Chapter 2

As they left for the mall in Katrine's small escort Adam thought about what had happened. Wondering what he would have done if she hadn't started to cry. Him unknowingly both Anna and Katrine were thinking about the same, but where Katrine and Adam were unsure Anna knew.

She remembered all to well the way he had lost himself the day before. She hadn't let him out of her sight since their talk with Katrine, she was too afraid now. Adam, while feeling her anguish didn't know what he could do to reassure her.

He laid his head at her breast, listening to her heart beat. Listening he got that mad feeling that it beat to fast, much faster than it should, he suddenly started to feel worried. 'What's wrong with her? Is she's dying?'

Katrine, peeking at them in the rear-view mirror, saw his worry and guessing she asked.

"You know that girls have a faster heartbeat than boys, don't you?"

He mutely shook his head, looking a little relieved.

"Well, they do Amanda. Don't worry, she won't wear out on you, happiness is measured in love, not in time."

He put his head back where it belonged, slowly relaxing again. Anna smiled, her mom was so right, whispering in his ear. "My grandmas mom Amanda, she lived to be a hundred." caressing his face.

Adam closed his eyes, slowly rocked to sleep by the cars motion and Anna's caresses.

As her mother saw them cuddling she decided to keep on driving, after all, there was always a mall more somewhere. And as she drove she watched how her daughter slowly felt asleep too, her hair sweeping them both into its sweet golden embrace as Anna glided down the backseat leaning on her Adam.

Seeing them sleeping so restfully Katrine decided to drive to the same lake she used to take Anna to when she was small, she had so many good memories of the time with Jake visiting it.

Leaving them to their sleep she stepped out to walk down to the waters edge, again wondering why life had to be so difficult. She found no answers to that question, but looking out over the pale blue stillness she still felt a certain kind of peace. She had her Anna, and now she somehow had begotten Amanda, or Adam, too.

She tried to think over what they needed to do. One thing she was sure of was that this orphanage Adam had described should be closed. She hadn't thought that any of those older and sicker kind of 'correction facilities' had survived the sixties, especially not in her own hometown.

If she could, she would have collected all the kids and then made a big bonfire out of the whole orphanage, but she knew that the bureaucracy didn't work that way. But at least she thought that she had the contacts and competence to force a change.

After a while she started to freeze, she wasn't really dressed for the outdoors. As she went back to the warmth of the car she saw Anna wake up, her arm still protectively wrapped around Amanda.

"Mom, weren't we going to the mall?"

"Yes, I just needed some time to think. You remember the lake?"

Anna smiled. "I still love it mom. Yeah, I feel better now."

She looked down on Adam, still collecting on his sleep of the righteous.

"We should get him his on clothes mom. It's not right to make him wear those, not if there's no reason for it."

"But he looks very nice in them, don't he Anna?"

Anna nodded, reddening a little. She couldn't explain it but having him like this made her feel as if she had it all, a girl and a boy and in love with both, unable to choose. But under it all she knew that Adam was Adam, and she would love him, no matter what clothes he used.

Katrine knew her daughter quite well. She could guess what moved inside that sweet face of her with a surprising accuracy most of the times, and remembering Jake it wasn't too hard.

"Did you know that your dad loved cross dressing?" she asked gently.

Katrine looked up surprised. "He did?"