Last Night's Kiss (18 page)

“You’re here now,” she said, understanding that part of him felt he’d let Joel down by not being there when he needed him.

Rosa imagined the thoughts that were going through Adam’s head as she held him. She shared his pain and she’d be there to let him know that Joel was safe and everything was all right.

“He’ll be fine,” she said softly. “He knows you’re his haven.”

“I should have called him.”

“Shh,” she said, quieting him. She kissed his cheek and then his mouth. “You’re here now. And that counts.”

Sunrise spread light across the bed, waking Rosa. The rustic cabin had some modern features. A skylight was one of them. And Rosa woke each day with the dawning of light. Opening her eyes, she reached for Adam. Her hands closed around nothing. Flipping the hair from her face, she turned over. The opposite side of the bed was empty. It hadn’t been slept in. Rosa sat up. Adam had told her he’d be right up when she finally climbed the stairs in the early morning hours.

Pushing the covers back, she slipped her arms into her robe and got out of bed. Looking over the railing, she saw him sitting in the same position where she’d left him a few hours earlier, his chin resting on his hands. Joel slept quietly on the sofa unaware of the vigil Adam was keeping.

Rosa descended the steps quietly. She went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She fixed two cups and silently joined Adam. With one hand he took the cup she offered and captured hers with the other, holding it against his shoulder.

“Come with me,” she whispered.

Taking the blanket she’d been wearing when he arrived last night, they went outside. The cabin had no porch, but there was an arrangement of garden chairs near the front shrubs. Rosa sat down and curled the blanket around them. “Have you decided what to do?”

“Not yet.”

Rosa could feel the leashed anger in him. “You should let his aunt know he’s all right.”

Adam sipped more of his coffee before answering. “I need to talk to Joel first.” He reached for her, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her warmth against him. “I’m so angry with her now that if I called, I’d probably pull her through the phone line. He’s been gone ten days and she never called me. Wouldn’t it make sense that I’d be the one he’d come to?”

“Adam, it’s been two years. He could have gone to any number of places. A friend’s house. Somewhere near his home. Maybe even to someone you don’t know. His traveling across half the country would be an unlikely choice.”

His head dropped in defeat. “I didn’t think of that. It’s not like I lived across the street. But that doesn’t excuse her. In ten days she could have taken it as a long shot that he might try to at least contact me.”

“True,” she conceded. Rosa wondered how people could be so neglectful of children. She came from a family of neglected children, at least until they had settled with the Claytons. Her brother Brad continued to try and save children he found on the street. “You’re going to have to alert someone in authority.”

Adam didn’t respond.

“My sister is a child psychologist. She works with child welfare.”

“He’s not going to child welfare.” Adam’s voice was adamant. “And he’s not going back to her, either.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. You haven’t talked to either Joel or his aunt. There could be a perfectly good explanation.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s ill, incapacitated in some way and Joel was with someone else when he ran away.”

He obviously hadn’t thought of that.

“I know the two of you don’t see eye to eye where Joel is concerned, but you need to think clearly when he wakes up.” Rosa spoke softly as if she were treading over scabs that hadn’t healed. “He’s going to need you.”

Adam looked at her then. His eyes were darkly circled and worry lines edged the corners. He needed sleep.

“Thank you for being here,” he said. “I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t been here when he came. He couldn’t have asked for me in town. If he had, someone would have pointed him to the ranch.”

“How did he know about the cabin?”

“I told him about it long ago.” Adam leaned his head back. He laughed, although the sound that came from him was more of a grunt than of humor. “I’m surprised he remembered. We were talking about things to do. You know, city versus country. He couldn’t imagine living in a place where there was no subway, shopping malls, movie theaters, and video arcades. I told him about horseback riding and swimming in water holes. He said it wasn’t the same, and he could ride horses in Virginia and then go home.”

“He’s a kid. What did you expect?”

“About that.” The shadow of a smile lifted his mouth. “Until you’ve been here, most people can’t comprehend the beauty.”

For a moment they were silent. “He’s going to be asleep for a while. Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll watch over him.”

“You are a very wise woman,” Adam said, and leaned over and kissed her.

“You won’t send me back, will you?” Joel asked at noon as they were having lunch. He’d finally awakened and immediately called for Adam. Rosa knew Adam needed more sleep, but he was by her side the moment the child called his name. Joel bolted up, unmindful of his feet, and bear-hugged Adam. Rosa had to step back to prevent herself from being knocked down again.

“I need to hear what happened,” Adam said. He gave his full attention to Joel.

The boy sat at the table on the patio, facing the majestic mountains in the distance.

“I ran away,” he said.

Adam waited a moment before asking, “Why?”

“They didn’t want me there.”

“They?”

“Aunt Lillian and her husband.”

“Husband? She got married?”

Joel nodded. “A year ago. All they ever did was holler at me, order me around and criticize everything I did. The only reason she kept me around was for the money.”

Adam glanced at Rosa. She sat silently eating.

“Joel’s mother had a trust fund set up for him. She also had a large insurance policy. The executor is a lawyer friend of Maureen’s.”

“Yeah, and he wouldn’t give Aunt Lillian any money. She was really mad about that.”

“There had to be some kind of an allowance for your support,” Rosa said.

“According to her, it isn’t enough.” Joel bit into his sandwich and drank some of his cola. “She always wanted more, but he wouldn’t give it to her. So she took it out on me.”

“She beat you?” Adam said, his anger close to the surface.

“No, she never hit me. She just talked all the time, saying the same thing over and over about how she wished I’d never come to live with her. So a few days ago I left.”

“Have you called her at all?” Rosa asked.

Joel shook his head. “I never want to see her again.”

Rosa could see some of Adam in the boy. She knew he wasn’t Adam’s son, but the two were like personalities. By the time Joel was a teenager, he and Adam would clash hard.

“Why didn’t you ever call me?” Joel asked. Rosa could hear the mixture of hurt and censure in the twelve-year-old’s voice.

“I did,” Adam replied. “In the beginning. Your aunt told me I would confuse you, hinder your ability to settle into your new life. I saw the wisdom in that.”

“I don’t.”

“There are some things you’re too young to understand.”

“Like being abandoned by the only person I wanted to be with.”

Adam shifted in his chair. “I didn’t abandon you, Joel. The court awarded custody to your aunt. She was right that you needed time to get used to the idea.”

“She hated me. I told you she only wanted the money. Once she found out she couldn’t get it, she didn’t want me there, either. And I’m not going back.”

“We’ll table that for right now,” Adam said.

“I won’t,” he said, defiantly, staring at the man he’d traveled two thousand miles to see.

“It’s not that easy, Joel,” Adam shouted.

“Guys,” Rosa interjected, knowing things were about to get out of control. “None of this has to be addressed now.” She looked at Joel. “It’s going to have to be done sometime,” she said. He started to speak, but Rosa raised her hand to stop him. Then she looked at Adam. “The first thing we need to do is get him checked out by a doctor.”

“I don’t need a doctor,” Joel protested.

“It’s not your call,” Adam told him. “You practically walked across the country. Your feet are swollen and cut. You’ve lost so much weight I’m not sure your body isn’t eating itself. The best thing to do is to make sure you’re healthy.”

“Well, I do have my insurance card.”

Rosa and Adam looked at each other. She fought the smile that threatened to spread across her face, but lost after a moment. Adam was trying to fight his own. Soon they burst into laughter.

“What?” Joel asked.

“You have no clothes, shoes that we threw out, and no money but you have an insurance card.”

“It’s in my wallet. Mom told me to always carry it.”

“At least he has priorities,” Rosa commented as she pushed her chair back and got up to clear the table.

Adam was relieved when the doctor only prescribed megadoses of vitamins, a diet to help Joel gain his weight back, and a topical antibiotic for the boy’s feet. Other than that, Joel would be all right in a couple of weeks.

Rosa had gone to pick up some things Joel would need and Adam studied the street for her as they left the medical building. She waved to them as she crossed the street. Adam and Joel, sporting crutches, turned to meet her.

“Clean bill of health?” she addressed Joel when she reached them.

“Other than these walking sticks”—he indicated the crutches—“I’m fine.”

“We have a couple of prescriptions to be filled,” Adam added, overriding Joel’s statement that everything was all right. He supposed it was youthful invulnerability. Adam had done some pretty risky things in his own youth, but nothing as crazy as hitchhiking more than halfway across the country with no money and only the clothes on his back at twelve years old.

He had to admit Joel was resourceful. Despite his weight and his feet, he’d come through the experience virtually unscarred. In later life, being resourceful was an admired trait. But Adam was scared to death when Rosa had explained that he was there and how he got there. Afraid for what could have happened to him.

“What’s in the bag?” Joel asked.

Rosa pulled a pair of soft slippers from the bag.

“Is this all?” Adam asked, seeing only the small bag in her hand.

“I knew better than to get anything else until he could choose it himself,” she said, looking at Joel. “I know you need clothes, but your tastes are probably different than mine. And now that you have
legs
”—she indicated his crutches—“you can hobble over to the store with me.”

Rosa leaned over and put the slippers on the ground. Joel wore only socks. She helped him into them.

“I look like a dork.” He stared at the brown slippers and then at the two of them.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “You do.”

Joel’s mouth opened in surprise. Adam smiled.

“But you’re our dork.” Rosa reached for his neck and hugged him.

“Let go.” He wiggled free of her.

“Sorry, I forgot that twelve-year-olds can’t be hugged. So let’s go and get you something to wear.”

The three of them began walking.

“Joel, when you left home, didn’t you think to take any clothes?” Adam asked.

“Sure I did,” he said. “I left them in a locker at a post office in Missouri. The suitcase was heavy and I couldn’t carry it anymore. I have the key.” He stopped and rooted around in his pocket. The key wasn’t there.

“I emptied your pockets when I washed your clothes,” Rosa said. “The key is on the shelf in the laundry room.”

“What were you doing in Missouri?” Adam asked. It wasn’t exactly on a direct route to Montana.

Joel hesitated. Adam assumed the story wouldn’t be a pretty one.

“I hitched a ride on a truck and it went to Oklahoma.”

“Didn’t you ask the driver where he was headed?”

Joel dropped his head, staring at his new slippers as if they were acceptable footwear.

“No, he didn’t,” Rosa answered.

Adam turned to her.

“He hitched a ride, but the driver didn’t know he was there.” She paused. “Isn’t that right, Joel?”

After a moment of hesitation, the boy nodded. “I had enough money to buy a bus ticket to Kansas City. I stowed in the back of a truck. It was a furniture truck and there was a sofa all wrapped in plastic. I didn’t think it would hurt if I lay on it. I was tired and I fell asleep. When I woke up the truck had stopped. I jumped off it. I was in a town, and the truck had stopped at a red light. I didn’t know where I was so when I saw the bus station, I went in there.”

Adam didn’t know whether he should be angry or laugh at the situation. Joel had been through an ordeal to get to Adam, and he was obviously afraid of what Adam thought. Adam chose laughter. Joel stared at him unsure what to do. Slowly a smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

Adam reached for him and pulled Joel into a hug. The boy let go of the crutches and his small arms went around Adam. Through his mind the years of separation melted. He remembered playing video games that Joel always won. They’d gone camping and to ball games together. When Maureen was away, Adam had been there to care for Joel. He’d been the boy’s surrogate father, a role he’d been willing to continue, but for the court.

And he knew he’d have to go through the courts again.