Megan Franchino knows her chance for escape is now or never. With school finally out for her son Antonio, and her abusive husband going out of town she just might get far enough away before he starts looking for them. If they fail to get away, Megan knows she will not live to regret trying. There is no choice though, their recent injuries prove that if they stay one or both of them will eventually die from the beatings.

There is only one place she might feel safe to go, but will she be welcome there? Can she even get there? How long can she stay? What then? And if her husband's family does catch up to them, is there any way to keep Tony safe?

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The Legal Stuff: Dollar Runaways © 2014 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface

Like the first four books I posted here on BigCloset, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I was planning to post it a chapter at a time, but due to some real life events that took place in the last week I am doing two per week instead so it’ll be completely posted before I get too busy with other things! The book has a total of 26 chapters and a short epilogue. The full version should be completely posted by early March. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. There are two types of eBooks available depending on how you wish to read it. One is the ePub format that you should be able to load on any e-reader (you may need an additional app, but I believe all will read it), and the other is a standard PDF formatted file. I believe the PDF is the best way to read it on a computer screen personally. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($5.95 for the eBook formatted files).

Several readers have commented on the similarities of the story to Wanda Cunningham’s ‘Incognito Parallel.’ I would reference you all to the ‘Dedication’ in the first chapter where I recognize that her tale most definitely sparked my imagination, and this book! I believe you will find that in the end though this work is its own story.

One caution before continuing through this book; it is darker than my past novels have been. If it were a movie it would probably be rated R for Language and Violence. Much of this novel is just as light as you are used to seeing from me though!

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy reading Dollar Runaways!!

 
Chapter 13: Mountain Rains
 
THE NEXT MORNING I faced the wakeup call from Mom and then dragged myself along through the feeding of all the animals. ‘I think I’m sort of getting used to this...’ I thought to myself as I finished putting the feed bucket back on the shelf. ‘I wonder what Madison had to do?’

I wondered if maybe she’d been pressed into helping mom with the cows. I walked into the milking shed and found Mom and Kaitlyn, but no Madison. “Good morning,” Kaitlyn said to me pleasantly.

“Good morning Aunt Kaitlyn,” I said.

“Aunt, huh?” She said looking at Mom. “I can go with that.” She smiled. “Good morning to you too then,” said.

“Where is Madison?” I asked curiously.

“I think Gloria has her and Mark mucking horse stalls.” I wrinkled my nose up at that right as Gloria walked up.

“Don’t worry, when you turn ten you’ll be doing that with them.” She said with a smile and a wink.

“Good thing I’m only seven then!” I said with a smile back.

She laughed and Mom said, “Why don’t you go ahead and go shower for breakfast Ash.”

“Okay,” I said and walked to the house noticing there were some really dark clouds beginning to roll in. ‘I wonder if they get tornadoes here?’ I thought somewhat nervously. We had a couple close calls a few years back and I wasn’t a fan of them at all!

‘At least they have a basement here!’

I walked upstairs and quickly took a shower, hoping to not get in the way of Madison... Who I hoped wanted to take a shower. Mucking stalls did not sound like fun at all. ‘If I was Tony I’d be mucking them right alongside them!’ I thought. ‘I wonder if Madison would have liked Tony...?’ I had used a shower cap to keep my hair dry since I didn’t need to wash my hair. As a result I was in and out of the shower pretty quickly. I made sure I unlocked the door for Madison to get in and then started digging through my clothes for something to wear. I started with a pair of panties that I pulled on and then started digging through my armoire.

‘Madison said she likes dresses... And Mom is going to put our hair up in the French Braid... Well if Madison wants it. I don’t know if she just said that yesterday to humor the little girl or not. But, she might wear a dress... Which means I want to wear a dress.’

That narrowed things down to only ten choices. I’d worn a couple other dresses already, so they were out. I settled on a plaid dress that was made of pink and white plaid seersucker fabric. I thought it felt really light and airy and liked the way it had a cute bow on the front of it that was attached to the belt tie in the back. I managed to pull it over my head when I heard, “you need help zipping that up?”

I nearly wet my panties at that point. She could have easily tumbled onto my secret right there and then!

I managed to not shout out, but said, “If you could please... I can’t reach it I don’t think.”

Madison came from behind me barefoot and in the jeans she must have been mucking in still. I knew she would have had boots over everything though, so she was probably just dusty. “Actually, let me wash my hands again real quick...” She was back a moment later and I felt her zip the back up for me. “Would you like me to tie the bow too?”

“Please,” I said.

“There you go. Now turn around so I can see your dress!”

“Thank you,” I said and turned for her.

She sighed, “I miss being able to fit in cute dresses like that.”

“But it’s got to be cool to be older and able to fit in older dresses too?” I asked.

“Maybe... I started growing fast when I was about eight and I haven’t worn clothes from the girls section since I was nine.”

“That does kind of stink,” I said.

She nodded and then looked down at herself, “And... I kind of stink too right now!”

I laughed.

“I’m going to go take a shower, do you need in the bathroom anymore before I use it?”

“No, I’m done.”

“Okay then, see you at breakfast,” she told me with a smile.

Knowing Mom was going to do my hair after breakfast I just brushed it and put it up into a high ponytail. It took me four attempts to get that right, but I managed it. I looked in the mirror and brushed my bangs a little bit but knew that I didn’t have them great. ‘Okay, downstairs and help Consetta?’ I thought to myself.

I walked out my door and ran into Mom. “I love that dress on you!” She said to me with a smile. “I’ll do your hair back in the braid after breakfast?” She asked.

“Please.”

“Okay, let me get showered...”

I walked downstairs and found Consetta working hard on frying eggs. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Well hello Princess,” she said with a big smile and gave me a hug. “Would you make the toast?”

“Sure!” I said. Consetta pointed out the bread and I toasted enough pieces for everyone but me to have two, and just one for me.

“I hear your sister made a batch of spaghetti and meatballs Saturday?”

I nodded, “It’s really really good!”

“I guess I’ll have to trust you on it until lunch. Gloria showed me where she’d put the fresh pasta she made last night, and the sauce, but I’ll have to see what the best way to heat it all back up for the hands is.”

“Trust me, everyone will love it!”

“So I hear a certain little princess has her birthday tomorrow...?”

I blushed, she knew as well as I did that it wasn’t really my birthday tomorrow. “Uh-huh.”

“So any ideas what you’re getting?”

I shook my head, “I asked for some toys and clothes... But I don’t know. I’m not even sure if... Amber has had time to go shopping.” I added a second later, “I don’t know if Mom and Dad are sending anything either.”

“Oh I’m sure none of them are going to miss the opportunity to spoil you!”

Before long all of the toast was done and I took it out to the serving table. She had this insane eight-slice toaster so it was pretty quick to do it in four batches. I sat down after it was all out and saw Madison come down.

I smiled, ‘She did wear a dress!’ Her dress was pink and sleeveless like a thick tank top. As she got closer I could see there were little white hearts that I thought were polka dots at first. I waved back at her when she waved to me and joined her in getting food. She was soo tall that when I was talking to her I constantly seemed to have to crane my neck back.

“Madison, how tall are you?” I asked conversationally as we both sat down next to each other with our food.

“I’m only five foot ten right now.”

“Wow, that’s really tall!” I said.

“I’m probably going to get to six foot three or so according the doctors. Well, my older brother is six foot two right now and he’s still growing too.”

“I won’t ever hit five feet, so that just seems really tall to me... I only just passed four feet.” I said.

“Believe me, I would trade you in a second!”

“Why?”

“Well... Okay, so girls grow faster than guys, right?”

“I guess so...”

“Well, when you get to my age they do. So almost every guy that’s my age is at least six inches shorter than me! If I really get that tall I’m going to be taller than most guys even when they’re grown... I’d much rather be shorter than my boyfriend,” she told me. “Besides, boys are really intimidated by tall girls. Trust me, I know!”

I giggled at that.

“Plus, take your sister for instance. She’s so short and petite she could easily still shop from the girls department if she wants. The juniors department still works great for her probably too, and the misses and women’s are all options for her. If I get that tall I’m going to have a hard time shopping for clothes in any of those places.” She took a bite of eggs and a drink, “Plus...” she pointed towards her chest, “I’m still sooo flat that the juniors clothes don’t really fit me that well if they’re made for me to be tall enough.” She groaned, “It’s no fun. That’s part of why I make a lot of my clothes.”

“You make your own clothes?” I asked, startled.

“Uh-huh,” she said with a smile. “I started making doll clothes when I was your age and by the time I was ten I was making several dresses and outfits a month for fun. Now... Well it’s easier to fit in if you can wear the style of your friends.”

“You are so cool!” I told her.

She smiled at me, “So what do you like to do for fun?”

“Well, I like coloring... and playing with my dolls... and cooking... and riding horses now too!”

“I like riding too,” she told me with a smile. Right about then the hands started filing in and saying ‘hi’ to both of us. Madison stood up and gave Hank and Annie hugs, along with a couple of other guys I still didn’t know that well.

Everyone had been sitting for just a few minutes when I heard the rain start falling and watched it in the windows. It grew in strength and continued to pour on a heavy downpour. “This is weird for here,” Madison said.

“Oh?”

“Normally rains here start in the afternoon and they’re done in ten minutes.”

“Oh...” I said.

She kept me talking about myself for a while and I tried to come back with answers from when I was really seven turning eight. I liked Madison even more as we finished taking plates back to the sink and she helped Consetta do dishes with me. We had just finished putting the last plate in when I heard Mom come in. “Ashley would you like me to do your hair now?”

“Sure!” I said and then looked at Madison, “Amber is going to do my hair in that French Braid with the ribbon again, do you want to watch?”

“Sure!” She said with a smile.

“I’ll do yours too if you want,” Mom said.

“Yes, please!!!” She said excitedly.

We went up to my room and she dug through the ribbon box for some pink that actually matched both of our dresses pretty closely. Mom had me sit down in the chair and brushed through my hair first. “Okay, start off like this...”

Mom worked on my hair for the next fifteen minutes or so and explained each step to Madison as she went along. She was enthralled with it and my mom enjoyed that. When I was done she said, “Okay, next!”

I laughed and watched as she did Madison’s hair. She did the same explaining to me to teach me how to do it too. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it on myself, but I thought I could probably just about do it on a friend. The two of us looked cute when she was done and Madison hugged Mom saying, “Thanks!”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ll be right back,” I said then and went into the bathroom. When I was coming out I heard, “Sure I don’t mind staying with her today, she’s fun!”

I pretended to open the door slowly and not hear that. “Hey Ashley, how would you like to sew something together today?”

“Really?”

“Really! I don’t know if we could finish today or not, but we could probably sew you a really pretty princess dress?”

“Can I Amber?” I asked.

“May, not can,” she reminded me, “and sure you may. Actually why don’t you go ahead and just play with Madison today. I’m going to go into town to take care of a few things, I’ll be back for lunch.”

“Did you tell Consetta how to heat everything up?”

“Yes I did,” she smiled at me, “I’m sure she’ll have it covered!”

Madison looked lost so I said, “We made spaghetti and meatballs Saturday night and we’re having the leftovers for lunch.”

“Oh... Good,” she said skeptically.

“You haven’t had our family recipe obviously, it’s better than good!”

“I guess we’ll have to see later, won’t we,” Madison said. “Now let’s go downstairs and see what Aunt Gloria has in her sewing room to work with.”

“Wait, she has a sewing room?” I asked. I thought back to the exploring I’d done and I hadn’t come across any sewing room.

“You haven’t been upstairs in the barn yet?”

“There’s an upstairs?”

“Come on and I’ll show you,” she said with a smile. When we got to the door to go outside though it was still raining really heavily.

Madison and I found a pair of tennis shoes first before we left and she oohed and awed about my Disney Princess shoes. “They even light up!” She said with amusement as she watched them do it while I walked down the hall next to her.

‘I really want to say something, this one hurts...’ I admitted to myself.

“Here,” she told me and passed me an umbrella.

“Thanks!” I said as I walked through the door and waited to open it outside under the patio. “Wow,” I said as I watched it come down heavily and could see the ditches on the side of the road going. I watched as Mom drove off with someone else in the car - it looked like Kaitlyn - and splashed the water up behind them.

“Come on,” Madison said to me after a second of watching them.

I had a guess, but as an eight year old I figured I probably should be denser than this, “I wonder where they’re going?”

“Probably just to the store, my Mom mentioned some things we left at home that she needs.”

‘Good lie Madison!’ I thought with an internal smirk. ‘I hope she doesn’t find out about me and gets angry about the lie down the road,’ I thought and frowned a little bit. Madison missed that though as we walked in the open barn door and we shook our umbrellas out. She said, “See the stairs?” They were literally just to my right! How I ever missed it I never knew.

“I feel stupid... I guess I was too excited to see Beauty each time that I never noticed.”

She giggled, “She is a sweetheart isn’t she?”

I nodded, “Do you normally ride her?”

She shook her head, “Not for a few years, I’m too tall to ride her comfortably. She’s a pretty short horse... Not quite a pony, but pretty short.”

I thought about that and felt even shorter. I couldn’t pull myself onto her like Gloria in a million years. Mom did it though somehow with her horse being a bit taller, she did some sort of crazy acrobatics to do it though I remembered. “I hadn’t thought about that, but you’re right.”

“I normally ride Jewel, she’s the painted horse on the end.”

“Cool,” I said. “Does your brother ride?”

“He can, but he’s been a jerk about it the last few years. I wish our Uncle was still alive, he would have sorted him out in a hurry.” We had finished climbing the stairs and she opened a heavy-duty weatherproof door at the top. “After you!”

“Thanks,” I said and found my jaw drop. There was a huge upstairs area here that I didn’t know existed. I figured the room must extend above the tack room downstairs and the feed storage areas and made up probably a thousand square feet or so. Large modern windows faced the valley below the mountain and went from floor to a ceiling that extended fifteen feet. We had a really pretty view of the rain pouring down in the valley below.

I noticed a couple of side doors off the main room which I quickly peeked in and discovered two full bathrooms with showers in each room. In the middle of the room were several sewing machines and some large sewing machines. “What is all this?” I finally asked.

Madison laughed and took me on a tour. “These two are regular sewing machines... Well, sort of regular. They’re really high end sewing machines.” She walked down the wide bench that they sat on and said, “This is a serger, it’s great for a lot of things, but mainly clothing.” Madison moved down the line and said, “These two are embroidery machines, they’re a lot of fun to use I think. Actually we could probably make a lot of really cute things just with these for you!” She giggled. “Those dummy looking things are dress forms. She has a few sizes to choose from depending on what she’s working on.” Madison moved her hand and pointed out the contraption in the middle, “Now, this monstrosity in the middle is a long arm quilter. It lets you get a large quilt in there pretty easy. See, you load the top part on this roller, and the batting and the backing on the other two, and then the machine travels on these rollers so as you sew it all together you can make pretty designs as you go. When you’re finished it all ends up on that roller in the middle. Aunt Gloria spends a lot of time using this one during the wintertime. She even finishes quilts for other women who don’t have one of these.”

I looked at her in disbelief that all of this was up here, but also that she knew what everything was! “Do you know how to use all of this?”

She nodded, “I’ve been working with Aunt Gloria up here since I was like three or four. Mom finally bought me my own sewing machine when I was seven. I keep hoping to convince her to get me a nicer one... But I doubt it ever happens.”

I noticed that along the walls were banks of filing cabinets on one wall, and the other two that didn’t have the windows had bolt after bolt of fabric. I was in disbelief that anyone would possibly have this much stuff... “This is unbelievable,” I finally said.

Madison giggled, “Aunt Gloria has been sewing her whole life and it’s not like she just bought all of this one day. Plus, ranching at times pays really well. It just depends on how much it costs to feed the cattle. Most years she’s better off than the average rancher since she’s higher up in altitude where she grazes them and they have greener pastures. If she doesn’t have to supplement the feed she makes a nice profit.”

“Cool,” I said again.

“So, ready to make a dress?”

“You’re serious?”

“Uh-huh, you can think of it as my birthday present to you... Even if we don’t get it done today,” she said with a smile.

“You don’t have to...”

“I want to though, I love sewing! I know Gloria has some really cute dress patterns in your size here.”

“Okay,” I said. “But I think I’ll just watch you most of the time probably, I’ve never sewn anything before.”

She smiled at me, “Okay, but these next two weeks I’m going to teach you how!”

I gaped at her, but was enjoying the attention. “Cool,” I finally said.

“First thing’s first, I need to know exactly how tiny you really are!”

I blushed, “I’m not that tiny...”

I watched her grab a clipboard from a table and a piece of paper. She then picked up a cloth tape measure, put her arms up and said, “Arms up!” She measured my chest, then my waist, my hips, and something between my neck and my rear on my back. I looked down at her numbers.

Chest: 26

Waist: 22

Hips: 27

BWL: 11

“How tall are you again?” She asked.

“Four feet,” I told her.

She looked at me and said, “Let’s measure and make sure...”

With my shoes off she measured me against a height check chart that Gloria had taped to the wall. ‘Please don’t let me shrink another inch on this measurement...’

“Forty-eight inches exactly I think. You might be getting a quarter inch more out of your hair,” she smiled at me.

“I’ll take everything I can get...” I said with a smile.

“Okay, shoes back on before you step on a stray pin...”

I velcroed my shoes back onto my feet and joined her at a table at the edge the room where she was sitting. “Okay, so the first thing we need to do is figure out kind of what size we’re looking for, right?”

I nodded, “My mom usually buys me sevens.” I said. I was glad that there was no way that could be connected to Mom.

“Well, depending on the pattern you may be a Six X or a Seven. It all depends on the company. You’re kind of at a break between the pre-school size clothes and big girl clothes.” I made a weird face at her, “It’s not that big of a deal. And, don’t worry, I’m pretty sure we’re not looking at the little girls sizes for anything. You could definitely fit into them though.”

I gave her the stare, “Hey, you never know when there might be some really cute shirt out there they don’t carry in the big girls sizes... You could fit in it still! Picture me shopping for cute clothes like the other girls my age in Justice, not possible!”

I thought about that for a moment and could see her point, “I guess I can see that. You’re like adult height, but you’re just a kid...”

She nodded with a smile, “See?” She stood up and said, “Gloria has all of this arranged by brand and type of clothing. If you are ever searching for patterns in a store, they’ll organize them by catalog numbers there. The cool thing with Gloria’s collection here is that it has tons of patterns that aren’t even available now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there are a lot of people that would sell their souls to have her catalog!”

“Now, these three cabinets are girls size dresses, let’s see what we can find!”

The two of us spent a half-hour searching, occasionally finding one to consider, before she said, “This is perfect!!!”

I stood up and looked at the package she was holding, ‘It is really pretty! Like a dress from Beauty and Beast or something...’ The picture showed a dress that had poofy sleeves and a tea length skirt that went down to several inches above the ankle. The top part was a dark purple and had a lighter purple band at the bust line that tied in back. At the top of the bodice was a large purple bow in the same lighter color. Below the bust line band it returned to the darker purple until just above the knees it switched to a wide four inch or so band of the lighter purple, and then had the same size of band below it of white. On the lighter purple band at the bottom of the skirt it tied into a purple bow at the bottom left, and then two bows in back equidistance from the center.

“It’s pretty!” I said. “But... Can you really make that?” I asked.

“You like it?”

“I think it’s the prettiest we’ve seen.” I said with a nod.

“Then watch, and I’m going to make it a little different to add my own little style to it!”

“Cool,” I said and helped her put the other patterns we’d set aside back into the filing cabinets where they belonged.

We moved over to a large cabinet area that had a cutting mat on it from edge to edge. I watched as Madison carefully took the pattern out and smiled, “I love it when it’s not been used before...”

Over the next hour and a half I watched her as she transferred the pattern onto muslin and she explained what she was doing. Before I could believe it she had the muslin sewn together. “I don’t have to wear that... Right?” I asked. The fabric wasn’t very soft when I had touched it to feel it.

She laughed, “No dummy, this is why we have dummies!”

I laughed with her and watched as she took a child sized dress making form and adjusted it. She checked the measurements with the same tape measure several times and then pulled it over the top. “See where it’s not fitting quite right?” She asked me, pulling a couple edges here and there, “Doing it this way I can go ahead and adjust it before we do it out of the real fabric.”

She was working on correcting that when Gloria came in, “So this is where you two are hiding,” she said with a smile. “Whatcha making?”

Madison slid over the envelope cover and Gloria smiled, “I love that pattern. She’s going to look adorable in it, just like a princess,” she told me and I blushed.

“Why don’t you go ahead and take a break and come eat lunch though, okay?”

“Oh, okay,” Madison said. Neither of us had realized how long we’d been at it.

The two of us followed Gloria back to the house and I noticed for the first time it had stopped raining. It looked like it might still do more though as black as the clouds were.

MEGAN REALIZED AN hour ago that there was no way they were going to be getting back to the ranch anytime soon. The arroyos and ditches had been filling when they headed to town, but now everything was pretty much underwater from the flash flooding. “This is crazy,” she said while looking up in the sky for signs of funnel clouds. She knew Albuquerque got tornadoes occasionally.

“Yeah, hopefully it’ll pass soon. I’m guessing we can make it back to Santa Fe if we go slow, but getting out to the ranch may be tricky.” Kaitlyn replied.

“Well, I guess we could stop for lunch first?”

“Sure, where are you thinking?”

“Umm... I haven’t been here in a long time, what do you recommend?”

“How about Twisters?”

“What do they have?”

“Typical Mexican food plus burgers. Pretty good green chile, it’s a local Albuquerque chain, they have lots of locations.”

“Sure, why not?”

The two of them carefully made their way to the nearest one that Kaitlyn knew about and soon after had their food. “Ashley is so cute,” Kaitlyn told her.

“I know, isn’t she?”

“Madison is so jealous of her.”

“Huh?”

“Madison didn’t have much time as a ‘little’ girl. She was over five-feet by the time she was in fourth grade, and I think she’s going to be at least Mark’s height. Maybe taller... She hasn’t been able to fit in anything cute in forever and it kills her. The only thing we can find in her size is juniors clothing that emphasizes breasts she doesn’t really have yet... And I wouldn’t be really comfortable having her show them off even if she did have them at thirteen...”

Megan nodded, that’s something she’d never had to consider. “I bet she probably gets seen as being older too... Your husband probably has the shotgun ready?”

“Both barrels loaded and ready to go,” she laughed. “She’s a great kid though. She’s really smart - I’m guessing she’ll have a full ride to whatever college she wants.”

“Well I’m glad to hear that, I think Ashley is in absolute hero worship of her.”

“That’s kind of funny since she’s not really that much younger.”

“You know she’s not... But since last Saturday when we left... Well I guess Sunday – she’s been acting her age. Ashley’s been pretty clingy and I think excited to do kids things.”

“Well... After everything she’s been through that kind of makes sense.”

Megan nodded, “You don’t think it’ll do any permanent harm though?”

Kaitlyn shook her head, “If you were forcing her to act like that and stuff I’d be concerned, but she’s been willing the whole time you said?” Megan nodded, “Then I’d just be happy that your soon to be eight year old baby sister is so well behaved!” She smiled.

“I hope she’s okay with her presents.”

“She’s going to be eight tomorrow, she’s going to love them. Consetta is doing the cake, right?”

Megan nodded, “I’m going to make cannoli tonight after I put her in bed too.”

“Well, at least you learned how to properly cook Italian out of that nightmare!”

She nodded, “So what am I missing...?”

GLORIA HAD FOUND Madison and I just in time before the hands came back in for lunch. They’d been spending most of the morning when it was raining doing some repairs in the barn and the milking shed. In a storm like that it wasn’t worth risking someone breaking their necks or hurting a horse to go out and work on the other things they needed to do. Those would easily wait till the next day anyway.

“Where’s Amber?” I asked nervously as Consetta dished up a plate of spaghetti for me.

Gloria answered behind me though and said, “She called a few minutes ago sweetie, they’re stuck in Albuquerque for the time being because of some flooding. They’re going to try and get back here this afternoon.”

“Oh,” I said.

“They’ll be fine,” she reassured me and gave me a hug. “Now eat up!”

I sat down next to Madison and talked to her about all sorts of things. I had learned that morning that she was a lot of fun and we clicked really well together. It was kind of embarrassing to think of her as my babysitter though... I knew Mom had basically asked her to do that. ‘Seven year olds don’t stay by themselves though’ I admitted to myself. Really even eight year olds didn’t, so I knew I was doomed with a couple years of always having an adult hanging around me.

“This is really good Consetta!” Hank said.

“It is, but I didn’t make it,” she told him.

“Gloria?”

“Nope,” she replied, “Amber made the sauce and meatballs Saturday night for dinner. She made the pasta from scratch last night.”

“She’s not married?” One of the younger hands that I didn’t really know well asked. I think his name was Collin.

“Nope, but she is my niece, so careful where you go putting those eyes mister!” Gloria told him with a smile.

“No ma’am, I would never take advantage... But man a woman who can cook like that is a prize beyond belief... And she’s pretty too!” Collin said.

I sat in my chair blushing and giggling. I finally stopped and looked up at Madison, which was a mistake because we both started giggling again. It took us ten minutes to get ourselves under control and then another fifteen to finish. We placed our plates in the sink and left after Consetta assured us she had it under control.

Back in the barn I watched as Madison finished altering the muslin and put it back together, then put it back on the dummy. This time it was a perfect fit! Or so I thought... She actually went back and redid one more thing before seeming satisfied.

“Okay, now let’s see what fabric we want to use.” She said with a smile.

“Aunt Gloria has this section organized for clothing fabrics,” She showed me. “I think satin would probably be perfect for this, although we could use velvet.”

I ran my hands through one of the bolts of fabric and shivered. It felt so smooth! I didn’t really know though so I said, “I don’t know...”

“Do you trust me?”

“Well duh!” I told her with a smile.

“Any aversions to any colors, allergies to pink, purple, etc.?”

“Not that I know of,” I told her with a smile.

She then turned and faced the fabrics and in the end settled with colors that were pretty close to the original picture. She showed me one bolt, “This would look really pretty on the dress, but it would be dry clean only... I have a feeling you’ll want to wear it enough that’ll be a pain.”

I smiled at her and said, “You’re the boss!”

She laughed and got to work rolling out the bolts of fabric on the long counter area. I watched her use the muslin and the patterns to cut out the pieces and soon a pile of fabric in different colors sat next to one of the sewing machines. “Oh, I need to get that too...”

I decided not to follow her, but she came back with another bolt of this weird coarse fabric. “Tulle,” she told me like I obviously knew what it was, “you know, the stuff that poofs out your skirt?”

“Oh!” I said without much of a clue for real, “That’s what that’s called?”

“Yep!”

I watched her mess around with that bolt for a while and then she finally sat down at one of the sewing machines to sew. I watched as she followed the directions from the pattern, but occasionally say things like, “That’s weird, that doesn’t work as well...” about the directions. For her part Madison sort of talked me through what she was doing, but she was really in a sort of zone.

I was as quiet as a mouse most of the time and sometimes I think she forgot I was there. Other times she looked at me and I imagined she must have been thinking about how it would look on me. Close to dinnertime the dress was... Well it was looking like a dress! It had the sleeves and everything sewn on. She’d made several trips to the serger off and on to finish edges off before returning back to the machine she was using.

Gloria came in, “Girls, it’s about time for dinner...”

Madison sighed, “Already?”

“Yep!” Gloria said.

“Let me hang this on the form real quick and I’ll finish after dinner.”

When Madison hung it on the form I felt my heart stop. She didn’t think it was done... Yet it was already going to be the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, let alone gotten to wear! Gloria seemed to agree, “Madison that’s lovely dear, I don’t think I’ve seen you ever do anything better. Ashley you’re really lucky your cousin here likes you.”

With that I gave Madison a big hug, “Thank you Madison!”

“Aww, your welcome Ash, but I’m not done yet...”

“Come on Madison, it’ll wait until after dinner.”

“Coming,” she said.

The three of us walked back to the house and I was glad to see Mom had made it back. Remembering myself, “Amber!” I said and ran to give Mom a hug. “You aren’t going to believe the amazing dress that Madison is making me!!!”

“You’re not going to too much trouble are you?” Mom asked her.

“No,” she said with a giggle, “this is my idea of fun. Ashley’s been great all day too hanging around and learning how to do it. I think maybe Thursday or Friday I’ll try and teach her how to make a pillowcase first, and then a pillowcase dress!”

“Cool!” I said. But looked over at Mom knowing I wouldn’t be there that day. Thursday morning we were supposed to have a voicemail on Mom’s phone that was going to announce our parent’s deaths. I wasn’t exactly sure of how it was going to work out, but I thought we were going to end up going to Dallas for the ‘funeral.’ I didn’t know how long we were going to make that process take. I also didn’t know if we’d have to actually see a judge or not to have custody ‘awarded’ to my sister. Mom had been pretty tight lipped about how that was going to work.

Dinner that night was just a simple grilled cheese sandwich and soup. I had noticed that it was getting pretty cool outside when we walked in from the barn. “Do you want to come with me to finish your dress, or leave it as a surprise in the morning?” Madison asked me.

“May I come with you?” I asked.

“Is that okay with you Amber?” Kaitlyn asked.

“That’s fine with me, but if it gets to be too late I’m going to come get you for bed Ashley.”

“Okay,” I told her. The two of us headed back to the barn and froze all the way over. “It’s cold!!!” I complained.

“It does that in the mountains at night during the summer,” she told me. “I’ve been here at Christmas before and it was unbelievably cold that year! The fishing hole actually froze over enough that year we went ice skating on it.”

“Where is that anyway? I haven’t seen it yet.” I said.

“You’ve been here a week and haven’t been swimming yet?”

“Well we went to the hot spring on Saturday,” I said.

“That is a neat spot!” She said, “I don’t know what they have planned for you tomorrow... But maybe Wednesday we could go swimming if the weather’s better.”

“That would be fun.” I told her. “So what’s left? I mean it looks like the picture already?”

“Well I want to play with the tulle a little bit more, I think it’ll look prettier if it poufs out a bit more. Also they had a bow up top that was really big, remember?”

I nodded.

“I think you would really hate it always running into your neck after about ten minutes!”

“Oh...” I thought, “So what’s next?”

“Well, first I do want you to go ahead and try it on...”

I squealed! “Yay!”

She smiled at me. “Let me undo your bow and zipper here,” she said and I turned around so she could get to it.

All of the sudden I got scared... If I wasn’t careful she could see everything...

“Umm... Madison...” I said.

“Yes Ash?”

“I’m kind of shy, can you turn around while I pull the dress on?”

“It’ll be a lot easier for me to help you Ashley.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.” She said with a smile. I was terrified, thinking, ‘Oh yes I do!’ But decided to bite the bullet. Madison had me put my arms up in the air and pulled the dress I’d been wearing all day off and set it to the side. I faced away from her as much as possible and quickly tried to rearrange the bulge a little bit. I turned my back to her as she lifted the new dress over my head and onto my arms and body.

‘Well she didn’t say anything yet...’ I thought.

“Why are you shaking Ashley,” she asked a moment later.

“No reason,” I lied. She turned me around gently with my shoulders while the dress was still unzipped.

“Is it about what I just saw?”

“Umm... Depending on what you just saw... Yes.”

“Ashley, don’t worry about it - you’re a girl.”

“But,” I started.

“Seriously Ashley, it’s fine. I’m not going to tell anyone, and I still think you’re the coolest little girl I’ve ever gotten to hang out with.”

And then I burst into tears.

“It’s okay Ashley,” Madison soothed and handed me a Kleenex. She rubbed my back and repeated, “It’s okay,” for a long while before I finally managed to get control of my sobbing.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m such...” I hiccupped, “a” hiccup, “baby.”

“No you’re not,” she said and tilted my chin up, “you’re amazing and I think you’re incredible for being yourself.”

“You really don’t hate me?” I asked.

“No silly, like I said, you are most definitely a girl, no matter what some part you might have says otherwise.”

With that I flung my arms around her and said, “Thank you.”

“It’s okay Ashley.” She said. “Now, why don’t you blow your nose, let me wipe your face off, and then we’ll finish trying this on. After that maybe you can tell me the story?”

I just nodded, not knowing which story to tell her.

She grabbed the used Kleenex from me, threw it in the trash, washed her hands, and then zipped up my dress.

“It’s a little loose,” she told me, “but I wanted you to be able to wear it for a while if you start growing. It’s still a good fit though,” she said as she eyed the dress. I wondered the whole time if she was looking to see what she’d missed with signs before. She jotted a few notes to herself on her notepad and then said, “Okay, arms up again,” after she had untied and unzipped the back. As soon as she had the dress and was moving towards putting it back on the form I quickly pulled my other dress back on.

“Here, let me zip you back up,” she told me and gently tied the bow back.

“So, what’s the story?” She asked as she dug into some plastic storage organizer bins.

I bit my lip... “Madison, I’m really not supposed to tell the whole story.” She looked at me and I decided to say, “You can’t tell anyone...”

About that time I heard, “You can’t tell anyone what?” from the door. It was Mom and Kaitlyn.

I ran to Mom and hugged her, “I know I’m not supposed to tell anyone... But can I just tell Madison the truth?”

Mom whispered in my ear, “Are you sure?”

I nodded.

She sighed, “Too many people know already...”

Mom stared at me for a moment before turning to look at Madison, “Go ahead Ashley, but before you do... Madison, you have to promise me that you will never, ever, say anything to anyone about what Ashley tells you. That includes your brother, dad, and anyone who’s not your mother, Ashley, or your Aunt Gloria.”

Madison looked shocked but, “I can keep a secret, I promise.”

Kaitlyn looked at her daughter, “Madison, when they say they need it kept, they’re serious. It could be deadly to them if the wrong people find out.”

Madison turned white, “Serious?”

I sighed, “Serious.” I thought for a second, “Mom, could you let us have a little privacy here?”

“Mom?!?” Madison said. Mom nodded and the two of them left.

“Who are you guys?!?” She asked.

“Madison, first of all please understand that I really like you... And I hope you can stick to what you were saying about this not changing anything. Up until a week and a half ago I was a ten year old boy going on eleven up in Columbus, Ohio.”

She looked at me in surprise, “You’re really ten?”

I nodded, “I’m short to your tallness.” I said with a smile. “My dad used to be a decent dad up until just after my sixth birthday. My grandmother died then and he changed... When he realized that I wasn’t going to be a muscular short guy like him, he started getting onto me. I hated doing the typical guy things like sports because... Well, I’m so short for one. Two... I just didn’t enjoy them. Over the last few years he’s gotten worse and worse to the point that he was beating Mom and I.”
“Is that where that bruise on your back came from?”

“It’s still there, huh?” I sighed, “Yeah, that one and many others. He’s always been pretty smart to only leave bruises on me where they can’t be seen. Dad was even worse to Mom.”

“Why didn’t she leave sooner?” She asked.

“Well, that’s the problem, we left as soon as she could manage it. See my real name was Antonio Franchino.”

“Italian, right?”

I smiled, “Yep. My dad is second generation American and my grandfather came off the boat.”

“So...?”

“So all of my family is family.”

“Huh?”

“Like as in mafia?”

“Really?”

“Apparently. Of course no one ever bothered to share this with me until we left. Saturday before last we watched Dad drive away to go deal with some sort of business in Vermont, probably smuggling from what Mom said, and as soon as he was gone we packed a bag each and left home.”

“Wow...”

“Wow isn’t even beginning... I don’t know how Mom knows some stuff, but we left everything electronic behind at home. She drove without talking much to Dayton where she bought a car from this old lady, switched out our stuff, and drove to Atlanta that night.”

“This sounds like some sort of movie...”

“Tell me about it!” I smiled. “That night we were talking and I realized that we really did have to disappear if we were going to have any chance at all. Dad’s family members will kill Mom... Well, actually I think Dad wants to do it himself if I had to guess. I’ll probably just get dragged back and beaten if I’m lucky. In fact, I’m sure my dad won’t be happy unless I grow up to be just like him… I can’t even think about that.”

Madison gasped at this and gave me a hug, “I’m so sorry...”

“Thanks...” I told her.

“So like, what’s with being a girl then. A disguise?”

I smiled, “The next morning at breakfast the waitress called me a girl several times and never figured out I was a boy... Even though I was in boy clothes. Mom and I talked and decided the best way to disappear was to make our appearances really far away from normal. And, instead of just being a girl I would be a few years younger. Instead of Mom being... Mom, she became my older sister Amber and back from being your mom’s age to twenty-three.”

“So that’s why Mom knows her...”

“Our moms were best friends up until high school when they got stupid over some boy... They sort of made up during a summer vacation in college when my mom came home, but she was terrified of meeting her.”

“So why come here?”

“Well my mom’s parents house is too obvious of a place to go. She stayed here as a kid with your mom and she decided Gloria would probably help us.”

“So you’re not really my cousin?” She asked.

“Well... Not by blood. I think my mom basically considers your mom a sister though.”

“So why don’t you guys go into that witness protection program thing?”

“I think Mom knows a lot more about the family business than she’s let onto... I think there’s someone working there that would tell my dad how or where to find us.”

“This is all really scary, how are you not going out of your mind all of the time?”

“Well last week was tough... but Gloria had both of us doing stuff pretty much all of the time. And then you showed up last night and I had more fun than I’ve ever had with a friend...”

“Me too,” she told me. “Though I have to confess I think of you less as a friend and more of a baby sister...”

I laughed, “If I have to be anyone’s baby sister I’m okay with it being you and my mom.”

“That’s got to be so hard.” She said.

“The mom thing is the toughest part,” I agreed.

“So what are you guys going to do now?”

“Well we are officially who we say we are on paper. Mom has all of the paperwork and a new drivers license. Later this week ‘our parents’ are going to have a tragic accident somewhere...” I sighed, “I don’t know how the rest of that is going to work, but I think we’re going to have to go somewhere this weekend like we’re going to the funeral.”

“So you’re going to keep being a seven year old girl?” She asked me.

“It’s that or my mom dies,” I told her.

“And you don’t mind that?”

I looked at her, “Honestly... I love it. I wouldn’t mind being more my age,” I said with a smile, “But I’ve been happier the last week and a half than I’ve ever been. I went to a doctor on Friday and I think she thinks I might have a gender issue... One way or another I’m planning on staying Ashley - even if my dad goes away.”

“Well, at least in a few more hours you’ll actually be eight.”

I laughed, “Definitely.” I looked at her, “So... You don’t hate me right?” My voice was still a little shaky.

“Of course not,” she said and gave me a hug, “I think you may have told me a little soon though, how can you be sure you can trust me?”

“Because you’re my big sister,” I told her with a smile.

“Well, your big sister needs to finish up her baby sisters’ dress for her birthday tomorrow...”

“Thank you again so much for it,” I told her with another hug.

“So you really do like it?”

“I don’t like it, I love it!” I told her.

“Good.”

“Umm Madison... I’m going to need you to pretend you never heard this stuff... Treat me like I really am eight. It’s annoying sometimes, but Mom was smart about a lot of things and I don’t want to blow it all.”

“No problem! In fact, until a few minutes ago I had no clue.” She said to me. “Just remember you said that though,” she told me.

I watched her begin to work again for ten minutes before Mom came back in, “Are you both alright?” She asked.

“Uh-huh,” I told her, “I was right I think.”

At that Madison came over to my mom, and gave Mom a big hug, “You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” she told her.

I watched the tears form in mom’s eyes and she said, “No, I’m just protecting my baby, just like a mother is supposed to do.”

“It doesn’t matter Mom, she’s right. You are awesome,” I said and gave her my own hug.

After a few moments Madison returned to work and Mom finally looked at the dress. “Oh my God. Madison, you made that today???”

“Yes I did,” she said with a smile. “I’m not done yet though and I’m guessing a certain little princess should probably be going to bed right now?”

Mom laughed, “You’re right, it is waaay past this little girl’s bedtime.”

“I’m not that little,” I said with a pout as I followed Mom downstairs. I stopped though and ran back into the sewing room and up to Madison.

“Thank you again Madison, good night!” I told her.

“Good night Princess,” she said with a smile.

Mom debriefed me a little after I had my pajamas on. She wasn’t happy about the secret coming out to a girl my age, but I explained what had happened and she eventually agreed I’d made the right decision. Mom told me another bedtime story that night, but I don’t remember much past ‘Once Upon a Time.’

MEGAN HAD WATCHED Ashley’s eyes shut before the story had even began, but continued to read about halfway into the story. ‘She’s definitely out!’ She said as she closed the book, set it back on the shelf, and left the room. Megan went downstairs and saw Gloria, “Hey,” she said softly.

“How are you doing?”

Megan shrugged, “I really wasn’t wanting to tell Madison about everything...”

“So Ashley told her everything?”

She nodded, “Yeah she did... Hopefully Madison is smart enough to keep up the act. The last thing I need is for her to drag Ashley into the teenage view of things!”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that, I’m more worried about the fact that Madison doesn’t seem to be willing to accept she’s growing up,” Gloria said with a smile.

“Kaitlyn explained that one to me earlier, I think she’ll be okay... Her body is just growing faster than she can deal with it right now. Once she hits high school I’m guessing she’ll be fine.”

Gloria nodded.

“Did you see what she’s sewing?”

“Not since before dinner, but I’m sure it’s going to be amazing. I’ve taught a lot of little girls and big girls,” she said and squeezed Megan’s arm, “how to sew... But she is a natural, and she loves to do it. I have a feeling that Ashley will pick that up somewhat too.”

They sat talking for a while before she said, “Tomorrow let Ashley sleep in since she is the birthday girl after all! And since you and Madison are going to have to get her Royal Highness all dressed up for lunch and probably dinner tomorrow you’re both off the hook as well.”

“Are you sure...?” Megan asked.

“Of course I’m sure. Mark will enjoy a day off from mucking stalls and he can take care of the poultry and help Kaitlyn and I in the milk shed. I’ll get some of the hands to muck out stalls after breakfast. They’re the ones who normally do it when I don’t have my free slave labor,” she smiled at her.

“Okay, thanks Gloria!”

“You’re welcome sweetie.”

MADISON STOOD STARING at the dress and all of the details she had been adding. Along the top of the bodice she had added alternating little flowers that matched the bows at the bottom, and tiny white bows to match the bottom part of the skirt. It was pretty small detail work that had taken her two hours to get done. She still wasn’t satisfied though.

“Still working?” She heard and was startled.

“Maybe...?” She said to Aunt Gloria who walked up.

“I think it looks lovely dear,” she said as she examined the dress on the form. “Your stitches all look professionally done.”

“I know... I just feel like it needs one more level of detail and I can’t figure out what. The top just seems a little bit too plain.”

“It would be tough to do it now, but you could add some embroidery?”

“That’s it!” she said, “But you’re right... It’s too late now. I should have done that before I sewed the dress together.”

“Have you looked at my new embroidery machine yet?” Gloria said with a twinkle.

“Will you help me?”

“Of course, it’ll be nice to be needed for once!”

Madison gave her a hug, “You’re always needed.”

They chose a pretty scroll design to run and knew it was going to take a while. Madison looked at one of the many clocks that Gloria had around the room to help her not lose her track of time and was dismayed that it was already ten o’clock. “Guess chores are going to really hurt tomorrow...” She sighed.

“They will, but not for you dear,” Gloria told her, “You’re off the hook tomorrow. Be at breakfast in your pajamas if you want at eight. Then you’re going to help get the princess dressed in this fine gown you made her.”

Madison hugged her again, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“It’s only one day!” She said with a laugh.

“So... Ashley said you know about everything?”

Gloria nodded.

“Everything she said is true... Like her dad will kill her mom if he finds them?”

“Unfortunately... And I’m sorry to see it happen to her. She was a great kid and I loved her to death the summer she stayed here with your mom.”

“And... Ashley, you think...?”

“Think what?”

“Think she really is a girl... Just maybe born wrong?”

Gloria sighed, “I don’t think it matters at this point to be honest. Their best hope is in their new identities... But I’ve not yet seen one thing that said she was really a ten year old boy.” Madison pointed down, “Well, other than that.” she said with a laugh. “That’s how you found out?”

Madison nodded, “I feel really bad too, she kept trying to convince me to let her change elsewhere...”

“You had to help her with this though,” she said as she watched the progress of the machine.

“Yeah.”

“Well, you know what you have to do now, right?”

“What?”

“You have a new baby sister, and you need to treat her just like she’s the eight year old little girl that you love to death. If you see something that’s going to give her away to her friends... Help her correct it.”

“They did her a big favor by saying she’s only eight though,” Madison mused.

“Yes, and she’s pretty convincing.”

“I wouldn’t have ever guessed if it wasn’t for her having something there that shouldn’t have been there. Is there anything we can do to help her with that?” She asked.

“I don’t think scissors are going to help here,” Gloria laughed. She thought for a moment, “well there is something...”

Chapter 14: Birthday Girl

“GOOD MORNING PRINCESS, time to wake up!” I heard Mom say as she gently shook my shoulder. As I looked out the window I panicked.

“I missed my chores!”

“I know,” Mom said, “So did I.”

“But...”

“But Gloria gave you, Madison, and me the day off from chores and working.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Really!”

“Now, let’s go see if Madison is awake and then we’ll go down to breakfast together in our pajamas.”

I looked down at the short set I was wearing and hoped it wouldn’t be too embarrassing to be in my pajamas in front of the hands. “Okay,” I said.

“Hold up real quick,” she said when I stood up. I felt her fiddling with my hair and realized she was redoing the bow in back.

“Did it stay?”

“Sort of, I’ll redo it after breakfast. Come on, let’s check on Madison,” Mom walked through the two doors and I shyly followed her. “Madison, are you up yet?” She asked.

I looked at her and saw her sitting on the chair in front of her vanity. “Sort of,” she said, “so we really are having a pajama party for breakfast?”

Mom nodded.

“Awesome!”

I saw Mom look at Madison’s hair and before I knew it she was fussing with it just like she had mine. “Oh, I forgot one thing,” she said as she opened her door real quick. She handed me a square box that wasn’t too tall, but fairly wide. “You get to open just a couple presents this morning. We’ll open the rest at lunch,” okay?

“Okay,” I said, excitedly. I tore at the wrapping paper, getting to a box, and then opened it to discover, ‘a tiara?’ I smiled. I hugged Mom, “Thank you!”

I didn’t want her to feel left out so I hugged Madison too. “Let me see that,” Madison said with a smile and she took it out of the box. “Well, your highness, let’s put this on your head.” She smiled at me and set it down.

“Now it’s official, you’re a real princess for today.” Mom said with a smile.

The three of us went downstairs and found that Consetta actually had setup the informal table for us for breakfast. “What would you like for breakfast, anything you want!” She told me.

“Umm... Pancakes?”

“Chocolate chips?”

“Please!”

Consetta had already made the batter up, thinking I probably would want them, and quickly made pancakes for all of us. Madison got chocolate chips too, but Mom, Gloria, and Kaitlyn all had plain. “Where’s Mark?” I asked.

“Oh, he’s hanging out with Annie and Hank,” Kaitlyn answered.

“Thank you Aunt Gloria for letting us sleep in,” I told her at the end of breakfast.

“Why you’re welcome Princess,” she said with a smile.

When the dishes were cleared they placed a long rectangular box in front of me and a smaller long box. “Okay, why don’t you open this box first,” Mom suggested and gestured towards the smaller box.

“Okay,” I said.

I opened the wrapper and discovered a white leather box inside of it. When I opened it up I found a beautiful necklace with a sort of blue stone in it, it I thought I could see purple in it as well. The stone was surrounded by a swirl of silver. “Oh my God, this is really pretty!” I said and held it up so Madison could see it.

“It’s tanzanite, your birth stone,” Mom told me.

“Thank you!” I said and hugged her.

“I’ll help you put it on later,” Mom said and put it back into the box and shut the lid.

“And this is my present to you,” Madison said with a smile.

I opened the box since she hadn’t wrapped it, expecting to basically see the dress I saw when I went to bed last night. Instead my breath disappeared. “Oh my God, it’s even prettier than it was last night!!!” I said, immediately hugging her.

On the bodice through the entire dark purple areas she had somehow sewn flowers and scroll work in the lighter color purple thread. I couldn’t believe the level of detail there. Then on the white at the bottom of the skirt she had sewn the exact same details around it, but in a darker purple.
“How late did you work on this last night?!?” I asked incredulously.

“Umm... Don’t ask that,” Madison said with a smile. “Happy Birthday,” she added and hugged me.

“Thank you,” I said and started crying.

“You’re welcome,” she told me with a smile as she pushed me back a moment later. Mom gave her a big hug too, and I hugged Gloria and Kaitlyn just so they didn’t feel left out.

“Okay, now I think it is time for the princess to get ready for her big day!” Mom said to me. “Madison, you want to help?”

“Of course!” She said with a smile.

“First thing,” she said pointing at me, “bath time!”

“Now?” I asked.

“Uh-huh, come on.” She said, “Madison do you want to find a hanger in her room and hang the dress up. While she’s taking her bath you can use my shower if you want.”

The three of us headed upstairs and I felt excited, this was already a better birthday than I’d ever had before!

AGENT KLINE WAS ready to bash in a wall somewhere. He had stared at the picture the Dale’s had given the agent for hours alongside the footage from the cameras at the airport. He just didn’t see that blonde haired lady and son anywhere! She should have been really recognizable too...

He heard a knock at the door, “Sir?”

“Come on in,” He said to the agent. “What have you got for me?”

“Well I have footage of them staying at a hotel in Atlanta two Saturdays ago.”

“Really?” He said, and plopped the USB drive the agent offered into his computer. Sure enough there she was registering at the motel that looked kind of lower end. Her son hadn’t come in with her. “Nothing much to see here though, is there?”

“Not really. They checked the records, she paid in cash under a different name.”

“What name?”

“Jessica Jones,” he said.

“Well, it looked like she passed enough cash to keep questions from coming up.”

“Yes she did. The guy at the hotel didn’t really want to talk about it and took some persuasion according to the agent down there.”

“Good for him.” Kline said with a smile.

“Okay, so we know they were in Atlanta that day, and Dallas by...?”

“Car was parked in the lot Monday afternoon,” he said.

“We’re checking hotels in Dallas, right?”

“Yes sir, hopefully the license plate question will find it, but she seems to be pretty smart sir. I wouldn’t be surprised if she lied there. It’s not common that the hotel will actually tow someone...”

He sighed, “This case is going nowhere fast, is it?”

“No sir.”

“See if you can’t find footage at the nearest Wal-Mart... They left in a hurry and might have needed some things there.”

“Gotcha, I’ll have the agent pull their tapes for...?” He asked, “that Sunday morning. Odds are good she left Atlanta as soon as she could.”

Kline thought for a second, “Actually, run this directly through another agent. With as nervous as Megan seems to be about approaching us I worry she knows something we don’t. We should be able to protect better against any potential leaks if we keep the information compartmentalized.”

“I hope you’re wrong about the leaks boss, I’ll do it though.”

The agent left and Agent Kline spent more time watching the footage. There were plenty of short ladies with daughters, but he’d yet to see one short lady with a son. ‘Maybe they split up before then?’ He thought and began looking for them individually.

I SAT IN the bath for long enough that Mom felt I smelled like the special bubble bath she had found. It was in a bar that she crumbled up as the bath started and smelled just like cotton candy. It smelled so sweet! The water felt really good as I soaked in it too. Mom had me stand up as the tub drained and handed me a pair of panties and my robe. She opened the door to my room and I saw the dress hanging on the door to the armoire.

‘It’s sooooo pretty, I can’t wait to wear it!!!!’ I thought to myself with a really big smile. Madison came in right then with another box that was wrapped. She was wearing a pretty yellow dress that had two thick straps holding it on. The dress was overlaid with a layer of lace that covered all of the fabric.

“Your dress is really pretty,” I told her.

“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “Umm...” she looked at Mom and me and blushed, “I was talking to Aunt Gloria last night about how I found out... Anyway, I asked her if she knew anything that could help with that... Apparently it’s a problem in ballet for guys, so she actually had a pattern for something to help.”

“Huh?” Mom asked.

“Here, open it Ashley,” she said.

I opened the box and found several flesh colored things... “It goes on underneath your panties and my Aunt said that you just kind of use it to...” she blushed, “push it down and keep it out of sight.”

I was just as embarrassed, probably more so than her, but I said, “Thank you Madison.”

“Why don’t you go try it in the bathroom...?” Mom suggested.

“Umm... Okay.” I said.

I pulled my panties off and the thing up. It took me several long minutes before I kind of guessed how to use it and then pulled my own panties on top of it. ‘Wow!!! I can’t see it anymore!’

I ran back out in the robe and said, “Thank you!” To Madison and gave her another hug.

“Well let’s see.” Mom said, mortifying me. “Oh don’t get shy on me now, you’re the one who paraded last night!”

I blushed and opened my robe.

“That does work really well, thanks Madison,” Mom said.

“You’re welcome, I need to take care of my baby cousin after all!”

I smiled and Mom said, “Okay, time to get to work on you,” she told me with a smile and had me take my normal seat. “I’ve always wanted to have a little girl to try this on...” she told me with a smile. “So, you get to be my guinea pig. If we like it I’ll do Madison too!”

Madison smiled at that. I noticed she’d left her hair from yesterday still. Mom had taken mine out as soon as she’d gotten upstairs and brushed it out.

“I just hope you have enough hair to do this one...” She said.

I sat still for what seemed like an eternity as Mom had my back turned to the mirror. I could tell she was making some pretty tiny braids because only small sections of my head would hurt at a time. After a while she said, “Madison, would you mind taking the polish off her nails?”

“Sure!” She said, “I can paint them too if you want?” She asked kind of excitedly.

“Would you mind?”

“Of course not!”

Soon Mom was working my hair and Madison was doing my hands, “I feel like I’m in that salon again,” I said with a smile.

“You’re a princess so the salon comes to you!” Madison said with a smile. She had cleaned off my nails and looked through the polishes on my desk. “Do you mind if I use some polish I have?” She asked Mom.

“Sure!” Mom said.

With that Madison was off in a flash and brought back a small crate of nail polish. “Wow!” I said. “That’s a lot of nail polish!!!”

She smiled at me, “I love nail art.”

“Nail art?” I asked while Mom pulled my head back upright.

“It’s where you make pictures on your nails?”

“Oh, I had some of that when we came out here... It didn’t last very long though,” I said sadly.

“Well, on a ranch it doesn’t” Madison laughed. “But if you can do it yourself it’s not as depressing!” She smiled at me.

“Do whatever you want to,” Mom told her.

She giggled and it sounded a little evil, “Umm...” I said and Mom tugged my hair back again. “Ow!” I complained.

MADISON LOOKED UP at Ashley and smiled. With all that had happened to her and her mom they were still easily the sweetest two people she had ever met. Her talk with Aunt Gloria the night before had really made her understand what was going on... At least as much as anything could. Madison had decided that she was going to be the most awesome big sister that Ashley could have while she was visiting. She also knew she could vicariously enjoy the things that Ashley could do that she couldn’t anymore.

It helped that Amber seemed to enjoy treating Madison similarly. When she had done her hair the day before it had been so incredibly neat, she’d had goosebumps while Amber worked on her hair. She wasn’t sure that she would really have the time to do her hair like this today too though; what Amber was doing was pretty intricate!

She continued to dig through her nail polishes and grabbed some other odds and ends she had. Like her sewing, Ashley took nails seriously! She always loved going to school with cute nails that were painted with things like flowers, stars, hearts, dots, and anything else she could dream up. Her friends for the longest time didn’t believe she was doing it herself until she did theirs just like it. It was one spot in her life where she could make things utterly sugary sweet in her appearance and no one would think it was weird. Even if people always thought she was seventeen!

Madison looked through the colors and settled on a light purple that matched the bows for the base coat. ‘What should I do for the rest...?’ She thought quickly, ‘Well, even though I know better... This is her eighth birthday... Let’s go with that idea...’ She thought back to something she’d done on her friend McKenzie’s nails back home one time.‘Ooh, that would be cute!’ She looked up at Ashley and thought, ‘And I know she’ll love it!’

If there was one thing Madison was certain of, Ashley wasn’t acting that she was enjoying this. She’d heard of transvestites and crossdressers before... Who hasn’t? But she’d never met someone before that was like that. If there was anyone who was really born to be a girl it was the one sitting in front of her.

‘Ashley is going to absolutely freak when she sees this!’ She thought. ‘Ooh, I should grab my nail dryer real quick!’

She ran off again and then came back to start working on Ashley’s nails. Madison knew she would be able to do as well as most professionals would do. And, because she knew the little girl in front of her well enough she knew what would be perfect!

I SAT STILL while my hair continued to be attacked and Madison began working on my fingernails and toenails. I was impressed as she brought out all of those nail polishes and wondered just what she was going to do. I had a feeling it was going to be cute though. I’d worried in the bath this morning that maybe she would be different towards me... But she seemed to be happy to treat me as her favorite baby sister still!

Mom kept my head straight back so all I could really do was feel Madison turn my hands and feet back and forth, occasionally using that nail dryer she had, before she went back and did something else and repeated.

I was slowly reaching the point of being bored enough to sleep or something when Mom said, “Almost done!” She used hairspray liberally on some sections and then said, “Madison, can you throw that towel over there onto the mirror. I don’t want our Princess to see herself until she’s dressed.”

Madison smiled at me as she stood up and said, “Sounds good to me. “And no peeking at your nails until I’m done either!”

I just smiled at her. I had goosebumps running down my body as I thought about how much they both were spoiling me. Ten minutes later Madison was done and Mom finished with a last detail then too. “Madison, you made the dress... You want to dress her in it?”

She smiled, “Sure!” Madison looked at Mom, “Did you get tights like I asked?”

“Oh yes I did, they’re in my room.” She said, but as she got to the door, “Ashley do you need to go potty before we put those on?”

I nodded, “Yes please.”

Madison ran into the bathroom and fiddled with a towel on the mirror there for a moment before saying, “All yours!”

As I sat down to go to the bathroom I sneaked my first peek at my nails. I had to control my shriek since she told me not to look... But I couldn’t resist. All of my nails were that same color as the bows on the dress... But each nail had a different design and picture on it. My thumbs both had birthday cakes painted on them, complete with eight candles! Over the top of that she had painted a white ‘8’ on both of them. On the next nails out from my thumbs she painted some hearts, eight I counted, then stars, a tiara, and finally just some dots on my pinkies. They were really colorful and popped out from the nails. Some of the colors were neon and... It was cool!

On my toes she’d painted tiaras on my big toes, and then little details on the rest. I didn’t have very big nails so I didn’t know how she did the detail like that! I finished going to the bathroom, wiped, returned the weird panty up to my waist along with my panties and walked back out.

“You peeked, didn’t you?” Madison scolded.

“Just my nails...” I admitted, looking guilty. Then I pounced on her with a hug that I realized was really awkward since I was mostly naked and let go.

She laughed at me, “Here, sit down on the chair. You haven’t worn tights before, have you?”

I shook my head, “No?”

“Aunt Amber, do you want to put these on her?” She asked, “I don’t want to ruin any firsts for you...?”

Mom smiled at her, “Go ahead and help her. Like I said, you made the dress!”

Madison helped show me how to roll up the tights and pulled them up to my waist. All of the sudden my legs and lower body looked sort of white because of the not quite opaque tights. They felt kind of good too. “There you go!” She said with a smile.

With that she walked over to the door of my armoire where they had hung the dress and fussed with it for a moment before unzipping the back of it and undoing the bow. I couldn’t believe how much the stitching she’d done on top changed the way it looked. While they had both been working she told Mom that it was all done with the expensive embroidery machine that Gloria had.

“Out of the robe,” Madison said to me.

I let it slide from my shoulders and was grateful for her other present... As awkward as that was!

“Arms up like a ballerina!” She told me with a smile. I blushed but did as she said and she brought the dress over the top of my head. Inside the dress had a built-in slip so everything was in one garment. I was glad because when I had felt the tulle stuff it had felt kind of itchy. I swore the skirt poofed out more now than it had the night before when I first tried it on. I felt her do the zip up, catch the clasp up top, and then tied the bow.

Madison fussed with the dress for several minutes and at one point grabbed a pair of scissors to cut a stray thread she’d missed. She dug around through my shoes and found a pair of white Mary Jane’s and buckled them onto my feet. When she was happy she looked at Mom, “What do you think?”

I looked up at Mom myself and saw tears streaming from her eyes.

“I think it’s beautiful Madison, I don’t know how you ever made that dress, but to do it in one day means you’re really incredible.”

Madison blushed, “Thanks.”

“Now, let’s finish off your hair young lady, and then we’ll let you decide what you think!”

“My hair isn’t done...?” I asked with despair.

Mom laughed, “this is easy,” she said. The tiara that she had given me went back on my head and then she grabbed my new necklace and clasped it to my neck. She tucked it in underneath the dress though as it would have hung out a ways. Mom used my shoulders to have me stand in front of the mirror, after a count of three she pulled the towel off.

I was speechless.

The girl in the mirror looked like something off of one of those toddler and tiaras shows... just a little bit older. Mom had taken my hair and braided it onto the top of my head and made sort of a crown up there that held my tiara up. All of my hair was off of my neck and I knew I looked pretty sophisticated. There was also no doubt though that I was a little girl with the dress, I most definitely was not older than my eight years I was supposed to be.

“What do you think?” Mom asked again.

“I look like a princess?”

Madison laughed, “You most certainly do!”

Mom had her camera out and took a few pictures of me from all sides of the dress. “We’ll get some better pictures here in a bit,” she told me. I raised my eyebrow at her, but she said nothing else.

“I think you should go show Aunt Kaitlyn, don’t you think?” Mom said to me.

“And Aunt Gloria,” I added.

“But no going to the dining room or the kitchen!” Mom warned me.

“Why?” I asked, kind of excited to break that one.

“If you go in there I’ll take back all of your presents!”

I made a sad face, “Okay, I’ll be a good girl.”

“What are you and Madison doing now then?”

“Well I promised her I’d do her hair like yours didn’t I?”

Madison’s face lit up like it was her birthday too. “You don’t have to...”

“I want to though, come on, have a seat.”

I left them to it and walked downstairs to Gloria’s office. As I hoped she was sitting at her desk typing on her computer. “Aunt Gloria, look!” I said to her.

“Wow, aren’t you precious?!?” She said to me.

Gloria stood up and walked over to look closer. “This really did come out perfect for your birthday,” she said. She leaned down and gave me a hug, “You look beautiful sweetie!”

“Is this the same dress?” Kaitlyn asked behind me.

“Uh-huh Aunt Kaitlyn,” I said.

She did her own fussing and then said, “Why don’t you call me Aunt Kate,” she told me with a smile. “It’s less of a mouthful for little nieces.”

I smiled, “Okay Aunt Kate.”

“Where’s my daughter at?”

“She’s upstairs, Amber is spoiling her,” I said with a smile.

“Uh-oh, we’d better go keep both of them out of trouble!” She said. I carefully climbed up the stairs and the two of us joined Mom while she worked on Madison’s hair.

RAY LOOKED AT the photo he’d been given. “The feds turned this up this weekend,” Robert said. Another cousin of his, he was their main link to some of their sources in places that needed sources.

“That’s that bitch alright, but where’s Tony?”

“Everyone assumes he’s with her… but there’s nothing more to go off of, maybe she left him somewhere?”

“Damn... I doubt it, more likely he stayed in the car while she checked in. Let’s keep checking out the Dallas connection some more...” He looked at it more, “How did they find her at this hotel?”

“He doesn’t know... He’s not an agent per se, more of an office clerk for them. He sees a lot of stuff like that, but doesn’t know the way they get it. I can have him check?”

Ray had to think for a moment, the wrong move here could ruin a prime source of great information. “Only if he sees it normally. Don’t have him ask questions, I don’t want him getting caught.”

“Got it boss.” He said. “By the way, with your trip to Albuquerque in a couple weeks, you want me to go down with you to speak with this guy?”

He sighed, this guy was Juan Renaldo Sanchez and was the biggest fish out there in getting cocaine across the border undetected. “Yeah, might as well meet him for yourself. The guy is a snake from all I’ve heard, but competent. He at least knows how to do business from what I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, but some of those that have done business seem to disappear.”

“Well, some that do business with us disappear as well.”

“True,” he laughed, “very true.”

“We’ll just be careful.”

ASHLEY WATCHED HER mom put the final piece in place on Madison’s hair and felt a pang of jealousy. Her hair was so much longer than hers that it looked way prettier on her. “Wow!” Madison said when she got to look at it. The hug and squeal she gave to Mom were priceless. The camera came out on just her, and then on the two of us.

“Are these the pictures you warned me about?” I asked.

Mom giggled, “Nope, those will be after lunch. Which means you need to be really careful at lunch today young lady!”

I gaped at her and looked at my dress, “Can I put something over it...?”

“We’ll use a cloth napkin or something sweetie,” Madison said.

“Okay...”

At that it was already almost noon and Mom had us go ahead downstairs and I had a seat where Madison and I had been sitting the last couple of days in the dining room. That was when I noticed an extra table filled with presents. “Are those all for... Me?” I asked incredulously.

Mom nodded, “Of course!”

I smiled at her and asked, “Who are they from?”

Gloria answered though as she came through the kitchen door. “They’re from the hands, your sister, your aunt and cousin there, me, and of course your parents sent some too,” she said with a wink.

“Whoa...” I said. More about that hands giving me presents, they didn’t even really know me!

Then I did the normal kid thing, “When do I get to open them?”

They all laughed, “After lunch you can open them before cake is served.”

I smiled and felt giddy for everyone to come in.

I saw Consetta walk out of the kitchen to start bringing food out and she said, “Wow!!! Come here hija!” She said with a flourish of her arms. Consetta had me stand about arms length away and turn. “You look like a beautiful princess!” She told me with a smile.

“Thank you,” I said, “but Madison is the one who made my dress!” I said while pulling at the edges of the skirt with my fingers on either side.

“Madison this is amazing!” She said and looked closer at the details she had added. “You could do this for a living you know!”

Madison blushed. “Anyway Princess,” Consetta said with her gaze back on me, “Happy birthday!” She gave me a hug and then shooed me away so she could get back to bringing food out.

Lunch that day was fried chicken strips and French fries. I was grateful for that since it was easier to keep my dress clean! Annie came in the door and looked at me saying, “Oh my God, you are just too beautiful! What a pretty princess!” She said. I gave her a hug and twirled for her as requested.

“Madison made the dress for me yesterday!” I told her proudly.

“You made this Madison?” She asked and started looking at it closer.

“Yep!” She said with a smile and bounced over to by my side.

“It’s amazing!” She said. “You would spend a fortune for something like this in a store!”

Madison just grinned.

“Your nails too!!!” She said.

“Also Madison!” I told her with a smile.

“Hair Madison?” She asked.

Madison shook her head, “That’s all Amber! She does amazing things with braids! She even did mine too!” She was smiling broadly by that point.

I was doted on by most of the hands and given hugs before finally sitting down and eating. Mom appeared with two thick cloth napkins she’d found somewhere. After I sat down very carefully she tucked one into the neckline like a bib and another on my lap. Normally I would have been furious at being treated like a baby, but I didn’t want anything happening to my beautiful new dress!

I ate daintily throughout the meal until I was pretty full... Well, really until my patience for waiting to open presents left me!

“I’m finished with lunch... May I open presents now?”

“Not quite yet sis,” Mom told me. “We have one more thing to do.” She gave Consetta nod and she disappeared into the kitchen.

I sighed, “What?”

Just then Consetta walked out with the best cake ever! It was rectangular with two tiers and was covered in white, pink, and purple frosting, but the four corners actually had turrets like a castle! On top of the cake were plastic figurines of Merida, Belle, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. ‘Happy Birthday Ashley’ was piped on there with pink icing, and an eight was there for the year.

“Happy Birthday...” they began singing to me. At the end I blew out the candles in one breath and everyone clapped.

“So who’s giving her the eight spankings?” Hank asked.

I looked horrified, “No spankings! I haven’t done anything!”

“Well you grew up a year, isn’t that enough?” He asked with a smile.

“Uh-uh!”

“Just teasing Princess,” he said and came and gave me a hug.

“You can open up presents while everyone else eats cake if you want now,” Mom said.

“Umm... Consetta made such a pretty cake, I should eat some cake first,” I said with a smile.

Consetta also smiled at me and I gave her a hug as she brought me a slice. It was vanilla cake, which seemed to fit more than chocolate would have. It tasted wonderful and she even put the little Merida topper on my piece when she brought it to me. The icing was by far the best part though!

I finished and Mom said, “Do you want to go ahead and open presents?”

“Okay!” She didn’t have to ask me twice! I walked over to the pile and began opening the boxes.

I started with the ones from the hands. They gave me all sorts of things from several Barbie Dolls, to a few teddy bears, one stuffed horse, all the way to Hank who gave me a pair of purple riding gloves. Annie gave me a pretty jewelry box that she had painted. I gave her a big hug for that! It was amazing what she could do!

“Thank you,” I told each person and even borrowed a piece of paper to keep track of who gave me what so I could write thank you notes later. I had quite the haul of toys actually when I looked around at it.

I continued opening presents and reached Gloria’s next. She gave me a new riding helmet of my own and a couple of doll outfits that she made. One of them looked like the outfit from Brave, and looked really cute! “They’ll all fit on your A.G. Dolls,” she told me with a smile. I of course had to give her a big hug for that! She also gave me a couple of shirts that had embroidered Disney Princess characters on them. Just to make it overkill she made some really cute towels just the same so I could have them in the bathroom! That deserved another hug and I retuned back to my piles.

I was coming down the wire to the last part of the table and found a present that was from ‘Aunt Kate’ on the package. Inside I found a set of nail polishes and some nail art stickers. “Cool!” I said about that before going on.

Consetta gave me a really cute and cuddly stuffed lion and an apron she made for me that said ‘Princess Ashley’ on the front of it. She admitted having my aunt Gloria do the embroidery there. That of course earned both of them hugs.

My ‘sister’ gave me a few sets of earrings, a couple games, a set of puzzles, a coloring book, and an outfit for my dolls. I was quickly running out of space to put those! There was one more box from her to open and I squealed a bit with it. Inside was a pretend dress for Merida that looked very much like the one for my doll. It even included a toy bow and arrow and a wig! I gave her a hug like it was the end of her gifts.

Finally we reached my ‘parents’ gifts! The first box I opened contained a crude doll that looked to be from Chile. That was where our parents were currently supposed to be. I looked at Mom quizzically, but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know how she had gotten something that looked like it was so authentic. Inside was a card from them saying they were sorry for missing my birthday, but they hoped that their presents would make my day more special! I didn’t even have to fake the tears for some reason!

I opened the next box, which contained a dress that looked to be from the right region too and set it aside. Finally I opened one more package that had a very suspicious size and shape to me. I opened up the wrapping and found another A.G. Doll, my own Caroline Doll. Mom smiled at me, “Mom and Dad didn’t realize your cousin would have one of her up here too.”

“I miss them,” I said sadly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get to see them in a week and a half!” She gave me a hug and then said, "Okay, let's get all of this paper cleaned up and then all of your presents upstairs to your room," she told me with a smile.

"Okay," I said simply. I was kind of in a daze right then, this was already the best birthday I’d ever had! The only way it would have been better would have been to have more friends... ‘Maybe next year?’

Madison, Mom, Kaitlyn, and Gloria all had to help me carry my presents upstairs. There was no way that I could get them all in one load myself. The toys slowly got placed away on shelves in the room and I wondered a question Madison asked, “What’s next?”

Gloria smiled, “Time to get some pictures of that gorgeous dress and the young lady inside of it!”

“Amber took some already...” She started to say.

“Professional ones.”

I kind of blushed and grew nervous. “Pictures, like real pictures?”

She nodded, “I called my friend up who has a studio in town earlier. We’re going to drive into town and get your pictures taken in the dress alone, and then we’re going to get everyone in on the fun.” She said with a smile and looking at Madison.

“Really?” She asked.

“Uh-huh” Kaitlyn said, “It’s been too long since we’ve done something other than school pictures for you!”

“Cool!” She said. I gave her a look like she should be confined to an asylum, but she just grinned, “Pictures are fun!!!”

“You’re a little scary sometimes...” I said.

“First time you’ve noticed, huh?” She smiled back at me.

“Madison, go grab a few outfits from your room to change into for different pictures. We’re just going to do Ashley in this dress today I think.”

I wore a very grateful expression on my face then!

Madison bounded down the hall and before I knew it we were heading to the car. Gloria insisted that all of us would fit in her car. Madison looked a little surprised to see the car seat in the back and I found myself just blushing. “I guess at eight...?” She asked quietly.

I blushed and nodded, “I’m nowhere near 4’9” either,” I added.

I wasn’t expecting her to pick me up a second later though! She placed me in the seat with as much ease as Gloria and Mom helped out with the harness. She sat in the seat next to me, and Mom sat on the outside. Kaitlyn sat in front with Gloria. If we all were the ages we were claiming to be it made sense. Madison talked to me the whole trip and it seemed no different because of the embarrassing car seat! I worried it would wrinkle the dress, but when I was helped out there weren’t any obvious wrinkles that anyone could see.

Madison grabbed my hand on the way into the mall that housed the photo studio. I felt comforted by that as we made our way through the afternoon crowds. I attracted a lot of stares in my pretty dress, and just as we were getting to where I could see the studio a lady came up to us. “Pardon me, but do you mind if I ask where you bought that dress for your daughter?” She asked Kaitlyn.

We all giggled and the lady looked a little offended. “She’s actually my aunt!” I said. I leaned into my cousin, “My cousin made it for me!”

The lady looked shocked and looked closely at it. “Young lady that’s amazing... Do you take on dressmaking work?”

“Not just yet,” Kaitlyn spoke up for her daughter who was a bit shell-shocked. “Maybe in a few more years, she’s just thirteen.”

“Thirteen and sewing like this?”

“I know, she shot up like a weed and you can’t tell, but yes, she’s just my little thirteen year old girl right now. I might let her start doing it for a side-business when she turns fifteen. Not just yet though.”

“Well, I’ll just have to wait and hope my daughter is still into pretty dresses then!” She said with a smile. “Nice meeting you all,” she said with a smile and headed off.

Madison looked a little annoyed with her mom. “Mom, I might have been able to make some money?”

“When you turn fifteen sweetheart I’ll let you start your own business doing it if you want... But until then you’re too young. If something goes wrong it’s not going to be easy for you to deal with. We’ll talk more later, okay?”

She sighed and nodded.

“Hi Gloria!” We heard from behind the counter.

“Hi Monica! How are you doing?”

“I’m doing great. I’m guessing this must be the famous birthday girl you wanted to get pictures of?”

“Yes ma’am, and I’m wanting you to do some with my other niece Madison here too, and maybe one of the five of us. Madison actually made Ashley’s dress yesterday,” she added with a smile.

“Wow!” The bubbly lady said as she came around and bent down to look at the dress some. “I’m guessing you want some pictures for both of their scrapbooks then!” She said with a smile.

“Something like that,” Madison said.

“We also brought a few outfits for Madison since she needs some new photos.”

“Sounds great, come on back to the studio!”

She started with me and took pictures in front of a variety of backgrounds. One of the pictures she had me lean against a number eight prop. There were pictures of me in front of an elegant staircase, garden landscapes, and several others with Madison in them occasionally with me. After a while she took several pictures with all five of us, and I was finally declared done.

I watched for a while as Madison had pictures taken in her other outfits. It was boring and Mom and I went to the restroom once. Finally Madison was back to wearing the dress she had arrived in and they were done with the picture taking. Mom, Gloria, Kaitlyn, and Madison then spent twenty minutes picking out pictures on the screen to be printed. Once they had chosen, finally, Kaitlyn looked at me with a smile and said, “We have one more place to stop in here.”

I gave her a look, “Where?”

“You’ll see!” she said grinned.

It turned out the place was Build-A-Bear. “My treat,” Kaitlyn said to me. “Pick out a bear and an outfit, okay?” she said.

I smiled and decided to enjoy having fun with it. I looked around at the bears and one popped out immediately. I heard Mom groan slightly and Madison giggle. They had a Disney Princess bear that had the princesses embroidered on the left leg paw and ‘Princess’ scrolled out on the right one over and over again. It even came with a tiara like I was wearing!

“She seems like the perfect bear for you young lady,” the girl manning the filling machine told me.

“Uh-huh!” I said with a smile. They had put the heart in there and before I knew it they were sealing the bear up. I found a Rapunzel costume on the shelf and she was soon dressed and boxed up.

“Thank you Aunt Kate!” I told her with a hug.

“You’re beary welcome Ashley.” She said with a giggle.

“Mom!!!” Madison said, “That was a beary bad pun!”

“Everyone’s a comedian.” Mom laughed.

The five of us headed back to the car. “Where to now?” I asked.

“Well, we thought maybe you would like food?”

“Is it dinnertime already?” I asked with a start.

“It’s a little early, but not much,” Gloria said as she held the door as Madison helped me into my seat.

“Oh, okay.” I said. “Where are we going?”

“Well, I know we don’t have any great Italian food here, but we could do Bucca di Beppo or Olive Garden? Or Mexican food? Or a steakhouse?” Gloria suggested.

I bit my lower lip and said, “Bucca di Beppo would be okay...?”

She smiled at me through the rearview mirror, and said, “Okay.”

“I am paying for this one,” Mom said though, insisting.

She nodded, “Okay.”

With that I got the joy of sitting in the car for a while longer as we drove through the city. I just kind of tuned out the conversation in the car right then and wondered what the next few months were going to bring. Dad wasn’t going to stop looking for us anytime soon, I was sure of that. This week we had the joys of faking ‘our parents’ deaths... That was not going to be fun. That was supposed to be back in the Dallas area... But I didn’t know how smart that would be to return there. We had no way of knowing, but I was pretty sure that we had been tracked that far. It wasn’t until the second day there that I thought we probably were finally turning our trail around enough to throw people off.

“Eeep!!!” I was screaming suddenly.

“Well come on sleepy head, it’s time to go inside.” Madison said with a smile at me.

“Huh?”

“Restaurant?”

“Oh.” I said.

“Here, let me get the straps undone for you,” She told me. When I was finally free, Kaitlyn helped me out since she was on that side of the car.

“You know, I don’t miss having to mess with car seats,” she told my mom.

“I don’t think we did either!” Mom said to her with a wink to me.

I just groaned.

“Table for five please?” Gloria told the host.

“Give us just a moment,” he said.

While we waited a couple ladies fussed over my dress some more. One girl who was probably a few years older than Madison told her, “Your little sister is soooo cute! I love her tiara!”

For my part I clung to Madison like a shy sister. “She is, isn’t she?” She said to me.

“So is it your birthday today?” The tall brown haired girl asked me.

I nodded, “Uh-huh.”

“How old are you?”

“Eight!” I said happily, like I knew a normal eight year old would feel. Actually, after all of this week I was feeling pretty happy about it myself! I was done pretending to be seven!!!

The girl smiled at me. “That’s cool!”

Eventually the host seated us and I found myself sitting next to Madison with our parents and Aunt Gloria sitting opposite of us. The waiter came by and attempted to welcome us in really poor Italian... I had a hard time not laughing. “What, you think you could say it better?” He asked with a smile.

Before I could control myself I had. Mom gave me a look and I shrank down... I wasn’t supposed to know Italian now.

“Wow, the Princess has out done me!” He said with a smile. “Just for that I think you’ll have a special birthday dessert on the house tonight.” He winked at me.

“Thank you,” I said. I had to fight myself to not say ‘grazie.’

No harm seemed to have been done in the end. After talking for a few minutes over the menu Mom and Gloria just ordered several family size dishes to split amongst us. “How mad is Mark going to be for missing this?” I asked, suddenly realizing he wasn’t with us.

“I offered,” Kaitlyn said, “he didn’t want to come to the pictures and build-a-bear. Food apparently wasn’t worth that to him,” she shrugged.

“I feel like I should at least get to know him a little better...” I said to Madison more than anyone.

She shrugged, “He kind of does his own thing. As long as he’s not getting in trouble at school no one minds.”

“Oh,” I said.

“So what are we going to do tomorrow?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, your sister and my mom will be out doing work with Gloria and the hands all day tomorrow. What are we going to do?”

I shrugged, “I kind of wanted to ride tomorrow, but I can’t do that without Gloria or Amber I don’t think.”

“No, I don’t want her riding alone yet,” Gloria joined in for a second. “If you two want to go for a ride before dinner though we could probably do it. Amber and Kaitlyn could come too,” she said with a smile to them.

“Okay,” I said, wondering if tomorrow was the day we found out or not. I thought it was Thursday though, so the day after.

“So before that?” She asked me.

“Well... We could play with our dolls, I have my brand new one - she’s probably pretty lonely! Plus that weird doll my parents sent me.” I shot Mom a look but she gave me the look that said she wouldn’t tell me how that one happened, especially not there.

“That would be fun,” Madison told me. “How about after lunch we go swimming for a bit too?”

“Okay...” I said, “you’ll have to show me where it is though, I still haven’t seen this swimming hole that you mentioned.”

Madison hugged me, “We’re going to have so much fun!”

I smiled back at her, “I hope so!”

Our starters arrived, then the main course, and finally we were sitting there when a large piece of tiramisu appeared on a plate with a birthday candle. A few of the waiters sang and I blew out the candle. “Umm...” I said, already really full, “anyone want to help me with this?” I smiled.

Madison especially seemed to enjoy helping me and the plate was soon clear. It still wasn’t as good as the family recipe for it, but pretty good none-the-less. I would never tell Consetta this, but I liked this dessert better than the cake! Although the cake won serious cuteness points!

“Well, come on Princess,” Madison said while we were waiting for Mom’s change.

“Huh?”

“Need the bathroom?”

“Oh... Sure,” I said and followed her. It was embarrassing but the dress was full enough that I had her help hold it up for me. I tried to keep a little bit of the dress between her and I though. I remembered them mention it was possible to do something and get rid of it down the road... I hoped I would be able to do it! Once my panties, tights, and dress were all back in order she went and then we washed our hands and found the others ready to go.

Madison helped with car seat duty again and we were soon back on the road. “Why are we going back here?” I asked a while later when we pulled back into the mall parking lot.

“To pick up our photos, it won’t take long,” Gloria said.

“Oh,” I said.

“Actually, why don’t you all stay in the car, I’ll go grab them real quick.” She suggested. I sat there holding onto my new bear and must have fallen asleep again.

MADISON WATCHED ASHLEY’S chest rise and fall with sleep. She looked so adorable in her dress and tiara! She was sure out of all of the gifts that had been given, that the dress was the one to make her smile the most. She knew intellectually that Ashley wasn’t really... Ashley, but either the kid was that impressive of an actor... Or more likely this was who she really was. Madison would give almost anything to trade places with her and be able to pretend to be a few years younger again. She knew that was never going to happen though.

Her mom, Aunt Gloria, and Amber were all talking about the day and the prints Gloria had picked up. She was looking forward to using them to add to her scrapbook. Madison had made every outfit she wore that day, and she was very proud of it!

‘I can’t believe anyone could be so mean to Amber and Ashley...’ she thought to herself as she looked at both of them. Ashley probably looked cuter with her natural hair color, but she made a cute redhead too. ‘I wonder how they’ll handle it at school when her roots start showing...?’ She sighed, ‘I wish we lived closer to them, Ashley would be fun to have around.’

She stared at the new bear in Ashley’s hands and felt she had very good taste!

The dirt road that led up to Aunt Gloria’s place did nothing to wake Ashley up, so she found herself unbuckling the harness of a very asleep little girl. “Should I wake her up?” She asked the others.

“She’s going to have to wake up a bit to get out of her dress if nothing else,” Amber said, “but it basically is her bedtime.”

“I’ll carry her upstairs, if she wakes up on the way she can walk up,” Aunt Gloria said.

“I can get her,” Madison found herself saying and picking her up herself. She positioned Ashley like she had seen her aunt once before and was surprised by how light she was.

“How much does she weigh?” she asked quietly of Amber on the way upstairs.

“She was over fifty at one point, but last Friday at the doctors she was only forty-seven.”

“And she’s really ten?” Madison asked, more to herself than anything.

“I think the stress caused her to lose some weight. She’s also pretty tiny anyway,” Amber said. “I guess it’s normal though, I’m only ninety-three pounds myself.”

Madison just stared at her in disbelief. “You don’t look too skinny though...?”

“I’m not, I’m right where my size should be. They’ve checked my body fat percentage over the years and I’m right on target. Before I had Ashley I was actually about five pounds lighter.” She giggled.

“That is so not fair,” she said as they opened the door to Ashley’s room.

“You just have to live with the cards you’re given Madison. Sometimes I would do anything to have a few inches of height more. I always have to find a step-stool to get things out of cupboards!”

“I guess that’s true,” Madison allowed.

“Here, set her down on the bed. I can’t believe she hasn’t woken up!” Amber looked at her daughter and shrugged poking her shoulder a little. “Princess, we need to get you dressed for bed, come on wake up just a little bit.”

Madison watched as Ashley’s mom managed to get her undressed, in her pajamas, and tucked into bed before she went right back into deep sleep. As they walked back into the hallway, “Hot chocolate?” She asked Madison.

“Huh?”

“You want some hot chocolate? You seem like you have a lot on your mind.”

“Oh, okay.”

The two of them made their way downstairs and said goodnight to her mom and Aunt Gloria who were going to bed. She watched as Amber turned on a teakettle with water and waited for it to boil. In no time at all she was handed a cup of hot chocolate and they sat down in the living room on a couch.

“So what is bothering you about growing so tall?” She heard.

Madison sighed, “I don’t mind growing up... It’s just I don’t like being hit on all of the time. If I put on even the slightest bit of makeup everyone assumes I’m seventeen or eighteen... I just wished I had more time to have fun as a thirteen-year old I guess... Or maybe had that when I was ten like Ashley.”

Mom nodded, “I remember your mom saying the same things.”

“Really?” Madison was a little surprised by that.

“Oh yeah, as long as I didn’t need to be old enough to see a movie I would still get in for the children’s price all through high school.”

Madison giggled, “Ashley’s going to be the same way.”

“Probably.” She agreed.

“So what changed my mom?”

“She met a guy she liked,” Amber said.

“There’s more?”

She sighed, “There is, but if you want that story I want your mom to be the one to tell it, okay?”

Madison nodded, “Is this why you both stopped being friends?”

“A lot of it,” Amber said and she could see some moisture in her eyes that she blinked out. “Madison the thing to remember, and I used to tell your mom, is just because you grow taller doesn’t mean you have to grow up. The two of us used to be utterly silly! We enjoyed doing stupid things in toy aisles at stores, pulling silly pranks at school, and all sorts of other things. Just because you grow taller doesn’t mean you have to mature... I mean my husband did neither of course, but you can’t judge everyone by him!”

Madison smiled, “So... What happens with you guys now?”

“This week we have to fake our parents deaths... I’m planning on taking Ashley and flying to Dallas at the very least. We’re also going to run an obituary that says no services to be held. It’s hopefully going to be the last thing we have to do for our cover.”

“Then?”

“Then... I don’t know. Gloria has offered to let us stay here for a couple years. She has some things that I could probably do for her that would save her spending money to an outside company... I wouldn’t mind doing it actually. I think Ashley is pretty happy here too, so I think maybe...”

“But?”

“But I hate the fact seeing my parents is unlikely ever again at this rate.”

“I can’t imagine not ever seeing my mom and dad again...” Madison agreed.

“I can’t risk endangering them though. I let them know we’re still alive and hiding, and they probably know where we’re at actually... But I know my husband’s family has to be watching them, and probably the FBI.”

“You really don’t want to go to them, huh?”

She shook her head, “I remember hearing my husband at a party last year bragging how he had some source in the agency somewhere. They gave him all sorts of information on when raids were coming and such. There probably are some trustworthy people there, but I don’t know who they are. As long as I don’t either there’s no way I can chance it.”

Madison found herself giving Amber a hug. “Well, if you need anything you know where to find us! I’m guessing at age eight you won’t want to leave Ashley without a sitter for a while, so you know where to find her favorite babysitter, right?” She asked with a smile.

“I know where to find her favorite big sister more like,” she replied with a smile. “I’m pretty sure that’s what she sees you as. If for some reason something happens to me I’m hoping she can at least go with you guys somewhere safe...” and with that Amber was sobbing and Madison found herself consoling a lady who was essentially her aunt.

“Don’t worry, it’s all going to work out fine,” she soothed. “Nothing is going to happen to Ashley.”

Eventually they found some Kleenex and Madison had a feeling Amber got the emotion out of her system. “Thanks... Sorry for that,” she said.

“Everyone breaks at some point,” Madison said, “besides, I was just returning the favor. Thanks for the hot chocolate,” she said.

Amber laughed, “You’re welcome.”

What did you think? Comments and/or Kudos are always appreciated! Thanks for reading!