When the two of them came back in to the sitting room, it was obvious to Luigi that Jason and Cody had formed a bond, and that Cody looked a bit more like he used to be.
Eleanor also sensed that Cody had lost some of his tension and sadness, and she was pleased. She had only just met Cody but she did know that he’d been through a very bad time. She accepted that she would never be able to exactly understand what Cody had endured or what he had felt while he was being raped, all the time aware that he would be eventually killed. Poor boy! Well, not a boy really, but all of them seemed so young, still with the innocence and hope of young people who have no appreciation of just how hard life could be. Except of course for Cody, now. He knew, and her heart went out to him at the hard road he would have to travel before he once again was content. Jason, too. He knew how hard life was. But he remained upbeat and happy. She knew he grieved, and that he regretted the selfish mistake which had led Brent to take his life. But he still had an optimistic outlook on life.
She herself had no one left now; Bart was dead, her husband too, and all her family members were gone. She had Bolt …. and Jason. She hoped with all her heart that Jason would stay. He felt like family now; and how nice he was! She knew that it was likely that he would go, that he would return to England one day. Probably there was stuff about his visa. But she tried not to think about that. He was here until he left.
The point was, as far as she was concerned, that Jason was like a son to her now, a new son, not taking the place of—how could he?—but in addition to the one she’d lost so long ago. And Cody was his friend, in a way. So she cared about him, too.
But these justifications were just that, not that she acknowledged or accepted this insight. The truth is that her own sorrow and mistakes had made her kind and filled her with compassion. And Cody needed to be loved. And if she could do something to help his grief and shock, she would.
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