Page 99 of The Formation of Us

“I couldn’t find better.”

“Do you know how many men I’ve known?”

“Too many,” he said, gently. “But now you know me, and I’ll take good care of you. Marry me. Let me love you.”

And with that, he tugged her chemise down and put his mouth over her bare breast like he was starving.

Rebecca’s gasp was so loud it startled Patrick and Iris apart. Adam grabbed Rebecca’s hand and pulled her down the stairs and outside into the windy afternoon. They raced down the bank and followed the creek to a pool and small waterfall near Rebecca’s home.

Adam stopped, chest heaving from their run. “I didn’t know anybody would be there,” he said, but was too ashamed to look at Rebecca.

“Were they . . . you know?”

How did she know about . . . Gosh, he’d thought she was innocent, but she knew what happened between boys and girls. “Yeah, they were,” he said, heat scorching his ears. Did she think he’d taken her to the greenhouse to do what Patrick and Iris were doing? He’d just wanted a kiss.

“I’ve seen our horses when they . . . a couple of times.”

“I didn’t mean for you to SEE that,” he said, his voice squawking, which made his whole face hot.

Rebecca didn’t even blink.

“Will your aunt tell on us?” she asked.

He hadn’t considered that, but if Iris blabbed, he was dead. Rebecca was supposed to be at a neighbor’s house, and he was supposed to be fishing in the pond behind the greenhouse. If Duke or Rebecca’s father learned they were together, especially in the greenhouse where they would have been alone if not for Patrick and Iris, they would string Adam up by his heels.

Duke had been scowling all week, and Faith was crying a lot for some reason. This wasn’t the time to get in trouble with either one of them. But if Iris told, he was dead.

“No one can know about this,” he said.

Rebecca flushed, but she didn’t look away. “They’re grownups. Why would they get in trouble?”

“They’re not married. It would ruin Iris’s reputation, and maybe Faith’s.” Adam sighed and sat on a rock beside her. “I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise to keep it a secret.”

“Cross my heart,” she said. The soft look in her eyes warmed him. He’d never had a friend like Rebecca. He could trust her.

“My aunts used to be prostitutes.”

She squinted at him. “I don’t know what that is.”

“They did what Iris was doing with Patrick.”

“Is that bad? I’m pretty sure my mother does it with my dad.”

“My aunts did it with lots of men who paid them money.”

“Oh . . .”

“So did my mother.”

Rebecca was so quiet, Adam figured she would walk away and never talk to him again.

“She wasn’t much of a mother,” he said. It hurt to admit it, but it was the truth, and Adam wasn’t going to lie about anything ever again. “That’s why Faith has always been more like a mother to me.”

“Does my Uncle Duke know about your aunts?”

Adam shook his head. “Faith never did that stuff with men. We moved here so my aunts could stop being prostitutes, but I guess Iris missed it or something.”

“Maybe that’s what my mother was like. I never met her, but maybe she was like your aunts.” Rebecca hooked her arms around her knees and stared at the rippling water. “Maybe that’s why she didn’t want me.”