Even Melissa was surprised by how quickly things fell into place after that strange day. Jackson, thankfully, went back to normal without complaint, his compliance no doubt assisted by learning that he'd be spending a lot more time with his Uncle Ollie. It was also of no small relief to the boy that his mom told him that keeping Ollie little had changed her plans and that he didn't have to keep the day secret from Connor - he really did love his brother and was lousy at keeping secrets anyway. Connor himself pouted for a while afterwards, but the sting of his self-exclusion in Ollie and Jackson's playtime eventually became too much for him to bear. As Melissa had predicted, Ollie found himself having to correct the boy with some regularity, especially in the first days after he joined the family - but with Jackson at his side backing him up, Connor invariably found himself alone in his naughtiness and invariably relented.
The twins were getting along better than they ever had and Ollie took no small pride in being part of that, even prouder of being a great "big brother" than he was of the top-notch marks he brought home from second grade. Though it'd be easy to claim that it was a lingering adult intelligence that helped him learn how to divide and multiply and spell multi-syllable words, the truth was that Ollie had always been in possession of a precocious intelligence - the difference this time being that he was being raised in a home that supported and nurtured his gift. Melissa found herself struck every so often by the fact that raising three children in the house was somehow easier than it had been to raise two - she had known for some time that her family had been missing something, but before that day she never would've guessed that the hole had been in the shape of her beloved little brother all along.
If there was any awkwardness, it came in the form of Melissa's husband, Nevin. Having not borne witness to the events of the day that had rendered Ollie seven, it took him some time to accept that the boy even was his brother-in-law, much less that he'd be living with he and Melissa as their child from now on. Nevin had always liked Oliver (even if he felt that his brother-in-law was a bit of a loser), but that didn't mean he was particularly thrilled with the idea of spending seven days a week with the seven-year-old version of him. The man couldn't deny how good Ollie was with the twins and how much happier Melissa seemed to be with her little brother in the house...but, just the same, the whole scenario was just too strange for him to fully embrace. The man was perfectly civil towards Ollie and even made the occasional clumsy attempt at fatherly affection, but he just couldn't bring himself to love the boy the way his wife did. The whole thing was just so...weird.
As for the ring, well...Melissa tried her best to destroy it, but nothing she did seemed to so much as scratch the shiny silver surface. Nevin suggested that she just throw it away, but the woman couldn't sleep knowing that it would be out there for anyone to find. She knew that she had gotten lucky with how things had turned out for her and that no fate as pleasant awaited anyone else who might slip it on. Eventually, she decided to store the ring in the safe in the basement, at least until she could figure out what to do with it. Weeks passed and thoughts of the gleaming silver band disappeared from her mind...just as Oliver's mind became dominated by thoughts of how much fun he and his new best friend Justin were going to have on their first sleepover.
The night had been filled with silly jokes and junk food and videogames, and even Connor and Jackson were allowed to join in on the fun until their bedtime came. They whined up a storm in hopes of staying up later with the big kids but were shooed off to their bed by their mother just the same, leaving the seven-year-olds to themselves to one-up each other in the fields of dares and rude noises. Eventually they too were asked to retire to the guest room that had been converted to Ollie's bedroom, though with the caveat that they could stay up as late as they wanted so long as they were quiet. It was here - still hopped up on sugar and giddy at the great time he and his best friend were having - that Ollie spoke of the ring for the first time in a month. He lowered his voice to a whisper as the two pajama-clad boys huddled under the fort constructed of Harry Potter bedding, little faces aglow above the shine of a flashlight.
"You remember how I was made into a kid?" He grinned, barely able to contain himself.
"Uh-huh." Jackson grinned back, caught up in his friend's enthusiasm. "It was that ring that also made Connor and Jackson grown-up yous for a while, right?"
"Yep." Ollie lowered his voice even further as his grin stretched even wider. "You wanna see it?"