Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Sworn to Secrecy

Charlotte lived with, and carried, Aaron's secret. She shared her lunch with him and brought extra food for the weekends, for months upon months. The night before the last day of school before Christmas break, she turned on her light. She got out of bed and took some paper and colored pencil from her desk. The card she made for Aaron took an hour. She included stickers along with her drawings that she put so much care into.

Between making the card, she glanced at the adoption books that she hadn't read in a while. Just as she was finishing up, she heard a knock on her door. Very quickly, Charlotte put her paper and supplies within the bookshelves behind her head.

"Peanut?" Bruno asked, opening the door.

Still sitting up with the light on, Charlotte sat there very, very still.

"What are you doing up?"

"Nothin'," she sighed in a sweet voice.

"Nothin'?" Bruno repeated, walking toward her. "It doesn't look like nothin'."

Watching Charlotte flip through the book made Bruno smile. He sat down beside her on the edge of her bed.

"I thought these were for babies?"

"No," Charlotte shook her head assertively.

"That's what you told me. You said there were too many pictures..."

Charlotte shook her head.

"Well," Bruno said, turning off the light next to her bed. "It's very late. You need to get some sleep for the Christmas party tomorrow."

Charlotte placed the book on the shelf with the others before resting her head down on the pillow. As Bruno was about to leave, Charlotte cleared her throat, a bit dramatically. Her hands stretched out far in front.

"You didn't tuck me in."

"Well," Bruno said, a little bit sarcastically. "I did before...earlier tonight. Remember?"

"Well," Charlotte repeated, mocking his joking voice. "I can't go to sleep if you don't tuck me in so...."

When Bruno got to her, Charlotte nearly pulled herself off the bed when she hugged him. She lingered and stalled quite a bit.

"Charlotte..."

"What?" she giggled.

"It's time for bed...C'mon."

Sighing dramatically, Charlotte let go and smiled when Bruno kissed her forehead and tucked in her.

"Can you sing to me?"

"Charlotte I've already sung to you tonight. I've tucked you in twice now...and it's time to go to bed, okay?"

"I'm sorry, Dad."

More than ever, Charlotte had been over-apologetic in those past several weeks, and it was something that Bruno picked up on pretty quickly. Bruno pouted, but with a sympathetic expression.

"You don't have to say sorry. You can have all the hugs and songs that you want. I'm sorry that I've been working a lot lately, but I didn't schedule meetings at all until February," Bruno said, looking at the clock. "But right now...it's two o'clock in the morning..."

"Two o'clock in the morning?" Charlotte gasped, pulled the comforter over her eyes. "Holy cow!"

Bruno laughed a little, kissing her goodnight.

The next morning, Charlotte ate her Lucky Charms so tiredly that her face almost fell right into the milk. She yawned over and over. When they finished, Bruno went into the pantry to get the snack she could bring to Christmas party at school. He handed her the bag with a smile.