why

The sadness in her eyes was almost too much for him to bear and her words even more so. "Do…they not love us anymore? Did we do something wrong?” He shook his head, holding her in a tighter hug for a brief moment as he pressed his head to hers. "No, no you did nothing wrong. I'm sure they still love us, they're just...lost...I think." He really didn't know what else he could say. It was possible something bad had happened to them, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Hell, he didn't even want to believe something bad had happened either. So instead, he decided to conjure up a thought that was perhaps least likely to be upsetting. Or at least, less upsetting than everything else so far. "I think perhaps your mother returned to her homeland. Perhaps she was needed there, to save those she had previously left behind from bad people."

That was a better lie than anything, right? Could he make himself believe that? "Your mother and your brother still love us. They still love you and your siblings. Sometimes our paths take us in different directions, and that of your mother and brother just happened to take them away from us for a while." He offered a half smile, though sadness was still in his eyes at the thought. It hurt to lie to them, but telling them something he wasn't completely sure of would be worse. He didn't know why she didn't come back. He couldn't say how she felt without knowing the truth. He knew she loved him. Knew she wouldn't abandon her family without a good reason.