After his mother's illness gets worse and she is no longer able to take care of him and his brothers, Kevin steps up to take care of everything and ends up becoming . . .
the woman of the house.
When I returned to the kitchen, the boys were all helping out to get plates, forks, spoons, cups, and the food on the table. They all looked rather handsome in their dress slacks, button down shirts, loafers, and their hair slicked back with palmade.
"Oooooh," Johnny expressed when he saw me enter the room in a dress from the back of Mama's closet that I had saved for just this kind of occasion and a pair of her shoes I was wearing for the first time today.
Timmy looked up and whistled, with a gleem in his eye and a smile on his face.
The other two boys, also looked to see what the commotion was about. They joined in as well, indicating their enthusiastic approval.
The dress was a casual, vintage 50's style under-the-knee length, shirt-waist garment in a bold red color and featured a V neckline, pleated bodice, and short sleeves.
The skirt flared out greatly, drawing one's eyes toward the shiny, patient leather, candy apple red, pumps on my feet.
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I had paired the outfit with matching lipstick, large plastic red hoop earrings, and pulled my hair up in a high ponytail.
"Wow. You look beautiful," Jimmy gushed.
"Yeah, very pretty," Jessie added with a grin.
Timmy didn't say anything, but I knew he approved of my look, since the fabric of his slacks did nothing to hide a growing bulge.
Yeat again, I wasn't looking for it, you just couldn't miss it.
I walked around the table to the seat at the opposite end from Timmy. It was where mom used to sit and had become my seat, now that she was gone, the same way Timmy had assumed Pa's seat once he was gone.
"If you guys'll pick your jaws up off the floor, and take your seats, we can eat," I announced as I smoothed the back of my skirt and took my seat.
"Can I open my present before we start? Please," Johnny begged me, pointing at the wrapped box on the counter.
Timmy exhaled, and stood up to retrieve the box. I think he was happy that the attention was finally off me. It had obviously made him quite uncomfortable.
"I guess. I can't see why not," he shrugged, briefly glancing at me for concurrence.
I nodded and he handed the package to Johnny, before returned to his seat.
While Johnny fumbled with opening the gift, Timmy kept glancing over at me. I didn't know what was in the package and I guess he anxiously awaited my reaction.
This caused me worry about the content of the box.
When Johnny finally got the wrapping paper off, it was revealed to be a shoebox. Johnny removed the lid and pulled out a piece of cardboard.
He turned the cardboard over to find a set of beautiful hair bows attached to the other side.
His eyes grew wide, his cheeks turned red with embarrassment, and his head dropped in shame.
