Chapter 1

She hadn't seen Nicki, as she once known him, since he was four. That was eight long years ago. She finished college early, was about to become a mother for the first time and was seeing her father, who was dying of cancer.

She enjoyed playing with her brother, a blond-headed cherub with curly hair who reminded her of her youngest daughter, Kayla.

"Does he even remember me?" she thought as the plane touched down on the runway in Boston.

It was a sad situation. Her father, Michael Taylor, divorced her mother when she was young. He moved to Boston and later married Nicholas’s mother, Karen, a woman neither she nor her mother ever got along with.

She visited her father and stepmother during the summers and over the holidays. But it all stopped when her father died. She was not allowed any contact with her brother after that.

It was only a month ago that she learned of her stepmother's death. One of her father's cousins told her about it. She became angry when she found out her brother was living with her stepmother's brother and they didn't want him.

They were thinking about placing him in a foster home.

That all seemed like water under the bridge when her taxi pulled up to the high-rise building for her meeting with her stepmother's attorney. She felt a lump in her throat as the elevator reached the floor of the attorney's office.

"Ms. Meggs, Ms. Lawrence is expecting you," the receptionist said.

She walked down the hallway, where a woman in her fifties waited for her.

"You must be Amanda?" the woman said. "I'm Julie Lawrence. Come in and have a seat."

She had to admit she felt like she was in high school, in the principal's office, in trouble.

"Relax, this won't take to long," Ms. Lawrence said. "I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to hear from you. Do you have the paperwork from your attorney. Mr. Michaels seems like a very nice man. He was very complimentary of you."

"They're right here," she said, reaching for the papers out of her brief case.

"They seem to be in working order, Ms. Meggs, or may I call you Amanda?" Ms. Lawrence said.

"Amanda's fine–" she replied.

"I have to admit, I was skeptical when I first heard of your situation," Ms. Lawrence said. "You're only 28. It seems like you have your hands full with an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old. But I'm told you are a very capable accountant and mother, according to references Mr. Michaels sent."

"I wouldn't have applied for custody if I didn't think I could do it," she said.

"What made you decide you wanted custody of Nicholas?" Ms. Lawrence asked.

"He's my brother," she said. "He belongs with me."

"I'm glad you think that way," Ms. Lawrence said. "Too bad my client didn't think that way. She wouldn't have left him with her brother in her will."

"I can't understand why anyone wouldn't want Nicki," she answered.

"Didn't Mr. Michaels tell you?" Ms. Lawrence said. "Nicholas is...well...a gender-variant child...I guess that is what they are calling it now. The Lancasters couldn't handle that. I do seriously wander if you can."

"Mr. Michaels did mention to me something about Nicki crossdressing," she replied. "Are you saying that Nicki's transgendered?"

"I really don't know how to answer that question, Ms. Meggs," Ms. Lawrence said. "Your stepmother never took him to a therapist. She tried her best to discourage his cross-dressing, as have the Lancasters. They think it’s an embarassment. They are looking forward to your taking him off their hands."

That remark she found upsetting. That made her want to take her brother home even more.

"I'll gladly take him off their hands," she said. "I'm ready to take him home where he belongs."