Cassandra Austin (8 page)

He found his hand shaking as he tore the end off the envelope. He skimmed the letter quickly, stared
at the last line for several seconds, than started at the beginning again.

Since Doreena had no wish to live in the middle of nowhere and his letters indicated he had no intention of coming back home, she thought it was best that they break their engagement. He would thank her later, once he got over his broken heart.

She went on to say she had already informed her parents and they were taking it very well. Of course they were. They were probably delighted.

As soon as she had made the decision and, evidently, the announcement, she had thrown herself into social activities, hoping to ward off any talk of melancholia over the broken engagement. Everything was working out splendidly for her, as she was certain it soon would for him.

Doreena, it seemed, had been swept off her feet by someone “of her own class,” as she put it.

Adam carefully refolded the letter and slid it back into the envelope. He should feel desolate. Doreena had not only broken their engagement but had already found someone else. He waited for the pain to come, for the shock to set in.

He took a deep breath and as he let it out realized all he felt was relief. The worry of how he could possibly make her happy was suddenly lifted from his shoulders.

His next thought was that he wanted to tell Jane, not only about the letter but his reaction to it as well. Jane, however, would be busy making final preparations
for the orphans’ arrival. She wouldn’t welcome his intrusion.

She barely spoke to him anymore, anyway. She seemed to think he was out to steal her house, or some such nonsense. He found himself worrying about her more each day. He wished he knew what to do to help her.

The boardinghouse was sparkling when Jane welcomed the sponsors and their fourteen charges inside. The children ranged in age from a sweet-faced sixteen-year-old girl to a small boy of only two. The little one promptly wandered into the parlor, climbed up in a cushioned chair and fell asleep.

The other children lined up their little suitcases in the hall and placed their coats on top, then gathered around the table, where they ate sandwiches and carrots and drank milk. One small girl stayed very close to Mrs. Elder, one of the sponsors. At first Jane thought the girl was shy, but soon decided that the sponsor was keeping close watch on the girl. When one of the other children drew Mrs. Elder’s attention, the little girl crept away. Jane. watched her quietly slip behind the heavy drapes that hung on either side of the large window.

Mrs. Elder looked around for her charge. “Where did Peggy go now?” she asked the other children. The oldest girl pointed to the curtain.

“Little Miss Peggy,” the sponsor said, hunkering
down in front of the curtain and drawing it aside to reveal the girl, “what are you doing back there?”

Peggy let herself be drawn away from the wall and back into the group. “Don’t you want some more to eat?”

“Peggy’s,” said the little girl when Mrs. Elder offered her a sandwich. Peggy tried to shove it into the tiny pocket sewn on her apron.

“Peggy,” Mrs. Elder said gently, “you have to eat it now.”

Peggy, the sandwich clutched in both hands, sat down on the floor and scooted under the table. Jane could see her sitting cross-legged, placidly eating the sandwich.

Mrs. Elder sighed. “I wondered about the wisdom of bringing her. She has too many strange habits. Besides, she’s probably close to four and doesn’t talk except for saying her name. If anyone takes her, I expect they’ll be asking us to come back and get her in a matter of days.”

Jane bent for another look at the little girl. She seemed completely content, looking out through the forest of legs. One of the older boys leaned over to grin at her and received a smile in return.

After everyone had eaten, Mrs. Elder asked for a room for the six girls to change into their better dresses. The seven boys were left under the supervision of the other sponsor, Mr. Holt, and Jane led the way to her bedroom. While the girls changed, Jane went across the hall to check on the baby. He
was curled up in a tight ball. Jane couldn’t resist gathering the little one into her arms. He let out a soft sigh and settled into her shoulder.

To think of this precious little boy being orphaned or abandoned at such a tender age brought tears to her eyes. “Someone will want you,” she whispered into a tiny ear. “Anyone would want you.”

He stirred, stretched, then stared at her with bleary eyes.

“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” she asked.

He simply stared.

Afraid that he would become frightened when he realized a stranger was holding him, she carried him into the dining room. Mr. Holt was checking each boy, making sure their shirts were buttoned and tucked in and their hair was neat.

“Charlie’s awake,” one of the boys volunteered. Several of the boys greeted the baby, who turned away from Jane to stare at them.

Jane took a sandwich from the plate and placed it in the child’s outstretched hands. She poured a fresh glass of milk and took one of the recently vacated chairs. With Charlie on her lap, she helped him take occasional sips of milk, and watched Mr. Holt coach the boys.

“Stand up straight. Look people in the eye. If you don’t like the looks of a family that asks for you, say so. You’re good boys. There are plenty of people who can use you. You try to pick someone who’ll be good to you.”

Seven boys nodded their heads.

“If you see someone watching you, someone who looks kind and happy, do like I told you. Go ask if they want to be your mother or father.”

With a sigh, he ran an eye over each of the boys again. “You’re next, Charlie.”

Charlie turned at the sound of his name, but continued to eat. Holt put his hands on his hips and looked down at the boy. A smile slowly spread across his face. Charlie laughed and offered him a bite of the crumbling bread.

“We’ll brush you off when you’re done, and you’ll be ready for the show. If we can keep you until we get to the church, that is.” For Jane’s benefit he explained, “We had two offers on the train.”

“His hair’s all over the place,” a freckle-faced boy said.

Jane smoothed the downy hair, but it defied her efforts.

“His hair is hopeless,” Holt said, smiling at the older boy.

Mrs. Elder and two of the girls joined them. “Did Peggy come in here?” Mrs. Elder asked.

Jane shook her head. “She may have gone into the parlor.”

“Alex, go look,” Holt directed.

“I didn’t hear the front door open so she’s sure to be in the house,” Jane assured them.

“Try under the bed,” one of the boys suggested.

“Oh, heavens,” Mrs. Elder said, turning back up the hall. “She’ll get herself all dirty.”

Jane hid a smile in Charlie’s soft hair. She wouldn’t get dirty in this house-not right now, anyway. This, she would tell Adam, was the reason she had cleaned.

In a few minutes Mrs. Elder led the rest of the girls out of the bedroom. Peggy had evidently been retrieved from under the bed. Mrs. Elder, her hand firmly wrapped around the little girl’s wrist, said, “I believe we’ll go on over to the church. I’d like to have the children inside before people start arriving.”

Jane handed Charlie to the oldest girl while the children filed out. Mr. Holt thanked her before he followed, urging a couple of dawdlers to a faster pace.

Jane sat for a moment, thinking about Peggy and Charlie. She had planned to attend the presentation and had prepared a cold supper that she was going to leave for the boarders. Now she wished she had made no such arrangements. Fixing the usual big meal would keep her mind off the little children.

She asked herself if it would be better to see the children leave with their new families or sit here and wonder about them. With a sigh, she stood to clean the table. She knew Adam had worked hard at selecting good families. Anyone asking for a child today without having already applied would have to
be approved by the board. She didn’t have to worry for these children.

The more she thought about it, the more she knew she wanted to be there. She quickly cleaned up after the children and laid out the buffet, carefully covering each dish with a cloth. She couldn’t dismiss the urgency she felt even as she left the house and hurried around the other folks making their way to the old city hall, which now served as the Methodist Church. In the large meeting room, she took a seat near the front even though spectators not applying for children were urged to sit in the back. She needed to be as close to the children as possible.

G
eorge came out and quieted the audience. After introducing the members of the placing board, all of whom were seated to one side, he explained the procedure, then turned the program over to the sponsors. A row of chairs had been arranged in front of the altar, and, as Mr. Holt led them out, the children took their places. The oldest girl carried Charlie and settled him on her lap. Peggy, her hand in Mrs. Elder’s, brought up the rear.

Mrs. Elder helped the little girl into her chair and stood behind it, her hands resting on the child’s shoulders. To Jane, Peggy looked very uncomfortable. She squirmed in the seat and tried to get her shoulders out from under Mrs. Elder’s control. Mrs. Elder bent and whispered to the girl, who cringed away.

Mr. Holt glanced at Peggy, but went on with the introductions. He called each child’s name and,
while he or she stood, gave a brief description of that child’s background.

By the time it was Peggy’s turn, she seemed on the verge of rebellion. Mrs. Elder stood her up and, kneeling beside her, tried to hold her in such a way that she faced the audience. Mr. Holt had no more than stated she was Peggy, last name unknown, when she wailed, clutched her stomach and bent forward so forcefully Mrs. Elder’s best efforts weren’t enough to keep her from falling to the floor.

Jane leaped to her feet. Adam, she realized, was already hurrying toward the child. Jane couldn’t merely watch from a distance. She made her way forward as quickly as possible.

Holt, after a nod from Mrs. Elder, directed the other children back to their seats. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “Will the families who have picked out a child please come forward now?”

The noise faded into the background as Jane knelt beside little Peggy. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked. Peggy was on her back now, tossing her head from side to side. Her lips moved as if she were whispering to someone. Her eyes were tightly closed.

Adam, kneeling on the other side of the girl, shook his head. He removed his suit coat and folded it for a pillow. Peggy tried to roll onto her stomach and hide her face in the coat. Adam gently rolled
her back. She pulled the coat around her head instead.

“Peggy,” Jane said gently, trying to coax her out from under the coat. “Tell us where it hurts, sweetheart.”

The girl clutched the coat all the tighter.

Adam gently probed Peggy’s stomach. With her face covered it was hard for Jane to gauge her reaction. She didn’t cry out again, at least.

Still Jane was terrified for the little girl. She had seen enough death recently. This child had to be all right. “Adam?” she whispered.

Their eyes met. He looked as concerned as she felt. He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s anything serious. Maybe it was something she ate.”

“She ate at my house,” Jane said, horrified at the prospect.

Adam actually grinned. “We can rule that out, then.”

Jane smiled in gratitude. She had to avert her eyes before she gave herself away. She was too frightened to guard her emotions. “Come on, sweetheart,” she coaxed again. “Come out and tell us what’s wrong.”

Peggy shook her head, coat, arms and all.

George and Mrs. Elder stepped up beside them. “Adam,” George said, “nobody’s asked for this little girl.”

“We can hardly be surprised,” Mrs. Elder said sadly. “She’s such a strange little thing.”

“Has she done this before?” Jane asked, hoping for reassurance that nothing was truly wrong.

“Not exactly this,” Mrs. Elder said.

“What happens if no one wants her?” Adam asked.

“When children aren’t chosen, we like to leave them in temporary homes until permanent ones are found. At least that’s what we usually do. I don’t see that there’s much chance anyone will want this one, especially if she’s sick. I suppose we’ll take her back with us.”

“If she is ill that may not be wise,” Adam said.

“Let me have her,” Jane said impulsively. She had always loved children. This could be her chance to have one as her own.

Mrs. Elder raised an eyebrow. “A single woman isn’t exactly what the society is looking for, but if the local placing board agrees we have no objection.”

“Can you leave her long enough to join us for the vote?” George asked Adam.

“I’ll stay right here,” Jane promised, “and call you if anything happens.”

Adam nodded and came to his feet. In a moment only Mrs. Elder lingered nearby.

“Peggy,” Jane cooed. “Everybody’s going home. You can come out now.”

A muffled buzz emanated from the wadded coat.
Jane leaned down to listen. “She’s whispering,” she told Mrs. Elder.

Mrs. Elder nodded. “I’ve never been able to understand her. I doubt if she’s really saying anything at all.”

“Peggy,” Jane whispered loudly, leaning close to where the little arms held the coat closed. “Come out so I can hear you.”

The placing board convened in the corner behind the pulpit. “Just so everyone knows,” George began, “Jane Sparks has asked for the little girl, Peggy. We all know Jane, I think, so we can skip the discussion. Vote yes or no. We need a unanimous vote to let her take the child.”

Adam was torn as he listened to the older man speak. No one could possibly love a child more than Jane. Only a blind man could miss the longing in her eyes when she looked at little Peggy.

Besides, he didn’t like the idea of Peggy going back to the orphanage, especially if she was sick. And even if she wasn’t, it would be hard to convince anyone who had seen her this evening to take her.

Still, Jane wasn’t well, either. She was working herself into exhaustion. Adding a child, especially one that might need extra care, wasn’t a good idea. And wasn’t good for the child in the long run, either.

Because he had been standing a little to the side in order to make up his mind, it fell to him to cast the final vote. He hadn’t even listened to the others,
but assumed, since the voting continued, that they had all voted in favor. In good conscience, he could not. “No,” he said.

The committee was quiet for several seconds. George looked stunned. “Well,” he said finally. “That does it, then. Do you want to tell her?”

Adam hadn’t thought that far ahead. The pain of that prospect must have shown on his face.

“I didn’t think so.” George’s expression softened almost immediately. “I’m sure you have your reasons, son.”

He gave Adam an understanding nod as he went by. It didn’t help much. In the same way, knowing he was right didn’t make him feel any less guilty. He followed the rest of the committee back toward Peggy and Jane. As much as he hated to witness Jane’s disappointment, he needed to hear exactly what George told her.

He didn’t tell her much. She looked up and read it in his face. “They won’t let me take her, will they?” she asked.

George shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jane.”

The placing board and the two sponsors stood in a rough circle around the girl. Jane remained on the floor. “So what happens to her?”

“I guess we send her back with the sponsors,” George said.

Adam knew he had stayed in the background long enough. He took his former place on the floor with Jane, though he couldn’t look her in the eye. “I
don’t think she should travel until we know for sure she’s all right. Can either of you stay in town a couple days?” he asked the sponsors.

They glanced at each other. “I’m afraid we have appointments on our way back,” Holt said. “Do you think there’s any chance you can find someone who’ll take her?”

They had selected several more families than they needed, yet the extras had been willing to walk away with no child rather than ask for this little girl.

He was about to voice these thoughts when George answered, “I say we give it a try. Agreed, boys? I further suggest that, since the girl may be sick, we send her home with Dr. Hart, on a temporary basis, of course, while we look for a permanent home.”

The sponsors seemed thrilled with this idea, giving Adam no chance to protest. He probably wouldn’t have anyway, he decided. In a way it was what he deserved. “Come on, honey,” he said, lifting Peggy to a sitting position. Several hands reached out to help the girl up.

Peggy groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. This return of the earlier pain alarmed Adam. He caught her up in his arms and stood. She barely weighed anything. Maybe in her half-starved state she had eaten too much of Jane’s good food.

The others moved off and let him carry the girl away. Jane hurried around him to open the door. She had his suit coat over one arm and Peggy’s little
suitcase and coat in hand. He would have been surprised if she hadn’t come with him.

“Did you get any information out of her?” he asked as Jane tucked the little coat around the girl.

“Mrs. Elder says she doesn’t talk, but I’m sure she was saying something,” she answered as they hurried the two and a half blocks to his house.

“You couldn’t understand her?”

“I couldn’t hear her,” Jane clarified. “She whispers. If it’s really words, she’s whispering very fast.”

“I’m afraid she could have appendicitis,” Adam warned her. “If she does, I’m going to need an assistant. Do you think you can do that for me?”

“I’ll do my best, Adam, but I don’t think that’s it. She seemed to be getting better until the board came back.”

They had reached the house, and Jane held the door. Adam carried Peggy directly to the examination room and laid her gently on the table. Jane wasn’t two steps behind him.

If it was appendicitis, they might not have much time. Peggy held her fingers close to her face, twisting them together rapidly. Her lips were moving just as fast.

“Something’s distressing her, but I can’t tell if it’s pain,” Jane said.

“Watch her face. Tell me if she has any reaction.” Very gently he began probing the child’s abdomen.

“I don’t think she likes it,” Jane said. Her voice didn’t hold the urgency he was feeling. He looked up to discover her leaning very close to a tiny ear.

She whispered something, and the girl went still. Her eyes darted around the room as if she were seeing it for the first time. In the silence that followed even Adam heard her whisper, “Gone?”

“All gone,” Jane said softly. “Just Dr. Hart and Aunt Jane.”

Peggy tried to push herself up to a sitting position. Jane gave her a hand. “All better?”

“If she isn’t sick,” Adam said, feeling both relieved and confused, “what was wrong?”

“Stage fright,” Jane said, smoothing the little girl’s dress. “What’s this?” She fished into the apron pocket and withdrew a piece of carrot. She held it out to Peggy.

Peggy smiled and took it, poking it back into her pocket.

He remembered the cries and groans from the theater. “All this fuss for stage fright?”

Jane laughed. “It was quite a severe case, I admit, but that’s all it was. I watched her when she first came on the stage. She wanted to turn away from everyone. When Mrs. Elder wouldn’t let her, that’s when she cried.”

“And hid in my coat.”

“She’s been trying to hide since they got here,” Jane said. “Behind the curtains. Under the table. Even under my bed.”

Adam eyed the little girl, who now sat calmly on his examination table, looking around curiously.

“The next few days ought to be interesting,” he said.

“And all you wanted was a puppy,” Jane teased.

Her smile didn’t hide the hurt in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Jane,” he said. He put his arms around her, intending only to comfort her, but found his lips skimming across her temple.

She stepped away from him. “I understand.”

He doubted very much if she did. Before he could try to explain, she spoke again. “I laid out a buffet for the boarders before I left. Why don’t I run over and fix us a tray? You and Peggy can get better acquainted.”

As he watched her walk away, Adam felt a momentary panic. He wanted to shout at Jane to hurry back. He turned to Peggy and found her watching him curiously. “I’d know what to do with you if you were sick.”

She blinked at him, and he smiled. “Here,” he said, lifting her down from the table. “Go take a look around.”

Jane was on her way out of her house with the tray when she turned back and gathered extra blankets from the linen closet. Adam would have to find some place for Peggy to sleep, and she wanted the girl to be comfortable.

She found Adam sitting in one of the chairs in his
front room, elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He was so deep in thought she wasn’t sure he noticed her return. “Where’s Peggy?” she asked.

He straightened and scowled up at her. “Under the desk. Any suggestions would be welcome.”

He looked so perplexed she had to laugh. “Why don’t we join her?”

“What?”

Jane crossed the room and set the tray on the desk. She peeked in at Peggy and whispered a loud, “Hi, sweetheart,” as she pulled the chair out of the way. “Can Adam and I have a picnic down here?”

Peggy didn’t respond, but she didn’t look alarmed, either.

Adam helped Jane spread the blankets on the floor behind the desk. He seemed a little skeptical of the whole idea. “Didn’t you like to crawl into small places when you were little?” she asked as she sat down.

Adam handed her the tray and joined her on the floor. “Not that I remember.”

“A place like this,” she said, indicating the little space Peggy occupied, “can be your own little house, or a cave or maybe a rabbit hole.”

“I don’t think she’s playing,” Adam said. “I think she’s hiding.”

“Then we’ll hide with her. Look what I have.” She uncovered the tray and held an apple wedge out to Peggy.

Peggy took the offering and shifted until she
found her pocket. Holding it open with one hand, she dropped the apple wedge inside.

“Don’t put that in your pocket,” Adam said, reaching in to tickle the little girl. “Put that on your skinny ribs.”

Peggy giggled and batted his hand away.

“I think that means she’s full. What about you?”

With the tray on the floor between them, they shared what was left of the buffet-bread and beef, corn relish and apples. They tried to talk to Peggy as they ate but got nothing more than smiles out of her.