Because Daddy had claimed me.
Because he was deciding, and I didn’t have to.
Because hegotto decide, because if I was his doll, his toy, his treasure, then… then heownedme. He’d keep me. I was his.
The quiet, peaceful, floaty feeling expanded inside me as Daddy finally turned to look down at Sam, pinning him with a stern look. “But only if you promise to take good care of him, Little One, because my doll is more precious than anything to me.”
I was?
“I will!” Sam agreed enthusiastically, tugging on my arm again.
And this time, Daddy let me go. He took a chair from the row of Daddies near the tea party and pulled it closer to the tea party, practically hovering over the table.
Nobody seemed to mind.Ididn’t.It made me feel safe, and the way his eyes burned into me, tracking my every move and making sure I was okay. It was intense.It was perfect.With Daddy watching over me—not just saying he would, but really and truly doing it—I didn’t even feel nervous at all.
Sam led me around to a pair of free chairs on the opposite side of the table. “Hi!” he said to the other Littles.
I recognized them from the park, but I didn’t try to remember their names. I didn’t have to.
Sam nudged me until I folded down into one of the chairs. “Can I join your tea party?” he asked the others, flopping down into the chair next to me and then patting my shoulder. “I brought my dolly!”
Daddy made a sound, and Sam shot him a quick, chagrined look.
“I mean, Mr. G’s dolly.”
The other Littles started babbling to Sam, smiling at me too, but not acting upset when I didn’t smile back, or say hi, or act… well, act like one of them.
That made me relax a little more, and I shifted in the chair so I could be comfortable, then turned my head so I could see Daddy and most of Sam.
Then… almost as a test… I stopped moving. It had been okay when I’d done that with Daddy, but he wasn’t close enough to pose me now and Sam was busy chattering away, his voice becoming higher and higher and the cadence of his words falling into a happy, childlike rhythm.
It made me feel happy inside, but I still didn’t feel like smiling. Because I was adoll. Daddy’s doll. And sitting here where I’d been put, that was all I had to do until someone did something with me, right?
Daddy was still watching me intently, his eyes gleaming with... pride? And I suddenly felt a rush of pride, too.
Iwasdoing this right. I was making him proud. This really was all I had to do.
“Okay, Ren-Ren, time for tea!” Sam announced, flourishing the pretty plastic teapot that had been in the center of the table but then putting it right back down again when one of the others giggled.
“Sam, you have to give your dolly a cup!”
He grinned, eyeing the scattered array of colorful dishes that weren’t already in use by the other dolls. It looked like there were three or four sets, all in shades of pink and purple, ranging from pastel to neon. The set Sam assembled didn’t match at all, but that didn’t seem to bother him.
“Some for me first!” he announced, pouring a stream of air from the tiny teapot into one of the neon blue cups. “And some for you, too, Ren-Ren.”
He set my cup in front of me, a purple one. And I… I didn’t move. Would he mind? Would he change his mind and want me to be more… playful?
Keeping my head still, I glanced at Daddy for reassurance. His smile had me relaxing again. I was his doll, and I didn’t have to know how to pick up the cup or pretend that I was drinking it or understand how to have fun that way. I didn’t have to do anything, and if Sam or the other Littles tried to make me, Daddy wouldn’t let them.
Sam didn’t seem to mind me not moving, though. He did just what the other Littles were, with their dollies.
“Here, drink it!” he said, holding the smooth plastic cup to my lips. And then, “Mmmmmm….”
He even supplied the sound for me, too, and even though I didn’t move my mouth at all, it felt like I was smiling on the inside. It felt…wonderful. My body was a little stiff because I was holding it in exactly the position I’d finally settled into the chair in, but inside I felt floaty and free.
Iwasplaying with Sam. I was playing with all the Littles. And they evenlikedhaving me there, making their dolls and the stuffy talk to me, while Sam talked back, even lifting my hand to make me “shake” the tiny plastic ones when each doll was introduced to me.
And everyone was giggling more, havingmorefun, because I was here. I could just be a doll, and they would all be proud of me. Sam. The other Littles. A new one in a sparkly skirt who was dragging his Daddy toward the tea party with a look of determination on his face.MyDaddy.Everyone.
