“How come you didn’t park your car in the garage, Uncle Tom?”

Uncle Tom chuckled. “You’re a very smart and observant kid, Chloe.”

“Mommy says I like to ask a lot of questions, and she says sometimes it’s rude to ask too many questions. I’m sorry if I was rude, Uncle Tom.”

“You weren’t being rude. Being curious is a good thing.” He reassured me with a smile. “And to answer your question, since Charlie is in college now, we moved his things to the garage for now, and his old room is your new room.”

“Oh.” I remembered Charlie. He was a lot older than me and I never really talked to him much. But he wasn’t mean to me, so I liked him. “Will Charlie be mad if I’m in his room when he comes home?”

“No,” Uncle Tom said with an understanding smile. “I mentioned it to him already. He’s going to stay in the guest room when he’s home from college. But because you’ll be staying here for a while, we wanted you to have the bigger room so you feel more comfortable.”

“Come on, Chloe,” called out Aunt Betty as she walked to the front door. “It’s really hot out. Let’s get inside. Uncle Tom will grab the rest of your things.”

“Okay, Aunt Betty.” I hugged Belle a little tighter and whispered, “We’re going to be living here for a little bit while Mommy gets better, Belle. Don’t be scared, okay? I’ll be here to protect you.” I kissed Belle on the forehead, the way my mom would kiss me when she wanted to make things better.

As I walked up the driveway, a boy popped his head out from the treehouse between Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom’s house and the even larger house next door. We stared at each other for a moment. I wanted to ask about his treehouse because I’d never seen one before in real life. But before I could ask, he yelled down, “You look like Pippi Longstocking!”

His words stung, and it made me mad. “I do not, you big meanie!” I screamed up at him.

“Pippi Longstocking!” He flashed me a boyish grin and he pointed to the pigtails my mom had braided for me that morning before we’d said goodbye.

“And you’re a big, fat meanie!” I screamed up at him again, but this time, I stuck my tongue out and made a face at him, too.

Then I turned away and ran into the house because I didn’t want the boy to see me upset.

“Did you make a new friend out there?” Uncle Tom said with a smile as he walked toward the staircase leading up to the second floor.

“No,” I immediately retorted and twisted my face in disgust. “He said I look like Pippi Longstocking.”

Aunt Betty laughed. “Sounds like someone has a crush on you, Chloe.”

“No. He’s mean.” I frowned and wondered if Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom had problems with their hearing. There was no way that boy liked me.

“Give the poor boy a chance,” Uncle Tom continued with a chuckle. “Sometimes boys just have a hard time expressing their feelings.”

He didn’t seem to have any problems expressing his feelings to me, I wanted to counter, but I remembered what my mom said and I knew that a good girl didn’t talk back to adults. So I kept my thoughts to myself as I walked up the stairs with Aunt Betty and her husband. But I knew they were wrong. That boy didn’t like me and I didn’t like the boy, either. He was mean. He was a bully. He would never be my friend.

Minutes later, all thoughts of that boy vanished, because when I walked into my new room, I saw the surprise Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom had for me.

My eyes grew wide with glee as I took the entire room in. “Is this really my room?” The room was almost as big as the whole apartment my mom and I had lived in. I couldn’t believe that such a large room was going to be just for me.

“Is that a dollhouse?” I squealed as I ran over to the corner of the room near the bay window where a large dollhouse stood. It was so tall that I had to get on my tippy toes to be able to touch the top of the roof with my hands.

“We heard that Belle was going to be living with us, too.” Aunt Betty walked over to me with a smile and helped me open the dollhouse so we could see the inside. “So we wanted to make sure that she felt at home as well.”

I gasped when I saw the inside. It wasn’t a dollhouse; it was a doll-mansion. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Aunt Betty! Belle’s never had such a big house to herself.” Then I cried out in delight and pointed at one of the rooms. “Look, Belle! There’s a library in your house! Look at all those books you can read.”

“So does that mean you like your room?” Aunt Betty’s eyes twinkled as she smiled at me.

I nodded excitedly. “Thank you, Aunt Betty! Thank you, Uncle Tom!”

Uncle Tom flashed me a huge smile. “I don’t think you’ve noticed the surprise.”

“What do you mean?” I stared at him in confusion. “Isn’t this room the surprise?”

Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom exchanged a look, like they knew a secret.

“Is Mommy here?” My eyes lit up in excitement as I looked around the room for places she could be hiding.

But then I noticed Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom exchange a look that made them seem worried. “Well …” Aunt Betty looked at me apologetically. “No, honey, your mommy isn’t here.” She then smiled, trying to convince me to do the same with her expectant eyes.

I felt downcast that my mom wasn’t with me. I also felt guilty that a part of me felt excited about living in this big room when I didn’t know where my mom would be living.

“The surprise is on the ceiling,” she finally told me.

I immediately looked up to see what she was talking about. A loud gasp left my lips as I clutched Belle tighter with excitement. “Stars!” The entire grayish-blue ceiling of my room was covered with hundreds of stars of various sizes. “Is it the constellation?” My eyes lit up as I looked at Aunt Betty and then Uncle Tom for confirmation.

Uncle Tom nodded with a grin. “You’re a smart girl, Chloe. Yes, it’s the constellation.”

“We heard you really love looking up at the sky at night and reading about things that occur in the sky,” Aunt Betty explained. “Now you can sleep under all the stars.”

I nodded with a smile as I looked up at all the stars.

“And guess what?” Uncle Tom asked.

“What?” My eyes went wide as I looked up at him.

“At night, all the stars will glow in the dark.”

“They will?” I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but I couldn’t wait until it got dark. I had so much excitement coursing through me, it felt like I was on a sugar high after a night of trick-or-treating on Halloween. For the first time that day, I started to feel happy about being there.

CHAPT ER SIX

Summer 1992

Seven Years Old

“Okay, class,” a tall lady with strawberry-blond hair in front of me called out from the front of the class to the other kids in the classroom, “it’s time to get started. Everyone, take your seats.” She turned and flashed me a warm smile. “I’m going to introduce you to everyone. Is that okay?”

I nodded. I sneaked a quick glance to all the kids sitting at their desks, who were now all staring at me with interest. My face felt hot and I looked down to my feet.

“Good morning, class.”

“Good morning, Ms. Peters¸” the class greeted back in unison.

“Before we get started, I want everyone to say hello to Chloe Sinclair.”

“Hello, Chloe Sinclair,” the class repeated.

“Hi,” I replied in a hesitant voice as I waved to everyone.

Ms. Peters smiled down at me. “Chloe just moved into the area and will be joining our first-grade class this year. Because she’s new here, she is still figuring her way around the school. So if you see her around, please make sure she feels welcomed and answer any questions she may have, okay?”

“Yes, Ms. Peters,” the class responded.

“Chloe, we’re all really excited to get to know you. There’s an empty desk in the third row. Why don’t you take that one?”