Living in a Broken Dream

The next week passed pretty fast. The guys would come over after school and help me with the kids. It was Friday today and to say thanks for the help, I was making them dinner. Em had got the day off work so she came over as well.
The boys and the kids were watching some music channel.
“I wish I could play guitar” said Evelyn.
“I can play guitar” coursed Alex, Jack and Zack.
“REALLY” shouted Evelyn.
“Yeah, and Alex sings” said Jack smirking.
“Will you play something?” asked Eva.
“Erm... I don't have a guitar”
“Anna has one! You could use hers, she wont mind, she doesn’t use it much since-“ Tammie said stopping mid sentence.
“Since what?” Asked Rian
“Nothing” she said quickly.
She stood up shouting
“ANNA, I'M GETTING YOUR GUITAR FOR ALEX!”
“Tammie-“ I started but she was already upstairs in my room.
“Jackie” I heard a laugh come from the room the guys were in, Lottie had crawled into Jack’s lap, and Jack being Jack was pulling faces at her making her laugh.
“Okay, I'm back!” said Tammie pushing my legs.
She gave Alex the guitar and sat down. He strummed it a few times and the kids all moved closer. He cleared his throat and started singing. It was beautiful, he was singing a quiet song, rather than the ones he did at band practice. He looked happy, singing his heart out, like I used to before Mom died. I used to love singing, dancing and acting, but it wasn’t the same as before. It didn’t feel right without mom there. He finished and looked around the room smiling, each kid bombarding him with compliments
“That was so cool Alex!”
“You have a beautiful voice”
“That was awesome!” said the twins together.
“Hey!” said Jack rather quietly for him. We all turned around to look at him. Lottie had fallen asleep on him. My face must have looked shocked and so were the kids.
“What?” asked Jack worried
“She has never fallen asleep when someone sings to her before” said Luke looking up at me.
“Never?” asked Rian
“Nope. It took me like 2 hours to try to get her to fall asleep by singing to her or playing music” I said brushing the hair off her forehead.
“Come on Jack, we’ll let her sleep”
He stood up slowly, still holding Lottie in his arms. We walked up the stairs and I opened her bedroom door for him. He walked in and placed her in her bed pulling the covers over her.
"Are you gonna tell the guys?" He whispered in the dark.
"I don't know. I mean, i don't want them to give me sympathy looks" i whispered back.
"Well, tell them when your ready. You're gonna have to soon though because those kids have grown closer to the guys, meaning they might let it slip"
I thought for a minute, he was right.
"Alright Jack. I'll tell them on Monday"
"Why not tomorrow?" he said as we walked out the room.
"Eva has a singing concert after dinner, so we'll be out late."
"Okay, well have fun and wish her luck"
i smiled and we walked down the stairs.
“Can you play another!”
“Please, please, please???”
Alex was looking a bit uncomfortable so I stood in.
“That's enough guys. Leave him alone” I said standing in front of them.
“But Anna-“
“No Tammie, now behave yourself”
She looked defeated and sat down next to Rian again. I walked into the kitchen and laid the table for dinner.
“Thanks for saving me out there. How can you just say no to them? Their eyes are so big!” he said sitting down at one of the chairs. I laughed and sat opposite him.
“You’re welcome Alex, and it comes with a lot of practice. When I first started looking after them, they did it all the time and if I let them, they would have turned into uncontrollable kids”
“How come you look after all of them? Where’s your Mom?” he asked. My eyes went wide and I looked away.
“You don't have to tell me!” he said panicking, shaking his head frantically.
“Its Okay Alex, I’ll tell you when I'm ready okay?”
He nodded looking a bit relived and now curious.