( Esther's Point of View)
No one moved for a second.
Matthew stood in the doorway as if his body had forgotten how to breathe. His hand stayed on the door, and his fingers were stiff around the handle. I watched his face change, as if someone had pulled the ground out from under him. He was staring at the woman next to Rebecca.
Rebecca was the first to smile.
Not a friendly smile. The kind that lets you know she came to win.
The woman next to her didn't smile at all. She seemed tired. Not tired of being messy. It's more like a quiet tiredness that sits in your eyes and won't go away. Her hair was neat, her clothes were plain, and she held her hands together in front of her like she was holding herself together.
Matthew's throat moved. He took a drink.
"Mom," he said.
The word sound
