I rose. “All right. You let me know if you need anything, okay? I’m going back to bed.” I walked out of the kitchen.
Then, “Auntie Marj?”
I turned. Dale had never
addressed me by “auntie” before. It was always Marj. I warmed a little. “Yeah?”
“Do you think I’ll ever belong here?”
I sat back down next to him. His hand lay on the table, and I wanted to take it in my own to reassure him. Would that be too much for him? Mel had warned us to go slow with Dale, and since his issue at school recently, I’d taken that more to heart than ever.
I left his hand alone.
“You’ve always belonged here, Dale.”
“Donny fits in better than I do.”
“You’re not Donny. You might be brothers, but you’re two different people. Your dad, Uncle Joe, and Uncle Ryan are all very different, and they’re brothers.”
He nodded.
This time I touched his hand lightly but only for a few seconds. “How is school? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You haven’t seen that strange guy again?”
“No. But I wasn’t making it up. I swear.”
“We all believe you, honey.”
“Do you?”
“Of course we do.”
“Did you ever tell Donny?”
“Well…no. Your mom and dad thought it best not to worry him.”
“Yeah,” Dale said. “He’s just a little kid.”
I smiled. Donny was only three years younger than Dale.
Then my smile dropped off. I suddenly understood what he meant. Dale had protected Donny from a lot of the abuse while they were in captivity. He’d taken the brunt to spare his little brother. Donny had told Talon and Jade.
“You want me to take you back to your room?” I asked.
“No. I want to stay here. Sometimes Talon gets up and sits here with me.”
“Oh?” He’d been calling Talon “Dad” until he’d seen the stranger. He’d regressed a little, but Mel had assured us it was nothing to worry about.
“I mean Dad.”
I smiled. “Whatever you’re comfortable with. Do you and he talk during those times?”
“No. We mostly just sit here. I think he understands me.”
More than Dale realized. The boys didn’t know what Talon had been through, and they wouldn’t until they were grown. Talon and Jade had already decided.