Page 44 of The Formation of Us
Tonight, though, she was so fatigued she could barely manage to massage oil into the ladies’ backs. When she finished, Claire and her friends gave her a warm hug before leaving the greenhouse.
“Go on in,” Aster said. “We’ll clean up and be in shortly”
“Bless you, Aster.” Faith pumped the faucet handle, washed her hands, and dried them on her apron as she hurried to the house where Cora and Adam lay on their pallets reading.
Thank goodness tomorrow was Sunday. Fully dressed, she flopped down between them and gave them both a hug. “I love you two. Thank you for being so helpful this week.”
Cora hooked her arms around Faith’s neck and plastered her cheek with an exuberant kiss. “I miss you, Mama.”
She kissed Cora, then leaned to kiss Adam.
Braced on his elbows, Adam ducked his head and focused on his book.
His avoidance made Faith’s heart bleed. She hadn’t even had time to ask him about his first week in school. She tweaked his side. “Does that look mean you’re getting too old for my hugs and kisses?”
He lifted his head, leaned over and pecked her on the cheek. “You look awful.”
“Thank you,” she said with laugh. “I feel awful.”
“Want me to tell you a story tonight?” Cora offered.
“That would be wonderful, sweetheart.” Faith’s eyes were so blurred from fatigue, she doubted she’d be able to read a single sentence.
Cora sat up and studiously placed the book they were reading in her lap, as if she were going to read it. Faith stretched out on her stomach between them and warned herself not to fall asleep.
“Once upon a time there was a girl who was so small she could dance on the top of a thimble,” Cora said, imitating Dahlia’s best storytelling voice.
Faith grinned into the pillow.
“The little girl was beautiful, and she was the best dancer in the whole world. But she was very, very sad,” Cora went on, lowering her voice to sound ominous.
“Why was she sad?” Faith asked.
“Because she didn’t have a daddy.”
A spear of pain shot through Faith’s chest. Cora had started asking why she didn’t have a daddy, but Faith had been skirting the question because she honestly didn’t know how to answer. She knew how painful it was to wonder about a father who was absent, but Cora would never understand the truth. And Faith would never tell her.
“One day,” Cora continued, “the little girl caught a beautiful pony, and when he let her ride on his back, she went looking for her daddy . . .”
Two strong hands settled on Faith’s shoulders, startling her from her somber thoughts. She peeked up to see Adam sitting beside her, his long fingers gently kneading her tense shoulder muscles. For all his acting tough and disinterested in her affection, Adam was a tender, thoughtful boy who needed her love as desperately as she needed his. The two of them had spent years together living with fear and loneliness, having only each other for company during those long evenings and miserable nights while their mother worked the brothel. They’d cried together and laughed together. And Faith had mothered Adam from the day of his birth. He was her brother by blood, her son by possession, and she loved him as fiercely as she loved Cora.
“Adam, that is absolute heaven.”
Cora paused. “Do you want me to rub your back too?” she asked, her desire to please shining in her eyes.
“No, sweetheart. I want to hear about the tiny girl and her pony. What did she name her pony?”
“Dandelion.”
“That’s not a pony name,” Adam said.
“It is too,” Cora insisted. “Her pony has white fluffy spots on him that look like dandelion puffs.”
Adam’s laugh cracked into a falsetto, which set them all off, and Faith basked in their shared moment of happiness. They’d been so heartbroken over her mother’s death, and so panic- stricken afterward in their rush to escape Judge Stone, they hadn’t shared a family moment like this in nearly two months. Cora hadn’t noticed the upheaval so much, but Adam bore the weight of needing to be a man while still a boy. Faith lifted her hand and stroked her fingers over Adam’s bony knuckles. He paused, a question in his eyes. Her own misted, and she gave him a smile that said she loved him. The needy boy in him returned her smile.
Adam’s tender consideration and Cora’s sweet little voice warmed Faith, and she closed her eyes to savor the moment.
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