Cassandra Austin (13 page)

Peggy ran to her brother. “Picnic,” she announced.

Adam tried to ignore the noise coming from next door. It was a little early to go to dinner. Still, the children were his responsibility and perhaps he should see what the ruckus was about.

As he crossed from his backyard to Jane’s, he could see sheets flapping on the line, along with several dresses that looked suspiciously like the Cartlands’. Running under and around the sheets and dangerously close to the garden were at least a
dozen children. Maybe not quite a dozen. It was hard to get a reliable count, since they were all moving.

The kitten snoozed, well out of harm’s way, beside the back door. Adam sat down on the back step and murmured, “How can you sleep through that?”

“That ain’t fair!” Johnny called. “You always catch Peggy ‘cause she’s little.”

“Nonny it!” squealed Peggy, trotting up to him and smacking him on the back.

“Yeah, all right. I’ll be it. Now, you run away.”

It was pretty clear Johnny had picked out whom he planned to tag. The boy was probably close to the same age but nearly twice Johnny’s size. “You ain’t been it yet, Riley,” he said as he stalked more than chased the other boy.

“You ain’t been it ‘til now, neither.”

“That’s ‘cause I’m good, not ‘cause I hide behind my sister.”

“I don’t hide behind my sister,” Riley protested, circling around a tall girl Adam now recognized as Rosemary Finley.

“You’re gonna get me caught again, Riley,” Rosemary shouted, trying to avoid both boys.

“Save me, Rosemary,” Riley cried, laughing, “or I’ll tell Ma you were playing tag with the boys.”

A couple of girls left the pack of shouting participants. Suzy Gibbons and Peggy walked hand in hand toward the house. “I think she’s tired,” Suzy
said, collapsing in the grass at Adam’s feet. Peggy climbed up on his lap, sighing heavily.

“Does your mother know you’re here?” Adam asked Suzy.

She nodded, unconcerned. “I have a kitten but it’s bigger than Nonny.”

“Peggy’s Nonny.”

“Yes, I know it’s Peggy’s Nonny,” Suzy said in a voice usually reserved for infants.

Riley made a break and headed down the street at a dead run, Johnny on his heels.

“Out of bounds!” screamed Riley’s sister. She rounded up the smaller children and herded them back into the yard. “Hey, Doc,” she called, seeing him for the first time.

“Hello, Rosemary.”

“Johnny’ll be back in a minute. He’ll tag my brother when he stops to open the door.” She organized another game, and Suzy ran to join.

“Do you want to play, too?” Adam asked Peggy.

She shook her head and snuggled up against him. It made him think of keeping her, of sharing a family with Jane. But he had done everything wrong, and Jane didn’t trust him. He had made love to her when he should have talked to her, and told her he loved her when he should have been asking her forgiveness.

Johnny sauntered back into the yard looking pleased with himself. Adam hoped Riley was none the worse for wear. He rose to meet the boy, planning
to question him, just as Jane opened the back door.

“Hi,” she said, looking happier than he had ever seen her. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“I’ve been watching the children play,” he said.

“Aren’t they wonderful?” Jane beamed. “Help me give them their cookies, then we have to send them home for dinner.”

Adam noticed she carried the cookie tin. “You’re giving them cookies now, then sending them home? For dinner?”

Jane laughed. “One cookie isn’t going to make any difference. They’ve been running around for an hour. Almost time to go,” she called.

Instead of heading home, the children shouted and ran toward her. They settled down a little as they waited for her to open the tin. She handed out the cookies one by one and the children drifted away.

“Where’s Riley?” she asked Rosemary, who had waited until the smaller children had all gotten their treat

“Probably home crying.”

“Oh, dear. Did he get hurt?”

“Naw, he’s fine. He teased Johnny all afternoon, and Johnny chased him home.”

“I did more than that,” Johnny said. “I bloodied his nose.”

Rosemary turned to grin at him. “Good for you. Believe me, Aunt Jane,” she stated earnestly, “Riey
was askin’ for it. I was about ready to punch him myself.”

“Well,” Jane said, obviously uncertain how to handle the situation, “take a cookie for him, anyway.”

“Oooh, sure.” The girl grinned at Adam, making him certain the cookie would never make it home.

Adam set Peggy on her feet. She put her cookie in her pocket and sat down on the step to play with the kitten.

“Johnny.” Adam motioned for the boy to come close.

“Nothin’ doin’. If ya want to give me a beatin’ ya gotta catch me first.”

Rosemary had just left the yard when she turned back. “Here comes Mama,” she whispered. “Let me handle her.”

Rose Finley marched into view, a rolling pin in her hand. Riley was two steps behind her. A little blood crusted his face and a little more stained his shirt. He was smirking.

“That boy,” she began before she spotted Adam. Evidently his presence made her reassess the situation. She took a less belligerent stance. “My Riley says this boy beat him up.”

Jane stepped closer to Johnny. Adam stepped up to a spot somewhere between the two boys. And the two women.

“That’s right, Ma,” Riley said. “I come over to play with the other kids and Johnny called me
names, and when I tried to stand up to him, he hit me.”

Rosemary ran to her brother and wrapped her arms around him in a modified hammerlock. “Poor

little brother,” she cooed. “That’s not what happened, Mama. We were playing tag, and he fell down. He hit his nose on the ground. We would have helped him, but he ran home instead. You know how boys are. They gotta make everything sound more exciting.”

Riley struggled, but she held him tighter. “Poor

little brother,” she said through clinched teeth.

“They’re both lyin’,” Johnny said.

“Lyin’,” mimicked Peggy from her seat on the back step.

“Suppose you tell us what happened,” Adam said.

Johnny glared at him. “Suppose you take a—”

“Johnny.” Jane issued the warning quietly, but it stopped the boy.

“Well sure, I’ll tell you what happened. That little toad was lordin’ over all them little kids ‘cause he’s bigger and faster. When it looked like he weren’t gonna win, he runs home. Only I’m faster’n he expected and I caught him at his door. I only punched him once. That’s all I had to.”

Rosemary laughed. “Oh, Mama, you know how boys are.”

Rose seemed torn. “I don’t see how that scrawny boy could have hurt you too bad, Riley.”

“Scrawny?” Johnny started forward, but Jane’s arm kept him in his place.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you, Jane.” Rose smiled sweetly. “Nice to see you again, Dr. Hart.”

She turned. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“But, Ma. Ow!”-Riley glared at his sister.

“The idea,” Rose muttered, leading her son away by the ear. “Tellin’ me that boy beat you up.”

Adam watched them go, then turned his attention to Johnny.

The boy gave him a wicked grin. “Now you gotta decide who you believe.”

“You’d be better off if I believed Rosemary.”

Johnny laughed. “Not the way I see it.”

“Let’s let it go for now,” Jane said.

“You go on inside,” Adam said: “Johnny and I’ll have a little talk.”

The glare Jane gave him rivaled any of Johnny’s.

Adam smiled. She wasn’t acting that much different than Rose. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him bloody my nose.”

“Ain’t
your
nose I’m worried about,” Johnny said. “But I ain’t hidin’ behind no girl.” He stepped away from Jane.

Jane turned and stalked off to the house. Adam heard her say something softly to Peggy before the door closed.

“Now she’s mad at both of us,” Adam observed.

“That bothers you more’n it bothers me.”

“It ought to bother you, Johnny. She’s ready to be your friend.”

Johnny shrugged.

“Did you consider any way to settle your differences with Riley besides punching him in the nose?”

“Yeah,” Johnny said, backing off half a step. “I considered hittin’ him with a club, but I couldn’t find none.”

“Riley might decide to be your friend, too, if you let him.”

“Now he can decide knowin’ a little bit more about me.” Adam understood how impossible it would be for Johnny to admit he had made a mistake. And what had happened didn’t matter as much as what might happen in the future.

“Here’s the situation,” he began, catching the boy’s shoulder before he could dodge away. “A family is coming to meet Peggy tomorrow. I know you don’t want to see her go off without you, but I also know that you aren’t interested in a family for yourself. I want you to think of what this could mean for Peggy. Your smart mouth and your belligerent attitude could ruin it for her.”

He steered Johnny toward the back door. “Now tell me, what’s Jane fixing for dinner?”

J
ane looked down at the children sleeping in the little bed and thought her heart would burst. She hadn’t had to argue at all to get Adam to leave them another night. She was so happy she could have kissed him.

Well, she thought, feeling her cheeks grow warm, that wasn’t an image she should dwell on. She dwelled on it anyway: Adam standing here beside her, watching the children sleep; Adam making love to her again. She was every bit as foolish as her mother had been.

She turned down the lamp on the kitchen table and walked quietly to her own room. She mustn’t think about Adam or she would get no sleep at all. She didn’t want Adam saying the children had exhausted her.

No matter how well she slept, he was taking them away after breakfast. A family was coming to see Peggy sometime tomorrow. Though Jane had suggested
they could see her at the boardinghouse as easily as next door, Adam had shook his head. He probably thought she would try to keep them from taking Peggy. Maybe she would.

She told herself that Peggy deserved both a father and a mother. Perhaps the family could open their hearts to a clever boy as well. It could be the best thing for both the children. Wasn’t that what she wanted?

But the answer was no. She wanted Peggy. She had fallen in love with the little girl with the strange habits, and with her brother besides. How could she not love a boy who would go to such lengths to find his little sister?

As Jane put out her lamp and crawled into bed, she told herself she must pray that whatever happened would be what was best for the children. But as she drifted off to sleep, the family she envisioned for the children included not only herself, but Adam.

When Adam was ready to leave with the children, Peggy turned back. She ran to Jane, who knelt to give her a hug and a kiss. “Ann Jane go, too?” Peggy asked.

“No, sweetheart, Aunt Jane has to stay here.”

“Peggy come back.”

Adam saw Jane’s eyes fill with tears. “Come back anytime,” she said.

Peggy, her kitten scampering at her feet, ran cheerfully back to Adam. She took his offered hand
and one of Johnny’s and skipped across the backyards to Adam’s kitchen door.

Adam felt like a monster. Jane loved the little girl and would make a wonderful mother. His reasons for denying her the child were becoming less clear all the time. But now, when he would like to give in and let Jane have Peggy, there was Johnny to consider as well.

Johnny wasn’t going to make anybody’s life easier. The incident the evening before had made it clear the boy had his own idea of what was acceptable behavior, and there was every chance that attempts at discipline would only make him run away, perhaps taking Peggy with him.

At the same time, it seemed cruel to separate them. Adam wasn’t sure he would be willing to send Peggy off with the couple today if they didn’t want to take Johnny, too. He would have to try to guess whether or not they could handle the boy.

When they entered Adam’s kitchen, Johnny found his old clothes and wanted to change into them. “I think you look better in those,” Adam said.

“You’re not serious,” Johnny said, tugging at a rolled-up sleeve. “I look like an idiot.”

“Suit yourself,” Adam said. At least the boy’s clothes were clean. He had found an interesting little pick hidden in a seam of the shirt while he was wringing it out. He could guess its purpose. He wondered if Johnny would be willing to admit to owning it and ask for it back.

He left Johnny in the kitchen and took Peggy upstairs with him. He changed her into a clean dress and fresh white apron and combed her hair, then stood her on his dresser so she could see herself in the mirror. “Isn’t Peggy pretty?”

Peggy laughed. “Nonny, come see!” she called. “Nonny!”

In seconds Johnny was bounding up the stairs, buttoning his shirt as he came. “What, baby?”

“See Peggy.” She pointed at the mirror and giggled.

“Yeah, silly, that’s what Peggy looks like. Didn’t you know that?”

“Nonny, too.” She beckoned him closer. She pointed to the Johnny that appeared in the mirror and back at her brother.

“Yep. That’s me.”

Adam let Peggy kiss her image goodbye, then lifted her off the dresser. While he packed Peggy’s few belongings in her little case, Johnny looked around curiously. He pretended disinterest, however. Peggy followed her kitten, watching him explore.

With the case in hand, Adam directed the children back downstairs. The kitten headed toward the front room with Peggy right behind him. Johnny followed Adam into the kitchen.

“You got somethin’ that belongs to me,” the boy said.

“And what might that be?” Adam asked, turning to face him.

“My lock pick,” he answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“I don’t think you need that anymore, Johnny.”

“How would you know? If this family takes Peggy they ain’t gonna want me. Aunt Jane ain’t gonna keep feedin’ me once Peggy’s gone. And you can’t wait till I’m outta your life.”

Adam sighed. “That’s not true, Johnny.” He bent to gather the discarded clothes.

“The hell it ain’t.”

“Johnny, this family would be more likely to want you if you’d watch your language.” He shook out the shirt and turned a pant leg right side out. Something heavy hit the floor at his feet.

Johnny started forward, but Adam reached it first. He turned the brand-new pocketknife slowly in his hand. Peggy’s call from upstairs had evidently caused the boy to leave it in the borrowed pants.

“Now you got two things that are mine.”

“Where did you get this, Johnny?” The last thing he expected was an honest answer.

“I stole it yesterday.” The boy’s jaw set as if he dared Adam to hit him. In the strained silence, they heard Peggy giggle in the other room.

“You’ll have to return it,” Adam said.

“Like hell! It’s mine now.”

Adam shook his head. “No. It still belongs to the store you stole it from.”

Johnny grinned in triumph. “Then that pick’s still mine.”

Adam chuckled. “All right. The pick’s still yours. I’ll give it back to you, but I’ll take it again if you ever use it. There’s a big difference between stealing from a store and confiscating from a criminal.”

“Oh, now I’m a criminal.”

Adam tossed the pocketknife lightly in the air. “Seems like.”

He put the clothes over the back of a chair and, taking Johnny’s arm, walked through the house. “We’re going for a walk,” he told Peggy.

Peggy grabbed up the kitten and took Adam’s other hand. Adam set a pace that was comfortable for the little girl. They were a block from the house before Johnny spoke. “What you gonna tell ‘em?”

“You’re
going to tell them you stole the knife yesterday, and you’re sorry. Then you’re going to offer to sweep the floor and wash the windows to make up for it.”

“I ain’t sayin’ no such thing.”

“Sure you are.” Adam smiled down at Peggy, who seemed oblivious to her brother’s plight.

“Or what?”

“Or nothing. There’s no choice here, Johnny. You’re going to do what’s right.”

Johnny laughed. “Ain’t ya gonna tell me you’re gonna send me to jail?”

“I don’t have to, Johnny.” Adam released the boy’s arm to bend and lift Peggy. She gave him a half hug around the kitten. He lengthened his steps a little just as Johnny slowed, as if he considered
running. Adam stopped and waited for him. “How much do you want to stay with your sister?”

“That ain’t fair,” Johnny said, catching up.

“Maybe not, but it’s effective.”

“I don’t trust you anyhow, you know. I could turn over the knife, and you could still send her away from me.”

“It’s not always easy to figure out who to trust.” Adam found himself thinking of Jane as he said it. “Take the storekeeper. He trusted his customers to pay for what they took. How’s he going to trust you to do anything you promise?”

“’Cause he figures you’ll beat me if I don’t?” Johnny guessed.

Adam sighed. “You’re supposed to say because he knows you’re honestly sorry you stole from him.”

Johnny was silent for a moment. “You got a funny way a lookin’ at things.”

They were approaching the business district and Adam asked, “Which store, Johnny?”

“Maybe I don’t want to tell-you.”

“Fine,” he said. “We’ll just start with the first store and ask.”

Johnny stepped forward. “It was that one.” He pointed toward Gardener’s General Store.

Inside, Peggy and her kitten both squirmed to be released. They were the only customers in the store at the moment and got the full attention of both Mr. and Mrs. Gardener.

“Look, Earl,” the Mrs. said. “It’s the children that were here yesterday with Miss Sparks.”

“Morning, Dr. Hart,” said Earl.

Adam took the knife from his pocket and handed it to Johnny, nudging him forward. The boy cast him a scowl that didn’t quite cover the fear in his eyes.

“Yesterday.” He stopped and cleared his throat, then went on in a rush. “I stole this knife.” He held it out to Mr. Gardener.

Mr. Gardener hesitated a moment before he took it. “Lila?”

His wife scurried over to a small display. “Yes, one’s missing,” she said.

Adam gave Johnny another nudge.

“I’m sorry I stole it, and I’ll sweep up if’n you want.” This last was said with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

“And…” Adam prompted.

“And wash the windows.”

“What a nice boy,” Lila said, joining her husband.

Adam had serious doubts about that assessment. He listened to the tap of Peggy’s shoes, hoping that as long as she was moving she wasn’t getting into anything.

“Maybe you’d like to work here until you can buy the knife,” suggested Mr. Gardener.

“We’re not sure where the boy will be living,” Adam said. “He may be too far out in the country. But he can sweep up now.” Adam hoped they got
the hint that he thought making Johnny work for an hour or so would be a good idea.

The Gardners looked at each other. Earl made the decision. “He could stock some shelves for us. Can you find your own way home, after?”

Adam couldn’t help laughing. “I think that’s the least of our worries.” He turned to Johnny and patted him down. “When you get back, your pockets better be just as empty as they are now.”

Johnny made a face, then turned to the couple. “Tell me what to do. The sooner I get started the sooner I’m done.”

Adam found Peggy following the kitten around the shelves. He checked her apron pocket but needn’t have worried. There wasn’t room for any pilfered items because it contained half a biscuit.

Peggy slung the kitten over one arm and let Adam lift her. When they walked out the door, she pointed over his shoulder. “Nonny.”

“Johnny’s going to work here for a little while.”

“Peggy, too.”

“No,” Adam said, heading for home. “Peggy needs to come home with me. There are some people coming who’ll want to meet you.”

“Nonny gone?”

“No, he’ll be along.”

He answered the same question a dozen more times. By the time he reached the house, the question had become a. whisper. Peggy headed straight for the desk and hid.

* * *

Jane couldn’t keep her mind off Adam and the children. She wanted to run next door and hug them one more time. She wanted to be there when the prospective parents came for them, but she understood why she couldn’t.

When the dishes were clean and put away, she went out to her garden. After digging sweet potatoes for dinner, she returned to her kitchen, feeling no interest in any pruning or weeding.

Now, she decided, was the time to read her mother’s letters. They had been working on her curiosity since she had found them. She considered the parlor, as it was sunny this time of day, but didn’t want to be disturbed. She flung open the curtains in her bedroom and settled into a chair by the window, the packet on her lap.

Peggy wouldn’t venture out from under the desk, although the kitten did. Adam thought she would eventually follow the kitten, but instead her loud whisper would call the kitten back to their hiding place. Adam wished Peggy was really playing the game the kitten took it for. How was he to explain this behavior to prospective parents?

Fortunately, Johnny returned about midday and coaxed her out. “You don’t have to hide anymore. I told ya,” he said.

“Nonny gone,” she whimpered, clinging to him.

“I weren’t gone. I was workin’. Wanna see what I got?”

Peggy nodded vigorously.

Johnny fished around in his pocket and pulled out a penny. He smiled as he showed it to his sister, then turned a defiant glare on Adam. “I didn’t steal it, neither. If’n I was to steal, I’d know enough to take more’n a penny.”

“That’s probably the most convincing evidence you could give me,” Adam said. “Are you hungry?”

He led the way to the kitchen, where he laid out a light lunch of cheese and crackers. Peggy put the kitten down and climbed into a chair. “Nonny fat,” she announced.

“Not this Nonny,” Johnny said.

“Nonny Kitty,” said Peggy, pointing.

“Is Peggy fat, too?” Johnny asked, tickling her ribs. “If you’re gettin’ fat it’s Aunt Jane’s doin’, not Dr. Hart’s.”

Peggy giggled. “Go see Ann Jane.”

“Maybe later,” Adam said, hoping to divert the girl’s attention. “Have a cracker.”

“Go see Ann Jane,” she repeated, taking the cracker and biting into it.

Johnny smirked at him, and he knew there would be no help there. “We can’t, honey. Aunt Jane’s busy.”

“Ann Jane gone?” she asked, looking concerned.

“Aunt Jane’s working, like Johnny was.”

This seemed to satisfy her, and she settled into the chair and ate. When she was full, she dropped
the crumbling biscuit from her pocket onto the floor for Nonny and replaced it with crackers and cheese. Johnny was more secretive, but Adam noticed he put a little away in his pockets as well. It made Adam wonder if the boy was waiting for a chance to run away.

Before they had finished cleaning up from their lunch, George came in the front door, calling, “Adam?”

Adam quickly brushed the worst of the crumbs off Peggy’s face and dress and brought the two children out to meet him.