Sleigh of Hope (7 page)

As the end of the live-long-boring school day neared, all he could think about was last summer when he and Rebecca would meet at the creek. They would skip stones and talk about their lives and their dreams for their future. He wondered if she ever thought about the first time they kissed.

As their teacher droned on, Adam wrote a note on his slate.
Thinking about our kiss at the creek last summer...
He passed it to Rebecca.

Surprised, she read it quickly and smiled. At her first opportunity, she jotted a note below and passed it back to him.

“Is that something you wish to share with us, Mr. Grayson?” the teacher asked, catching Rebecca passing the slate back.

Adam’s ears felt like twin flames shooting from the sides of his head. If MacEnroy read the note they would be in big trouble at school and at home.

A loud crash from across the room startled everyone.

Mr. MacEnroy’s head jerked toward the disturbance, his eyebrows slashing downward in a fierce scowl. “What are you about, Mr. Sullivan?”

Adam scrubbed his forearm across his slate, clearing away the evidence that would cost him and Rebecca a paddling and much embarrassment.

“Sorry, Mr. MacEnroy,” Leo said, picking his slate off the floor. “I accidentally knocked it off my desk.”

He had done it on purpose, of course. MacEnroy knew it, but couldn’t prove it, so he let it go. But Adam knew it and silently thanked Leo for saving him a load of trouble.

MacEnroy held out his hand. “Your slate, Mr. Grayson.”

Adam presented it as requested.

MacEnroy’s scowl deepened when he saw the clean slate. “Whatever shenanigans are going on had better cease this instant,” he said to the class at large.

As MacEnroy strode back to the front of the room, Adam and Rebecca grinned at each other. He may have erased the words she’d written, but they were burned in his mind.
I miss you...

He missed her, too, and the fun times they had at the creek. He wanted more times like that where they could skip stones and talk and just be together.

Leo leaned back in his chair, catching Adam’s attention. He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

Adam snorted then coughed to cover his half-laugh before MacEnroy got mad enough to switch him.

The last half hour was a battle for him to keep a grin off his face. When MacEnroy finally released them, Adam bolted into the winter afternoon as if he’d been chained to his desk for a week.

On the way home, he thanked Leo.

“I figured I owed you after messing with you this morning,” Leo said.

“You knew I wanted you to get lost, didn’t you?”

“Sure did.”

“And you hung around like a bad cold.”

“Yup.”

Adam punched Leo’s shoulder. “You’re right. You did owe me a favor.”

Leo laughed. “Here’s your chance,” he said, then ran after Rebecca’s brothers with his arms wide. “Who wants to get buried in a snowdrift?”

The boys took off at a run, giggling and zigzagging down the street to avoid Leo.

Adam lagged behind with his sweetheart. “He sure makes it hard to stay mad at him,” he said, watching Leo pelt the boys with snowballs and make himself an easy target.

“Why were you mad at him?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You sure?”

Nothing mattered but her. “Do you really miss me?” he asked.

She looked into his eyes, her own dark and sincere. “More than ever.”

“I miss you, too,” he said, wanting to convey all the feelings inside him that he didn’t have words for. Someday he would know how to tell her what she meant to him. For now, they would both have to settle for friendship and small confessions.

Chapter Five

S
aturday evening Adam and Leo flopped in the parlor, exhausted from a hard day at the mill. Benny toddled around the furniture while Cora crawled after him on her hands and knees barking like a dog. Benny giggled and screeched. Scout barked and darted through the parlor whacking chair legs and the mahogany side tables with his madly wagging tail.

Leo seemed pleased by Benny’s exuberance. A couple of times he reached around the back of his chair to scare Benny and Cora.

They screeched.

Faith and Duke sat on the davenport watching and laughing at the chaos.

It was cute. For two minutes. Adam groaned. Usually he enjoyed sitting in the parlor reading or playing games with his family. He liked lying on the floor near the woodstove and playing with Scout. But the shrieking and giggling was about to drive him mad.

In the ruckus Scout knocked Benny down. He tumbled backwards and bumped his head against a wooden chair leg.

Everyone lunged to their feet as Leo scooped Benny into his arms.

The boy squalled while Leo held and comforted him.

Faith and Duke checked Benny’s head and determined it was nothing more than a bump.

The accident upset Cora and she crawled onto Faith’s lap, watching warily as Leo rocked Benny in his arms and calmed him down.

Adam glanced at his father to see if the chaos had upset him, too, but he seemed relaxed and happy to have the house in an uproar.

“The little one is quite attached to you,” Duke said to Leo.

“I’ve been caring for him from the day he was born.” Leo rubbed Benny’s back. “My mother was sick and died shortly after his birth. There was no one to take care of him, so I did it.”

A sad look crossed Duke’s face. “You’ve certainly been dealt some hard blows. It can’t be easy taking care of your little brother, but I’m proud of you for doing it.”

Leo shrugged. “Benny’s all I got. My dad left us at the orphanage with nothing. Benny needs me.”

“I’m real sorry about that. You’re an upstanding young man, Leo, and I’d be proud to call you my son.”

His father’s declaration pierced Adam’s heart like a hard strike from a hunting knife.

Leo acknowledged the compliment with a nod.

Adam’s chest ached so bad he could barely draw a breath, but he sucked air through his clenched teeth because he had something to add. “Cyrus feels the same way. He wants Leo to be his son.”

“I know.” His father nodded. “Cyrus is a smart man. He can see the caliber of Leo’s character. Any decent man would be honored to have a son like Leo.”

If Adam had the words and the breath to comment, he wouldn’t have known what to say. Duke was
his
father. Leo knew that, but he just sat there lapping up the praise and doing his best to take Adam’s place.

Cora and Benny were starting to drift off, and Adam saw his opportunity to escape.

He stood and opened his arms to Cora. “If you want to go up to bed, I’ll tell you a story about Gordie the goat who gets lost in the snow and is found by that old snowman we made last week.”

Her eyes widened and she launched herself into his waiting arms.

Storytelling in their house was an art form that everyone enjoyed and participated in. Adam was a master storyteller and Cora loved when he created a story just for her.

“Thank you, Adam. I’ll be up shortly,” Faith said, wearing the loving, motherly smile he’d been seeing from his earliest memory.

Duke stood to kiss Cora. “Goodnight, princess.” He hugged Adam. “Goodnight, son.”

“Goodnight... Dad,” Adam said, forcing the words from his aching throat. Without a single look or word to Leo, he walked out of the parlor.

***

The thudding sound of firewood being stacked in the parlor woodbin woke Adam with a start. He flung back his bedcovers and reached for his pants. He should have filled the bin last night like his dad had asked, but he had fallen asleep while telling Cora a story. When Faith woke him and sent him to bed, he hadn’t argued.

Now his father was doing the job Adam had left unfinished.

Yanking on his pants, he hurried downstairs in his bare feet. His coat and boots would keep him warm enough to haul in the wood. Then he would wash up and dress for church.

At the bottom of the stairs he stopped in surprise. While his father fed the stove, Leo was loading the woodbin. The tiring job of carting wood, especially on a frigid winter morning, wasn’t fun, but that didn’t mean he wanted Leo taking over.

“Thank you, Leo.” Duke closed the stove door then stood and brushed his hands off. “I hear you’re getting another guitar lesson this afternoon.”

“Yes, sir. Mr. Darling is going to help me play through my Christmas song again.”

“The one you played for us?”

“Yes, sir.” Leo wrinkled his nose and brushed bark fragments off his coat sleeves. “It sure didn’t sound like his playing, did it?”

Adam listened to his father’s warm laughter, and he wanted to throttle Leo.

“Talent like that takes years to develop. You did a fine job.”

Leo nodded. “I want to play like Mr. Darling someday.”

“I think he would like to teach you.”

“Yes, sir.” Leo lifted his chin and spoke directly, man-to-man. “I don’t know if I should stay here or move in with the Darlings.”

“They are wonderful people and they want to give you and Benny a good home. But the decision is yours. You and Benny are welcome here.”

“Benny’s never had a playmate like Cora. It would be cruel to take him away from her.”

“There’s no need to decide anything today.” Duke hooked his arm around Leo’s shoulders. “For now, let’s just fill this woodbin.”

So this is what it would be like to have Leo as a brother. He would work at the mill. He would eat at their table and sit in their parlor at night. He would help with chores and have private conversations with their father.

Gritting his teeth, Adam strode to the foyer and shrugged on his coat. He crammed his feet into his boots and slammed out the door without a word to either of them. Outside, he kicked snow away from the woodpile and loaded his arms with split oak. Back inside he dumped the wood into the bin with an inconsiderate crash. On the way out, he passed his father in the foyer and mumbled good morning. Outside, he came face-to-face with Leo.

“Good timing. The bin is nearly filled,” Leo said, grinning as if they were at the mill heckling each other.

Adam clenched his fists, wanting to wipe the satisfied grin off Leo’s face. “Stop doing my work. And stay away from my father.”

“What?” The grin slid off Leo’s face like a sheet of snow off a roof. “I was just helping with chores.”

“Well, you’re not helping. You’re barging in where you’re not welcome. My dad already has a son. He doesn’t need another one. If you want a dad go live with my Uncle Cyrus.”

The instant the words left Adam’s mouth, he regretted saying them.

Leo staggered back as if Adam had slugged him in the gut. “I have a father, but he doesn’t want me.”

Before Adam could apologize, Leo stepped around him and carried his last load of wood inside.

Shaken by his own cruelty, Adam fumbled at the woodpile and could only manage to carry a small armful inside. What he’d said was unforgivable. He wouldn’t blame Leo if he never talked to him again. But Adam couldn’t do another thing until he apologized.

Sick inside, he climbed the stairs, knowing there were no words to undo his meanness.

When he got to Leo’s door it was open and Leo was sitting on the bed hunched over Benny, who was sleeping.

“I messed up, Benny-boy,” he whispered, brushing his brother’s hair away from his cheeks. “We’re going to have to leave your little playmate.” Leo’s chin dropped and he rocked as if holding the boy in his arms. “I wanted to help so we could stay here, but I ruined everything,” he said, his voice breaking. His tears dropped onto the blanket. “I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...”

Stunned, Adam backed down the hall, unable to face the devastation he’d caused.

***

When Adam saw Rebecca in church he mouthed the word
willow.

She nodded to let him know she would meet him at their special tree after the service.

If ever there was a day he needed to talk with her, today was it. His harsh words to Leo circled his mind until he was dizzy with regret.

He hadn’t meant to be cruel. But he had been.

The minister’s voice filled the church, dragging him away from his gnawing thoughts.

Each Sunday the congregation was encouraged to help others in their community, but at Christmastime it seemed the commitment to help out intensified.

There were folks needing food, some needing clothing and warm boots, others needed wood for their stoves. Elderly folks needed their porches and walks shoveled.

The Grayson family was doing its part to alleviate some of that need by rebuilding Cavneys’ house. Adam was glad to be part of that effort. So why was it so hard for him to extend that spirit of goodwill to Leo?

Shame rolled through him and he wished he could take back his hurtful words. He knew how awful it felt to think your own father didn’t want you. In his case it hadn’t been true. In Leo’s case it was a fact.

The minister asked each parishioner to give a little extra this season. Adam figured he could fit in some shoveling between his other chores and helping his dad and uncles on the Cavney house.

But his first act of compassion should have been at home.