Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"This is your room, I hope you like it," Amanda told her brother as they brought his things into his room from the car. "I didn't know how to decorate it. I didn't know what you like. I want you to do with it what you wish."

Nicholas looked around the room. It was light blue. Sitting on the dresser were four pictures in frames. One was of him and Amanda during her last visit to see him. He was only four and she was pregnant with Amber. There were photos of Amber and Kayla and there was his baby picture.

"It's good," he said as he unpacked a couple of boxes. Amanda was folding his clothes. Amber was bringing in as many boxes as she could. Kayla tried to help, well as much as a preschooler could.

"Wow, you have a unicorn collection, too?" Amber said after opening one of Nicholas' boxes.

"Yes," Nicholas said. The collection was his most cherished possession. It was the one thing, an obsession, that his mother and aunt and uncle allowed him to keep that was at all feminine.

"Mom also has a unicorn collection!," Amber said.

"Yes I do," Amanda said as she looked up from her work of folding clothes. "Oh my gosh…you still have that one?"

Nicholas was holding a light blue unicorn with purple hair. On its side was written the name "Mandy" in a child's hand writing.

"Yes, she was my first," Nicholas said. Amanda had given it to him during her last visit years ago.

"She's special," he said, cradling it in his arms. "I gave her a special name."

"You named her for mom?" Amber asked in noticing the name on the side. He nodded his head yes.

Amanda fought the tears coming from her eyes. She didn't even know he remembered.

"Let me show you something," she said, leading him to her room. She showed him her shelf full of unicorns,

She pointed to a pink unicorn with purple hair.

"Mandy was part of a set with her," she said. "Mandy is the only unicorn I've ever given away. Do you know why?"

He shook his head no.

"I wanted to give her to a special person, you!" Amanda said.

"Well, I've got to get down and help your grandmother with supper," Amanda told Amber. "Think you three can finish things up here?"

They shook their heads, almost in unison before Amanda went downstairs.

"You've got to be tired," said her mother, Kathryn Taylor. "That long flight you two had. Do you have him settled in his room."

"I think so," Amanda said. "I'm amazed how little clothes he had. Surely they bought him more than that. He really didn't have a whole lot of toys either. What did they do with Karen's money? She wasn't broke. Neither was dad."

"Who knows?" her mother said. "Your father married into a strange family. I really feel sorry for Nicholas having to grow up with them."

Amanda helped her mother prepare the spaghetti, the bread and a small cake.

It wasn't long before the kids came running down the stairs.

"Mom, Nickie wants to ask you something," Amber said. "Go ahead, she won't mind."

"Umm–umm––" he stammered.

"Go ahead, I'm listening," Amanda said.

"Can I play Barbies with them?," Nicholas said with a voice just above a whisper.

"Of course you can," Amanda said, kissing him on the forehead,

"Mom never let me play with dolls," Nicholas said.

"You'll find things are a little different around here," Amanda said.

"See, I told ya!" Amber said before the three went trampling back up the
stairs and into the girls' room.

"I don't know what the harm is with letting him play with dolls," Amanda said almost in disgust to her mother.

"Well, Karen Taylor wasn't exactly the most pleasant woman in the world," her mother said. "How she managed to raise such a sweet child, I'll never know."

"Well mom, I've scheduled him an appointment to talk with Andrea," Amanda said.

"Do you think it will help him?" her mother asked.

"Well, she helped me when I was going through the divorce," Amanda said of her former college friend, who was now a therapist. "She helped the girls, too. I told her about the cross-dressing. But he's got more issues than just that. Karen dying. Dad dying when he was little. A new home across the country. He's had a lot on his plate."

She couldn't help but think what Nicholas might be thinking when she went upstairs to get the children for dinner. She peaked in first and listened as they talked and played.

She smiled as she heard him make car noises as he pushed the car with his Barbie and the girls' Barbies as they pretended to go to the movies.

"Well, I hate to break up the fun, but supper's ready," she said.

She marched them downstairs. She patted Nicholas on the back.

"It looks like you three were having fun," she said.

"Um huh," he said.

"One of these days I'm going to get more than Um huh out of you," Amanda said.

She smiled as she watched him eat. It looked like he hadn't had a good meal in years the way he devoured his food. They also enjoyed a little cake.

"You know we'll be eating cake tomorrow, too," Amber told Nicholas.

"We're having a party for Amber's birthday," Amanda said. "All of her buds from ballet class will be here."

"Then we're going to the mall to get my ears pierced," Amber said.

"You mean we're going to the mall to get our ears pierced," Nicholas said.

"You’re getting yours done too? Neat," Amber said. "I've picked out a pair of pink butterfly earrings. It would be neat if we could get pairs just alike."

Nicholas gave Amanda a strange look.

"Well, maybe Nickie will find another pair that he likes," she said. But if he wants butterfly earrings, he can have them."

Nicholas smiled back at his older sister.

"Well, it's about time for baths," Amanda said, looking over at Kayla, who managed to get spaghetti sauce all over her face.

"Nicholas, you go pick something out to wear to bed while I get the girls ready," she said.

She marched the two girls into the bathroom after they picked out their nightgowns. She gave them a bath and washed their hair. Kayla was disappointed that Nicholas couldn't take a bath with them.

"Well–he's a boy–and he's a little bit too old," she said, and headed into Nicholas’s room.

He had a pair of underwear on the bed. No pajamas.

"Wait just a second," she said. She returned to the room with one of her t-shirts.

It was pink, with a unicorn on the front. It had "Mandy" on the back.

"Hope you don't mind," she said. "I got this at the beach one year."

He smiled and took the clothes into the bathroom. He hopped into the tub that Amanda had already prepared for him, bubble bath and all.

After popping "High School Musical" into the DVD player for about the 100th time, she went back downstairs to say goodbye to her mother and get a cup of coffee.

"I appreciate everything," she told her mother. "I'm exhausted. I bet Nickie is too. Hopefully, the girls won't have trouble going to sleep."

She savored her quiet time for a little while, then went upstairs to check on the kids.

She smiled when she saw them, all three asleep side-by-side on Amber's bed. Nicholas was in the middle. Amber had one arm on his back. Kayla had one arm on his back too. He had both his arms on them.

She almost chuckled. Her long t-shirt looked more like a nightgown on her brother. Her daughters had their nightgowns on, too.

It was too cute a scene to pass up. She went and got a digital camera and took a photo.

"They'll probably kill me when they're older," she thought.

She then put the photo on the screen of her computer with the words; "Mandy's three angels sleeping."