Marriage by Mistake

on," Troy expostulated. "He won't come down?"
    Dean spoke toward the tree trunk as he descended the ladder. "Claims he wants to talk to Kelly first."
    Kelly choked. "Me?"
    "You." Dean turned at the base of the tree and reached for the suit jacket Troy was handing him.
    Kelly opened and closed her mouth. "But— Robby doesn't even know me."
    "I know." Dean shook out his jacket. "And I'm sure you have no intention of climbing any trees. I told him that. Never mind. He'll come down when he's hungry enough."
    "It has nothing to do with climbing the tree. I just don't understand what I have to do with it."
    "Nothing." Dean shoved an arm into his jacket. "Don't worry about it."
    She wasn't supposed to worry about it? He could find lost kids and, reportedly, save failing corporations, but she wasn't supposed to 'worry about it?' "All right," Kelly proclaimed. "Robby wants to talk to me, he can talk to me."
    Dean froze with his jacket hunched over his neck. "What?"
    Kelly marched toward the tree. Noting the well-worn polish on the pegged-in ladder, she kicked off her sandals and began to climb.
    "Miss Williams—!"
    She paid no heed. In fact, Kelly enjoyed the note of panic in Dean's voice. She wasn't supposed to worry about it . At the top of the ladder, she stepped onto the platform and shoved inside the canvas door. In the sudden dimness, she squinted.
    "Oh, God," a small voice breathed.
    It took a few seconds for Kelly's eyes to adjust enough to spot him, a pudgy boy sitting cross-legged at the far end of the platform. His brown hair was uncombed and his clothes were dirty. With a pug nose and freckles, he looked like every misfit, un-cool kid she'd ever taught in her father's Sunday school. Kelly's heart immediately melted.
    "Hey." She lowered to sit on her heels. "Heard you wanted to talk to me."
    Maybe he had once, but he didn't look like he wanted anything of the sort now. "You're her ," he breathed.
    "Um, if you mean your brother's wife, well then yes, I'm the one. Kelly Williams—er, well yeah, Williams—at your service." Kelly smiled and held out her hand.
    The boy didn't make a move toward it. "Troy was right," he said hoarsely. "You are a dish."
    Kelly kept on smiling, though she wondered where Troy could have gotten such an idea.
    The boy swallowed. "So, what are you going to do to me?"
    " Do to you?" Kelly lowered her outstretched hand.
    "You're really mad, aren't you?"
    "Mad?" Kelly blinked. "At you?"
    Solemn, the child nodded.
    "But why would I be mad at you?" Kelly hadn't even known he existed half an hour ago.
    "You know. The hypnosis. Because of the hypnosis." Robby's gaze went from vulnerable to suspicious.
    Kelly stared. "What?"
    Robby spoke clearly. "Because I hypnotized Dean."
    Feeling like an idiot, Kelly closed her hung-open jaw. "You," she said. "You did it. I—I thought it was Troy."
    "Oh, no. Troy just gave Dean a suggestion, once he'd gone under. I was the one who hypnotized him." Robby sounded, briefly, proud. Then his eyes narrowed. "Didn't you know?"
    Kelly shook her head.
    "Oh, great." Robby slapped his forehead. "She didn't even know, and I had to go and tell her."
    "It's all right. I'm not mad at you, even so," Kelly rushed to say. But she was floored. Dean had been hypnotized—by a nine-year-old boy?
    One look at this nine-year-old boy, however, and Kelly knew she couldn't ask how he'd managed it. He needed reassurance, not interrogating.
    "Why should I be mad?" She lifted a shoulder. "It wasn't your fault Dean married me. The hypnosis couldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do." Hadn't Dean spouted such a sentiment to her the day before?
    But the boy looked unconvinced by the argument. "He's still mad about it," he claimed.
    "Yes, but not at you. I think...he's mad at himself."
    "Huh. That doesn't make any sense."
    It did, but Kelly didn't belabor the point. "The thing is I'm not mad at you," she told him, and waved a hand. "Anyway, the whole thing was just an accident."
    It was another limp contention of Dean's from the day before, but this one put a light of hope into Robby's soft eyes. He shifted weight. "Really?"
    "Really." Kelly paused a beat, then gestured toward the canvas flap door. "It must be breakfast time, or past it. I'm pretty hungry, and I don't even know where the kitchen is in that great, big house. How about you? Wanna come down and eat?"
    He hesitated, searching her face for sincerity.
    Kelly made sure to relax her expression, letting it show what she