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Mom rarely tucked me in anymore.

Was I in trouble for asking Mara to say her line? Maybe Mom caught a whiff of my infatuation and wanted to pry.

My room was dark except for a crack of parlor light that highlighted my mother’s silhouette. “Mara and I had a long talk before she decided to stay with us,” she said.

“About what?”

“Well, I told her about the castle and the beach and the extra bed in Livy's room... the usual ‘get-to-know-ya’ stuff. She's a very excited little lady.”

“I believe it.”

“You need to be sensitive around her, James. Mara looks normal, but she's in a very sad situation.”

“Sad how? I thought we helped her.”

“Well, she doesn't know who her parents are. She's lived with Ms. Grisham for as long as she can remember. You remember Mr. Anderson?”

“Your old mentor. He was at the house when you rescued Mara.”

“He's going to do everything he can to find her mom and dad.”

“How's he gonna do that?”

“It's a long process, but he'll check Mara's records in Michigan and in other states, and he'll do a background check on Ms. Grisham. If he still can't find anything, he'll put a special notice in the newspaper.”

“Think he'll find 'em?”

Mom touched my hair. “There's another thing we need to talk about. Remember the tape you showed me?”

“It's film...”

“Ms. Grisham forced Mara to sing like that all the time. That's a form of abuse, you know that?”

I nodded.

“Things like that can be very hard on a child.”

“I knew it was bad when I saw it.”

“I'm proud of you for telling me. Mara and I talked about it, and she doesn't want to sing anymore.”

No! screamed my gut. “She said that?” I asked.

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“But... but what about at Christmas carols?” A silly question, but it was the first protest that popped in my head. “There's all kinds of songs to sing at Christmas...”

“If she wants to sing again, that's wonderful. But we're going to let her do it on her own time.”

“I understand.”

Mom touched my cheek. “Your cut is almost gone.”

“Yeah.”

“Mara's a pretty special lady, huh? Very down-to-earth.”

“Yeah. She's nice.”

Mom pulled tight my dinosaur sheets and kissed my temple. “I was going to do linens tomorrow, but your bed smells fresh. Must be the new detergent.”

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