatened Niles not to dare of changing the sheets.
It hurts Niles to see the kids in this mess. He also misses his best friend. Kitchen work was terribly boring and dull without their chats and even teasing Miss Babcock doesn't give him the same satisfaction it used to.
But actually, Maxwell was the one one who was worst affected. Every day, he tries hard to keep up the facade for the sake of his children, but deep inside, he is broken. The pain is nagging at him and sometimes he has the feeling he can't breathe anymore. He thinks about Fran every second of the day and he still doesn't understand what went wrong. He asks himself again and again why their relationship didn't work out. The situation is still incomprehensible to him. This woman who left his house without a tear was not the real Fran Fine. Not the woman who had raised his kids, turned his house upside down and who he fell in love with. Those cold, icy eyes from her haunt him even in his dreams.
Her current behaviour is also hard for him to understand and more than a mystery. In the 32 days since she had left, she didn't even contact them once. Not even the children! No letter or postcard, not even a phone call! This was totally untypical for Fran to abandon the kids completely.