She was back in a mode. Not living her life that she had now. She could be what she wanted, if not for their Father being there. He knows he had said the guy wasn't so bad, but it was moments like this that hurt him most. Seeing Mom liven up before, with new clothing and doing her hair how she wanted, it was nice.

this? This was old mom. Father was 'around' and now she was falling back into old order. Except now she seemed to be going over board on the baking.

"I think you've made enough. I know there are a lot of us here now, but this is pretty substantial." He said, waiting for her to take the last cookie off the sheet before reaching over to take the sheet from her hands, glad it was cool enough to touch. He sat it aside and took her hands in his. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? In all honesty?" He held her hands in his, lifting them to kiss a single knuckle. "Because you can be yourself now. You don't have to bake so many cookies for us."