Chloe, Chapter 2
It had been a few weeks since her nephew dressed up.

She decided not to press the issue, but she wondered what was going on in his head.

He still played with dolls. He seemed to enjoy Caroline's American Dolls the best, and still mothered Janice Libby.

She enjoyed the story time they had before bed. Despite her sister's many problems, Karen was amazed at her nephew's intelligence and his natural ability with music. She taught him a few simple songs on the piano and he gradually worked his way up to more complicated songs.

He loved playing her flute, the one she played in the high school band, and even could play a few tunes on her violin.

"It's funny Carla," she told a colleague. "He seems to want to play all of the instruments I played. His mother never took interest in music. Neither did Caroline. I've been tempted to bring out my old cello."

He did share one passion with her daughter, horses. He fit nicely into Caroline's riding clothes when his aunt took him riding on Caroline's horse, Buttercup.

"I may have to sign you up for riding lessons," she told him one afternoon at the stable.

"I would love riding, Aunt Karen!" he chimed in.

He painted. He read. He didn't have a problem keeping busy when Karen worked on projects getting ready for another semester at the university, and as the semster approached, she spent many long hours at night working on those projects, lesson plans, tests.

But she didn't complain. She spent as much time doting on the new child around the house. And he seemed to appreciate the effort...or she.

It was a card Brandon made for her think again about the gender battle that seemed to be going on in his head.

She had fallen asleep, slumped over her computer table after another long night of work. She awoke to find the card and a flower lying next to her.

"I love you Aunt K. Love, Chloe."

She looked at the clock. It was 2 a.m. She had forgotten to put him to bed.

She rushed upstairs to find him sound asleep in bed, snuggling with Janice Libby. He looked angelic, and very much like the girl he at times had a longing to be.

She kissed him on the forehead.

"My darling baby girl, what have I done so wonderful to deserve you?

#####

Bewildered. That's how she looked as she looked at the khaki pants and four pairs of shirts sitting on the bed.

"What do you think, which shirt to you like best?"

"I dunno," her nephew said. He was almost amused.

Good ole Aunt K seemed to be multi-tasking about the picking out of the wardrobe, running back-and-forth between her room and his, trying to find the right clothes for both to wear to the University Women's luncheon. There she was standing in his room in a slip and curlers trying to figure out what they both were going to wear at the first function where he would first meet some of her colleagues.

Nothing she picked out seemed to satisfy her.

Then she came up with an idea.

"You're either going to love me for this or hate me," she said as she made one more trip to her room.

She came back with a dress from her closet. She then pulled a dress out of Caroline's closet.

They were a matched set. She then pulled a slip out of a box and a pair of sandles.

"Get you a pair of undies we bought a that store and come to my room," she said.

Brandon smiled and did exactly as his aunt said.

He marched into her room wearing a pair of panties under his T-shirt. She pulled the T-shirt over his head and replaced it with a slip. She did their nails, dabbed a little makeup on his face and did his hair while she also did the same to hers.

"I think it's a Chloe-kind of day," she said to him. "What do you think?"

"I love Chloe days!" he said.

This should be an interesting afternoon, she thought. Her colleagues knew her nephew was staying with her this summer, and possibly beyond that.

"They're going to know you're really a boy," she said as they walked to the car. "Does that bother you?"

He shook his no.

She gave him one last look over. No one would know he was really a boy if they hadn't been told.

He wasn't the only child at the function. Two more professors brought their daughters.

And while his presence in a dress came as a surprise to some, it wasn't shocking, at least not at this luncheon.

"Oh my God, look at you!" said a woman his Aunt Karen introduced as "Zia."

Zia Zanderia, or "Dr. Z" as his aunt called her, was the dean of women's studies. She was, his aunt said, an advocate of "gender neutral" parenting. Her daughter, Lex, was one of the two daughters in attendance. And her appearance offered an interesting contrast to his.

She wore a striped boys' dress shirt and slacks.

"I've got to get a photo of them together," Zia said. "Karen, I'm glad you're one that actually gets it."

Gender neutrality wasn't what his aunt had in mind, even though she took the remarks as a compliment. She wondered if her nephew were a gender-varient child.

"You know, you two have Ashley confused," said Carla Phillips, who was a fellow English professor. Her daughter was the other child in attendance, and one who wore a dress similar to Brandon's.

"She's really pretty, mom," the girl whispered. "It is ok if I call her a she?"

"It is ok if she calls Brandon a she, isn't it? her mother asked Karen.

"Yes," Aunt Karen said. "And you can call her Chloe, if you want to."

Brandon nodded.

"You can call me Ashley!" the girl said. "And you've alread met Lex!"

"It's something we take day-by-day," his aunt told her colleagues. "I'm thinking about getting him a therapist."

"Do you really think he might be transgendered?" asked another colleague.

"I don't know," she said. "This is way beyond my field of study. Whatever the course, he or she has my support along the way."

"Well, I admire you about being out in the open about it," Zia said. "You wouldn't believe the flak I catch about how I'm bringing up Lex."

Part of the battle, Karen explained to her colleagues, was the custody question.

"What happens if a therapist recommends I let Brandon live as Chloe, then Dianne gets custody back?" she asked. "What if she doesn't support me on this."

"Perhaps you need to make her aware of what's going on," said a silver-haired women eavesdropping at the next table.

"Oh, Dr. Ambrose, I didn't know you were listening," Karen said.

The woman was the recently retired university president. And deep down she knew the advice was the right choice to make.

#####

Her instructions to Brandon were clear as they pulled into the hospital parking lot. He wasn't to tell his mother he had been dressing as Chloe.

"I'll do my best to let her in on things," his Aunt Karen said. "No need to shock her right at once."

She wanted her nephew to enjoy his time with his mother. It was a once-a-month allowed visit.

He told his mother about how he loved spending time at Aunt Karen's house, about playing music, painting and horseback riding.

"Wow, you two seem to be enjoying your time together," his mother said.

"Momma, when are you going to come home?" he asked.

"Not for a long time," she said. She held back her problems with her withdrawals, and even a suicide attempt. She put her best face forward during the visit.

"Sweetie, would you like to keep living with Aunt Karen," she asked.

He shook his head. He loved his mother. But the time at his aunt's had been the most stable in his young life.

"I love her a lot, Momma," he said. "Is that okay?"

"Oh sweetie, that is perfectly okay," she said before she gave him a hug. "Sweetie, I guess I need to talk to your Aunt Karen for a few minutes, okay?"

He shook his head yes and left the room.

"Wow, Di, how are you doing?," Karen said, wiping tears from her eyes as she came through the door.

"He seems really enamored with you, K," her sister said.

"The feeling is mutual," she said.

"I'm glad," Dianne said before telling her sister everything that had been going.

"I'm medicated half the time to battle the depression," she said. "Even if I get out of this place, I really don't know how I'll be able to function."

"Don't say that, Di," Karen said. "You'll get better."

"I don't know if I will, K," her sister said. "And we've got to face facts. You are a better mom that I'll ever be. I'm thinking about giving you permanent custody."

Karen sat for a second, not knowing what to say.

"I'd be flattered, Di," she said. "But I still have hope you'll recover. And I wouldn't want to stand in the way."

"He needs stability, K" her sister said. "It's not in his best interest to play 'what if's.'"

Her sister had a point.

"Before we go any further, there is something you ought to know," Karen said to her sister.

She then informed her over Brandon's "Chloe feelings." And about Brandon being allowed to dress as Chloe.

Dianne cried.

"I'm glad he's with you, then," she said. "There were times when I wanted to let him live as Chloe, but I didn't know if it was best for him. And I feared what his dad would do. But I know it tortured him for a long time. One night, when he was crying, I was drunk and almost pulled a pair of scissors to cut it off."

Karen sat stunned.

"But I know that was the alcohol talking," her sister continued. "And I know I'm not emotionally well enough to handle it right now. He...she's in good hands."

The two sisters embraced.

"Can I say goodbye to our child?" her sister asked, letting Karen know she did not fear the role her sister now had in our son, or daughter's life.

Karen called for Brandon after the two sisters regain their composure.

Dianne held her child one final time.

"I want you to be a big girl for momma," she said.

Brandon was stunned by his mother's words.

"I want your Aunt K to pick out a very pretty dress for you for the next time you come," she continued. "I don't want my daughter dressed like a boy when she comes to see her momma."

He nodded.

"Well, Chloe, I guess it's time to say goodbye to your mom," his Aunt Karen said.

He..she was in tears.

"Love you, momma," she said.

"I love you, to," her mother replied as the two embraced.