How Frances experienced the first week after Cathal died.

Frances has the clearest account of what the first week was like
for her:

Awful apprehension made me full, and I ate very little the
whole week I was home. I remember being able to eat
only tiny pieces of brown bread with a little cheese. I didn’t even care about putting on make-up – which I was rarely seen without. I remember feeling the power Cathal
had over me, a power I didn’t realise. Breda & I joked about our disinterest in the facade of make-up because Cathal always teased us about how ugly we were without
it. Life was reduced to bare bones. Eating tiny bites, no adornments like make-up or jewellery, and deep sleeps at night that I rarely experienced before or after.
It was the sleep of the profoundly traumatised – dead and dreamless.

Extract rom When a Child Dies. Footsteps of a Grieving Family. Published by Veritas.