Eve Alone

Part One

"Ee-eve! Where are Henry's pyjamas?"

"I put some clean ones in his cupboard this afternoon." 

Eve could tell that her partner, Mike, was calling to her from the living room. She could just picture him sitting on the couch, flicking through something or other on his phone...

As usual...

Eve turned her attention back to trying to get Freddie into his jumpsuit- a task which was becoming more and more impossible as Freddie got older. The little 7-month-old found it a hilarious game to kick his legs and roll over whenever Mummy was trying to get him dressed.

"Come on, munchkin, help Mummy out here please!" she begged, as she tried to bend his leg into the suit.

Freddie flashed a gummy grin and kicked his legs out again.

"You're being a pest!" Eve scolded him in a sing-song voice. She brought his tiny feet up to her mouth to kiss them, and then tried again. Just as she succeeded with the left one, Henry burst into the room dressed in only his big red bath towel, which he was wearing as a cape.

"Mu-um, where's my pyjamas?" he called, as he ran and took a flying leap onto the feeding chair in the opposite corner of the room.

The chair rocked back and banged into the wall behind it.

"Henry!" Eve sighed, allowing a moment to close her eyes.

"Whoops! Sorry, Mummy."

Henry climbed off the chair, his cheeks flushed pink, like every time he performed this stunt. As Eve fought to roll Freddie back onto his back and went to work on his right leg, Henry came over and threw his arms around her neck from behind, his towel forgotten on the floor behind him. He started singing his favourite song,  getting about half the words right.

"Gotcha!" Eve muttered under her breath, fastening Freddie's buttons while he was distracted by his big brother's face over Eve's shoulder.

Freddie's big eyes were shining in the lamplight and he cooed and babbled along with Henry's song.

"Alright, pest." Eve untangled Henry's arms from her neck, draped the towel over him and bent to pick up Freddie. "Let's go find your brother's pyjamas and get you boys into bed. Mummy needs a sit down!"

She followed Henry as he ran from the room, towel billowing out behind him. She tried not to let the image of Mike on the couch bother her as they walked past the lounge room door.

In Henry's room, she shifted Freddie to hold him with one arm as she picked Henry's Incy Wincy Spider pyjamas from their shelf in the cupboard.

"There we go." She handed them to Henry, who was singing loudly into his standing fan, bouncing his knees, enjoying the effect of his voice buzzing back at him.

"Turn that off, darlin' and get dressed, please."

Leaving the room, she stopped in the lounge room doorway.

"He's getting into his jarmies. He needs to brush his teeth and then I promised him you would read him a story before bed."

"Mm-hm," was the vague response, as she returned to Freddie's bedroom.

Henry's singing faded as she closed the door and sat herself in the feeding chair.

"It's been a long day, little one" she said, as Freddie gazed up at her with his big blue eyes.

He smiled at her as she unbuttoned her shirt and adjusted her position to get comfortable.

After he had finished feeding, Eve read Freddie a story, then hummed soft tune into his ear as she opened the door ajar and used her foot to switch on the floor lamp. She cuddled him close to her shoulder in the now darkened room and he rested the side of his head on her mouth, staring at their shadows on the wall behind his cot, formed by the narrow beam of light from the opening at the door. She whispered goodnight into his ear and kissed his cheek, resting him onto the mattress to zip him up in his sleep-suit, covering him over and tucking the blankets tight into the side of the cot. It wouldn't take him long to work himself free and roll over.

Eve quietly slipped from the room and closed the door behind her. She ignored Mike on the couch and went straight back to Henry's room, where he was sitting on his bed, his baby blanket that he still insisted on sleeping with draped over his head, playing with his favourite stuffed tiger.

"Did you brush your teeth, monster?"

"I'm not a monster." Henry laughed.

Eve repeated her question and he nodded his head.

"Can we read my new library book?"

"Of course."

They took turns reading the book, then she tucked him in.

"Goodnight, little man," she said as she kissed his head.

"I'm not a little man, I'm a big man!"

"Alright, goodnight, big man."

Henry beamed, then rolled over and snuggled down under his quilt. Eve turned out the light and eased the door closed. Her hand still resting on the doorknob, she closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.

Two boys in bed and, for the time being, quiet!

She swiveled on her heels and walked across the kitchen to the sink where Mike had left a few dishes unwashed. Why he was never able to wash everything, she would never know. She finished them off, wiped down the benches and dinner table and emptied the dishwater from the sink.

Before heading to the lounge room, she picked up the red towel that Henry had abandoned in the middle of the dining room floor somewhere along his travels. She hung it back up in the bathroom and went to switch off the exhaust fan and light that everyone had neglected, but her finger paused as she caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She sighed at the washed out pallor of her face, the dark circles that stretched to the tops of her cheeks from under her eyes and her black, pixie-cut hair that was standing straight up from the numerous occasions she had unconsciously run her fingers through it during the day.

Had she always looked this tired and unkempt? Eve couldn't remember.

She stared a moment longer after she had flicked the switch, half her face in shadow, the other half lit up from the hallway light.

Mike didn't look up from his phone as Eve tidied toys, rubbish and empty mugs from the room around him before retiring to the couch next to him.

He's having one of those days, where he just seems to take a few steps back from everything and leaves it all up to you.

It was just a pain that these days always fell on the ones when Eve had had the least sleep and the most to do.

After sitting in relative silence for a few moments, Mike piped up: "You alright, babe?"

"Yep."

"You want a cup of tea?"

"No. I'm right, thanks."

Eve scanned the living room as Mike went to the kitchen and switched on the kettle. As the sound of the water boiling got louder, Eve suddenly felt claustrophobic. The walls were closing in on her and an overwhelming sense of pressure landed upon her chest with a physical thud.

She had to get out for a bit, by herself, to breathe.

"I might go for a walk," Eve said upon his return to his couch indentation.

"Where you going?" His look was quizzical.

"I'll probably walk down to the Sound. I won't be long." She bent over to kiss his cheek, then grabbed a woolen jumper and slipped on her runners on her way out the front door.