Loving Family

Faye: Girl time

The daunting thing as I counted down the weeks before I'd have to go away to be in a musical again was not knowing how well Evalynn and Benjamin (now he was old enough to understand) would deal with me being away for weeks at a time. I knew how they were about Mick's absence but I knew for sure that me being away would be more difficult for Evalynn. I just had to hope that she didn't get too worked up over it like she possibly might. I was very excited though. As much as Benjamin and Evalynn were super important aspects of my everyday life, and as much as I didn't enjoy being away from Mick for ridiculous lengths of time I was excited to get to be back on a theatre stage again, in part because I couldn't wait for Evalynn to get to explore that part of our lives and find out how much joy she got from seeing me in character. I'd been told in great detail by Clare how happy Evalynn had been watching me in the Christmas tour, though I did wonder if in part that was to do with me having asked her to move home that day, but it seemed she found watching me do Steps shows to be an absolutely magical experience. I hoped seeing me do theatre would be much the same. I would be home for both their birthdays luckily, so at least my promise to Evalynn would be kept that I'd give her a massive birthday hug every year she still wanted them, and being at home for Benjamin's just meant he was less likely to end up falling out with Evalynn over her seemingly being the favoured child.

For now though it was daily life still. Evalynn went out to school each morning, then Mick or I would take Benjamin to school a while later, usually depending on whether Mick had a meeting at 9am. I spent a majority of my days doing chores without the children in the way - mostly shopping, cleaning, gardening, though occasionally with an interview or meeting or self tape thrown in for good measure. I'd then collect Benjamin from school, for a while we'd play games then most afternoons (unless it happened to be raining) he'd go up the drive to sit and wait for Evalynn. She loved getting to see him every afternoon before she'd even made it home, and I loved to watch the pair of them walking back to the house together like they were still the best of friends. I still hoped they always would be that way.

Our shared craving for just mamma and Evalynn time was finally being met - Mick had enrolled Benjamin in a little kiddie football club, so naturally it was on him to take Benjamin to the football training - we got around an hour and a half on a Saturday morning to do some baking or some artsie stuff or whatever we wanted together. It felt wonderful to finally get that chance of just completely us time. It gave us both a chance to learn about the other without the boys being around to detract one of us' attention, and allowed us to do our own little things in the process. I'd so far found that she liked baking, so a lot of our mornings were spent doing some baking together, one of us usually teaching the other a recipe we'd grown up with, often with music on in the background. It was during one of these mornings I'd found out just how good she was at singing. Of course I'd heard her sing so many times over the last year, but it was normally Steps songs with Benjamin so I was often distracted by the fact both my children loved Steps and if not it was quietly in the back of the car. But today it was neither. She was washing up while the cookies we were making baked, the CD by The Script which she'd been brought with her when she moved in playing in the background. I guess she thought I was upstairs and wouldn't hear, because she was so nervous about singing properly in front of anyone, but as I heard her I couldn't help but pause in the doorway to hear her singing Nothing (it seemed to be the track she played most so I'd become quite familiar with the sound of the song). And her voice was beautiful. It was soft and lovely and already had a little theatre edge to it that I was so used to being told I had because I'd had people tell me constantly for 15 years.
She'd started singing along to the next track as she turned around to clean the cabinets and saw me in the doorway. She immediately stopped singing and stared at me slightly fearfully. "How... how long have you been there?" She asked.
"A couple of minutes. Evalynn you don't need to be afraid darling, you're a beautiful singer." I said.
"I'm not. I'm definitely not as good as you." She replied.
I shook my head, and walked up to her, taking her in a gentle hug. "You're amazing already. You have the softest voice at the minute. Trust me, with maybe a touch of proper practice you could be a better singer than me one day I think. If you want to of course." If she wanted some proper singing training I was more than happy to pay for her to have lessons, it'd make it fair if she did music lessons and Benjamin had his football. I had always hoped one of my children would be slightly musical like me.
"You liked it? You're not just saying that because you're my mamma?" She asked.
"Of course I'm not. Evalynn Tozer you are so super talented." I assured her.
A quick glance down showed me the sheer size of her grin. "I love you mamma." She told me.
"I love you too Evalynn." I replied.
When we were both ready I let go and, having checked the timer on the oven, she went back to finish cleaning. I concluded I might as well wait for the cookies to be done.