David brushed Ollie's hair after giving him a bath and getting him dressed.
He stepped back and admired the little tyke's red shorts, matching sneakers, and tee shirt emblazoned with a bright yellow Big Bird.
Little Ollie gazed up at his boyfriend. He wanted to know what had become of the magic ring, but he didn't want to have to ask. So, he asked another question.
"Are we going somewhere?"
David smiled. "Yes, silly. Did you forget? This is your first day at pre-school."
An unruly swarm of butterflies fluttered in the boy's tummy. "Maybe I could just say home," Ollie suggested hopefully.
"I have to work today, Ollie," David reminded him.
"Oh, right," Ollie said.
That seemed the end of the discussion. David swooped Ollie off his feet, balanced him on his hip, and carried him to the car.
At the car, a restless Ollie squirmed and made fastening him into the child seat more difficult than it needed to be. "Ollie, can you hold still?" David asked.
"I had an idea," Ollie said as David fastened the restraints to buckle him into the seat. "What if you take me to work with you?"
"Kids can't go to my office, Ollie. You know that."
"Yes, I know, but I'm not really a kid am...."
David silenced him with a finger over his lips. "Ollie, you can't be telling people you're not a kid," he said. "If you tell the wrong person, they might try to take you away."
Ollie paled. "I won't tell," he agreed hastily.
"Good boy." David bopped the tip of the little boy's button nose.
A 15-minute drive later, they arrived at a building with a bright exterior of yellow, green and blue walls. A fence of oversized "crayons" in every color of the rainbow surrounded the facility. David got Ollie from the car seat, sat him on the ground, and led him toward the gate. From his position in David's arms, little Ollie saw a familiar woman (David's sister) and a man about David's age.
David and his sister greeted each other.
"Sis, this is Ollie," David said, having decided not to confuse things by insisting Oliver adopt a new identity. "He's Oliver's nephew."
"Oh, he's named for his uncle. How sweet."
"That's right," David said as Oliver approached and clung to his left leg.
David's sister turned to her assistant, who was an attractive, slim man of Latino heritage. "Marco, could you take Ollie and get him settled?"
"Sure," Marco said.
Ollie pushed his face against David's pant leg.
"It's OK, Ollie," Marco said. He knelt down to get on the little boy's level. "We will have great fun together."
Ollie raised his face and gazed up at David, who nodded. Ollie looked toward the attractive young man and made a couple of tentative steps toward him.
Marco grasped Ollie's hand in his much larger hand. Ollie felt a spark of shock as the big, warm hand enveloped his much smaller one. Marco led him toward a door behind which Ollie heard a muted din of other exuberant young voices. Suddenly overwhelmed, he looked back toward David but saw his boyfriend getting into his car to continue to work.
Ollie realized with a jolt of concern that he was on his own.