Tyler finally looked at me.
“Okay, Mom.”
That night, he slept outside her door again.
I carried him back to bed around midnight.
A little after four in the morning, I woke because I thought I heard someone talking.
At two, he was back in the hallway.
I started wondering whether I needed to find him a counselor.
Then last Thursday happened.
A little after four in the morning, I woke because I thought I heard someone talking.
I lay still.
Tyler was lying outside Mom’s room under his blanket.
Another whisper came from the hallway.
I got up and opened my bedroom door.
Tyler was lying outside Mom’s room under his blanket.
But he wasn’t asleep.
He was staring at the door handle.
“I won’t let Uncle Jason do it to Grandma again.”
One small hand was gripping his pillow.
Then he whispered to himself.
“I won’t fall asleep tonight.”
I almost spoke.
Then he added, very quietly,
His eyes filled with tears immediately.
“I won’t let Uncle Jason do it to Grandma again.”
I froze.
“Tyler?”
He jumped so hard his blanket slid off.
I hurried toward him.
He looked toward Mom’s bedroom.
“What did you just say?”
His eyes filled with tears immediately.
“Nothing.”
“Tyler.”
He looked toward Mom’s bedroom.
“Mom, promise you won’t tell anyone.”
I lowered my voice.
“What won’t you let Uncle Jason do again?”
His mouth started trembling.
“Mom, promise you won’t tell anyone.”
Every bad possibility entered my head at once.
“Uncle Jason keeps making Grandma sign things when you’re not here.”
I sat beside him.
“What did he do?”
Tyler covered his face.
Then he leaned toward me and whispered,
“Uncle Jason keeps making Grandma sign things when you’re not here.”
“What things, Tyler?”
For a few seconds, I didn’t understand.
“Sign what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What things, Tyler?”
“Papers.”
“He brings a folder upstairs when you leave.”
I stared at him.
He wiped his face.
“He brings a folder upstairs when you leave.”
“How do you know?”
Tyler hesitated.
He told me that one afternoon he had been reading in Mom’s room when Jason arrived carrying a folder.
“Because I saw.”
He told me that one afternoon he had been reading in Mom’s room when Jason arrived carrying a folder.
Jason told Tyler to go downstairs.
“So I went.”
“Okay.”
Instead of returning to the bedroom, Tyler had hidden near the landing.
