Page 13 of The Formation of Us

“Yes, sir.” Adam hung his head and followed the sheriff back outside.

As they crossed the wide grassy Common, Sheriff Grayson nodded to the men they passed, and lifted his Stetson to the ladies. Adam imagined himself Duke’s son, a prince walking beside a king, instead of an unwanted bastard scurrying out of the way so he wouldn’t soil anybody’s clothing.

He was so busy admiring the sheriff’s badge as they entered Brown & Shepherd’s store, he ran into a man with a chest as hard as a brick wall. His eyes flashed upward, and he saw that he’d run into the sheriff’s brother. “Sorry, sir,” he said, quickly stepping aside.

Mr. Grayson gave him a pleasant nod, but Adam barely noticed. Standing beside the man was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was as tall as he was, and she looked straight into his eyes, smiling with such warmth that he felt as if she’d hugged him.

Girls never smiled at him. Not ever. In Syracuse he’d rarely left the yard of the brothel or explored outside his own neighborhood, but when he had, everyone knew he didn’t belong near them. They would lift their noses or turn away, pretending not to see him. He didn’t belong there, and he knew it.

“This is my daughter, Rebecca,” Mr. Grayson said, putting his arm around the girl. They both had dark hair, but Rebecca’s brown eyes were shades darker than her father’s, and her smile was much friendlier. “Rebecca, this is Adam Dearborn, who has just moved in at the old Colburn place.”

“Why, that’s just down the street from us.” Her smile widened, and she extended her hand. “Welcome to Fredonia, Adam.”

His name had never sounded so important. He’d never felt his heart bang in his chest so hard, not even the time one of Iris’s johns had caught him peeking in the brothel window. He raked his hair out of his eyes and reached to shake her pretty white hand.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said, but his voice cracked and it sounded like he’d said,Pleased to MEET you.

Rebecca laughed, but it was a warm sound, and she gave his hand a secret squeeze.

Her father drew her away. “We need to get home before your mother accuses us of dallying all morning.”

She nudged him in the ribs. “You’re just rushing me home because you want me to help you clean the livery.”

“You’re getting too smart for me.” A smile made her father look much friendlier, but it was the love in his eyes that jolted Adam. His own father would never look at him like that. He didn’t know the man. Didn’t know his name. Didn’t even know if he was alive. Didn’t care either.

He didn’t!

“It was nice to meet you, Adam.”

He nodded to Rebecca, then curled his trembling fingers into his palm, wanting to trap the tingling sensation and keep it with him forever.

“I’ll see you two at supper,” the sheriff said.

Rebecca waved good-bye to him, but her big brown eyes were looking right at Adam as she stepped outside with her father.

The sheriff’s lips quirked up. “Looks like my niece intends to be your friend.”

Girls like Rebecca didn’t befriend boys like Adam. He opened his mouth to tell the sheriff that, but realized for the first time since coming to Fredonia, no one knew he was a prostitute’s kid. They only knew he was Faith’s brother, and she was a respectable widow running a respectable business.

He could be like everyone else here. He could have friends, play ball, go swimming in the lake in the summertime. And someday, maybe he could even have a secret sweetheart like Rebecca.

The possibilities made his heart leap. A newfound sense of freedom filled him with hope.

“Come on, son, it’s time to make your apology to Mrs. Brown.”

The sheriff could have punched him with his big fist and hurt him less than the sudden regret twisting Adam’s gut. How could he have been so stupid as to steal a brush? Thieves weren’t any more welcome in a town like this than prostitutes or their children.

“Sheriff Grayson?”

The sheriff turned back, his dark eyebrow arched in question. “Thank you for not telling your brother what I did.”

“This business is between you and Mrs. Brown. It doesn’t concern my brother.”

“I won’t . . . I swear I won’t do anything like this again,” Adam said, fumbling for words, wanting to undo his mistake. All he wanted now was to make himself over into a man like the sheriff, a man worthy of a girl like Rebecca Grayson.

Chapter 5

At six o’clock in the evening, Duke left his deputy Sam Wade in charge and walked down Water Street toward home. The sun cast a golden sheen across the huge windows of Faith Wilkins’s new greenhouse, and he wondered how he could have overlooked such an obvious change in the building.