Sleigh of Hope (3 page)

“We’ll make Leo understand that it’s too dangerous for him and his brother to sleep in the greenhouse.”

Adam nodded, but he wondered how Duke would get the hardheaded, distrustful Leo to come home with them. Whatever his dad did, he hoped it wouldn’t make Leo mad because the boy could beat him up pretty bad, if he wanted to. And it would be awful if he did it in front of Rebecca.

Even if Leo didn’t punch him tonight he could do it in the morning when Duke went to work at the sawmill he owned with his three brothers. Until Adam headed to school he would be alone with Leo. Faith couldn’t stop a boy that size if he was mad enough.

But Leo could do worse than beat him up. He could try to steal Rebecca away. Her interest in Leo might be more than curiosity, and Adam didn’t like it one bit. That was all the more reason to find the boys another place to live.

“Maybe I should walk you home now,” he said to Rebecca as they headed outside. That way they would both be out of the way when his dad fetched the boys.

She gave him an odd look. “My father is walking me home when he finishes at the harness shop, remember?”

He remembered. He’d been hoping she wouldn’t.

“Quit lollygagging, son.” His dad hooked his arm around Adam’s shoulders and walked him across the street to the greenhouse. “It’s best to meet a challenge head on.”

This challenge might get him killed.

When they entered the bathhouse Leo was too tired to kill anyone. He was holding a fussy Benny and fighting to stay awake. When he saw Duke, his eyes filled with suspicion.

“Rest easy, son. I’m here to help. I have delicious stew to fill your bellies and a warm bed where you can both rest. I used to be the sheriff in this town and I can guarantee you’ll be safe in my home, son. That’s a promise.”

That was the second time Duke had called Leo
son
and each time had gouged a hole in Adam’s heart. Seeing Rebecca watching the boys with compassion and intense interest gouged another hole.

But as Leo struggled to his feet and staggered with Benny’s slight weight in his arms, shame filled Adam. These boys were in real trouble.

For some reason his dad didn’t offer to carry the baby, so Adam held back as well.

As they left the greenhouse, Leo wrapped his thin jacket around his little brother. An icy blast of snow hit them in the face. Benny whimpered and burrowed deeper into Leo’s arms.

Adam lunged forward and draped the blanket around the baby. He tossed the rest over Leo’s big shoulders.

Leo gaped in surprise, but Adam looked right back without flinching. Too bad if the hardhead didn’t want help. It was obvious they were both cold and miserable, and he wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing.

Dropping back, he followed his father and the boys in silence, glad Rebecca was at his side. As they tromped up the front porch steps behind the others, he wondered if it would be the last time he entered his perfect home as an eldest son.

Chapter Two

T
he house was dark and silent when Adam woke, but he could smell coffee, so he knew his dad and Faith were up. He hoped Leo wasn’t.

“Good morning, Scout,” he whispered to his beagle. The dog slept on his bed every night, often curled against his side. He scratched the dog’s head and whispered, “You stay here and don’t make a sound.”

The dog yawned and lowered his nose back to his paws, in no obvious hurry to leave the warm bed.

Chilly oak floorboards assaulted Adam’s bare feet as he crept across his bedroom, careful to avoid the creaky spot near his chest-of-drawers. His past life as a prostitute’s child had taught him how to slip through houses and neighborhoods unseen.

The hall was warm from the woodstove in the downstairs parlor. Early each morning his dad built a roaring fire to take the chill out of the house. Adam still couldn’t believe he was waking up in a warm home with the smell of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen and the whole day waiting to be filled with all the things normal families did. He wondered if Leo and Benny had ever experienced this sort of home.

He hoped they had. But that might be worse because then Leo would know what he had lost. Until becoming a Grayson, Adam could only wonder what this kind of life would be like, and his imagination hadn’t come close. To lose all this would be the worst thing in the world.

The boys were sleeping in the room next to his. He placed his ear against the cool wood panel of the closed door and listened. Not a sound came from inside. No fussing. No talking. No snoring.

What if they had snuck out during the night? Could Leo be that stupid?

Slowly, Adam lifted the cold metal latch then eased the door open enough to peer inside.

Benny sprawled sideways across the bed with one chubby leg lying across Leo’s chest, and his arms flopped out to his sides. His puckered lips and wild hair made Adam smile. It had felt nice holding the little guy and listening to his gibberish. It might be all right to keep him around.

But that would mean keeping his big brother around because Leo had made it clear he wasn’t going anywhere without Benny.

Sneaking through the house intruding on people’s privacy was a lowbrow activity, but Adam was too fascinated with the boys to leave. Leo didn’t look as big and mean when he was sleeping. Benny was so sweet it made Adam’s chest ache to think the little boy was without his mother.

Adam’s own mother was dead. His sister, Faith, had taken care of him for as long as he could remember and was more like a mother than a sister to him. His family was far from normal, but seeing the ragged boys sleeping in the guestroom made him feel like the luckiest boy in the world.

With a large yawn, Leo knuckled his nose and opened his eyes.

Adam tensed, ready to bolt for his own bedroom where he could barricade the door from inside if caught spying.

Leo rocked onto his elbow, glanced at Benny then stared at the partially open door with a dark frown.

Running would have been the smart thing to do, but Adam swung the door open and stepped inside.
It’s best to meet a challenge head on.
He just hoped it wouldn’t result in a broken nose.

“Do we have to leave now?” Leo asked, his voice gravelly from sleeping.

“What?” Adam’s own voice had changed in the last year, but it never sounded this deep or manly. “No,” he said, wondering why he always had to come up short when comparing himself to other boys. “I was just checking to see if you skipped out last night.”

Leo looked at him as if he were stupid. “Why would I do that?”

“You said you didn’t want to come to my house when I asked. I thought you were mad that I told my dad about you and Benny.”

“I was.” Leo raked his hair back and sat up. He tucked the blankets around Benny then planted his big bare feet on the floor and stood.

Gulping, Adam prepared himself for the thumping he was about to get.

In two strides Leo was within swinging distance.

Fear rooted Adam to the floorboards.

“This is the fullest our bellies have been in a long time. Thank you,” Leo said, extending his hand.

Speechless, Adam shook hands, barely daring to believe the boy wasn’t pounding him to pulp.

“I thought if it was warm enough in the greenhouse for plants it would be warm enough for us.” Leo glanced at the bed where Benny was sound asleep in a pile of warm blankets. A sick look washed across his face. “I didn’t know it could be dangerous for Benny.”

“It was dangerous for both of you. But it was smart of you to know it would be warm in there.”

An awkward silence filled the room.

Leo sighed and hung his head. “I’m sorry I trespassed, but we don’t have any place to go. I had to get Benny out of the weather.”

“I would have done the same thing,” Adam said, knowing too well the panicky gut-grip of desperation. He and his brothel family had spent years barely surviving. They had been hungry. Desperate. Afraid. Most of all, alone. Having nowhere to turn for help was the worst feeling ever. That was in his past now, but that same sick fear was all over Leo’s face.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Always,” Leo answered with a nod.

“My sister makes a mountain of eggs and pancakes for breakfast. There’s hot running water in the watercloset. After you wash up, head downstairs and Faith will feed you until your seams burst.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“How old are you, Leo?”

“Fifteen last month.”

Fifteen?
With those big shoulders and man muscles he was only six stinking months older than Adam? Disgusted, Adam stepped into the hall. “I got to get ready for school.”

“Wait! I just... do you know where I might find a job?”

With all that muscle? He knew exactly where Leo could work. “I’ll talk to my dad tonight about hiring you at his sawmill.”

Leo’s eyes lit up. “You will?”

“I can’t promise anything,” he said, wishing he had talked with his father before giving Leo hope. His dad would want Leo in school, not working all day at the mill. But he’d probably let him work some evenings and weekends like Adam did.

“I understand. Just tell him... tell him I’ll work real hard. Okay?”

“At the mill everyone works hard. But I’ll tell him,” he said.

His first order of business, though, was to find a place for Leo and his little brother to live. The longer the boys stayed here the more likely Faith would fall in love with them and want to make them a permanent part of their home.

***

On his way to school, Adam told Rebecca about his plan to find the boys a permanent home. Her two younger brothers ran ahead of them, scooping up snow and throwing snowballs at each other.

“Maybe my mother and father would take them,” she said, keeping pace with him as they walked out Liberty Street.

In a million years that thought wouldn’t have crossed Adam’s mind and it stunned him that it was the first suggestion out of her mouth. She already had a sister and two brothers, and it was very likely her parents would add a few more to their family. It would be an added burden to take in two more boys. But Rebecca obviously considered it an option.

“Why would they do that when they already have four children?” he asked.

She looked at him as if he were stupid. “Because those boys need a home.” The frosty funnel of her breath whirled away on a light gust of wind. Her dark eyes looked deep into his as if she’d suddenly lost him and was trying to find him again. “I’ll be surprised if your dad and sister don’t keep them.”

They
would
keep them.

Adam wanted the boys to have a good home, but he was going to do his best to make sure that home wasn’t his own. Being selfish made his stomach squeamish, but he had waited a long time to have a dad like Duke and he didn’t want to share him or his perfect home and family with anyone.

“Guess what Mama and I did last night?” she asked, her eyes lighting with pleasure.

He shrugged because he was too preoccupied with thoughts of Leo to play a guessing game.

“We gathered a sack full of my brothers’ old clothes and boots that should fit Benny. Mama said she’ll drop them at your house while we’re in school.”

“That’s real nice,” he said, relieved to know Benny would have some warmer clothes. Uneasy with his selfish thoughts in the face of Rebecca’s generosity, he increased his pace. “We’re running late,” he said, urging her to walk faster.

“They seem like nice boys,” she said.

He nodded. “What if another family in town would really like a couple of boys?” he asked, trying to change the direction of her thinking. “Shouldn’t we at least ask around?” Having Leo living in his house would be awful, but having him living in the same house as Rebecca would be a disaster.

“I suppose we should,” she said, as the schoolhouse came into view. “I’ll talk with my parents and see if they might know of a good place for the boys.”

“Maybe we should ask Uncle Boyd and Uncle Kyle, too. The more people helping the quicker we might find a home for them.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said, climbing the schoolhouse steps. “But what if the boys want to stay right where they are?”

Mr. MacEnroy stood inside the door clanging the morning bell, forcing them to dart inside and find their desks. But Adam spent the entire school day thinking about that possibility.

***

That night at supper Adam listened to his father say the words he dreaded... that Leo and Benny were welcome in their home for as long as they wanted to stay, or until Leo found a family that he and Benny preferred to live with.

“I visited the orphanage this morning and let them know we’d been keeping you boys,” his father said to Leo, “so there’s no need to worry you’ll be sent back.”

Adam sat in his chair with his fist clenched and his gut in knots, not saying a word.

His dad laid his fork on his plate and sat back in his chair like he didn’t have a care in the world.

And why would he? Adam thought. Duke and his three brothers were handsome, talented, smart men. They owned two successful sawmills and were from one of the most respected families in town.