"I'm not the mommy...I'm not the mommy," he repeated. "I'm a..." He suddenly realized another thing he hadn't thought of. He needed help.
But who? Who would believe this? What if they took Mary away? He needed someone other than the police. But, all of his friends were kids.
"I'm ready for my story!" Mary called.
He headed up the stairs. The sooner Mary went to sleep, the sooner he could call someone. He suddenly thought of Elizabeth Tanner. She was one of Mary's friends, and her two boys were his friends. She'd known Brandon since he was a baby.
Entering Mary's room, the master bedroom looked rather different than before. It looked like a cross between a grownup's room and a little girl's room. The furniture was the same, but there were dolls on the dresser, the bedside lamp had been replaced by a nightlight, and the sheets had Dora the Explorer on them.
Mary climbed into bed and he tucked her in. "What sort of story do you want to hear?" he asked.
"Anything."
He sat on the bed next to her. "Well, once upon a time, there was a little boy and his mother. The little boy needed a costume at the last minute, and he and his mother went out looking for a place..."
He told her the story of how the mother had started acting like a little girl. Then, he turned to her, hoping she would say something to indicate it was familiar. But Mary was sound asleep.
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, sweetpea." Sweetpea?
He headed back to his room, yawning. Today had been rather trying. He sat down on his bed to think. His room looked the same, thankfully. He sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to say when he called the Tanners.
