This time Johnny did flinch. "You think I'm dirty?"
"I know you're dirty." Adam waved the boy toward the door.
"Baths ain't good for you," he protested, but he stood, too, taking a tentative step toward the door. It was usually better to obey adults, or at least pretend to.
"Trust me. A bath would be good for you."
Johnny hung his head and shuffled toward the door. Peggy climbed off her chair and ran after him.
Something passed between the man and the woman. It was almost as if the woman was pleading with the man, but Johnny didn't understand.
The man seemed to, however. He crouched down and took Peggy by the shoulders. "Aunt Jane warnyou to stay with her tonight. Johnny's going to go to my house for a bath."
"Go, too," Peggy said.
"We'll be back for breakfast."
"Peggy's Nonny," she insisted, grabbing Johnny's hand. He held on tightly, not wanting to be separated, either.
What the woman said next was more bewildering than all the rest of the strange events of the evening. "Flip you for them," she quipped.
Chapter Twelve
Adam wasn't sure he should have given in. Peggy and Johnny were both sleeping in the bed off Jane's kitchen. If he knew Jane at all, she'd be washing the sheets in the morning.
Adam's biggest concern was that Johnny might try to take his sister and run. He had threatened the boy with jail for breaking into Jane's house if he tried. They'd be easy to find, Adam had told him, here in the middle of nowhere.
He had further insisted that Johnny come to his house early in the morning, before his sister woke up, if possible, and get that bath. The boy seemed to prefer that to the possibility of Jane giving him one. Adam was fully prepared to go get Johnny if he didn't come of his own accord.
Meanwhile, he lay in bed and thought of the turn things had taken this evening. After what Johnny had gone through to find his sister, it would be cruel to separate them, but he wasn't going to make it any easier to place the girl. It did, however, explain some of her strange habits.
Jane, on the other hand, wasn't any less likely to want her. In fact, Jane's inclination to protect children would probably have her volunteering to take Johnny as well. The amount of trouble that boy could get into was easy to imagine.
The next morning, Adam found Johnny waiting in his kitchen. Waiting didn't quite describe it. Lurking did. Adam had the distinct impression the boy had been going through the cupboards and drawers and had only stopped when he heard Adam coming.
The boy himself confirmed. it. "If'n I'd picked your house last night, I'da starved."
"I eat most of my meals at Jane's boardinghouse." Adam lit a lamp and went to light the stove. "Pump that pan full of water and we'll heat it for your bath."
"Is that why Peggy's there-Jane's boardin' her?"
Adam wasn't sure how much he ought to explain to the boy. "She was left in my care," he said, "but Jane wanted to keep her last night."
"She tryin' her out to see if she likes havin' a girl?"
Adam lifted the pan onto the stove to heat. "She knows she likes having a little girl, we're just not sure she can take care of her and run the boardinghouse at the same time."
Adam handed the boy a bucket. "Fill this," he said.
"You already decided you don't want no little girl?"
Adam brought the tub inside before be answered. "I've already discovered it's hard to make house calls and keep her safe."
"Then neither one o' you's gonna mind when I take her with me."
Adam lifted the full bucket out from under the spout and poured it into the tub. He handed it back to Johnny, who turned to fill it again.
"Johnny," Adam said after a moment, "I volunteered to help find families for a group of orphans. I'm not going to just forget about one of them."
Johnny spun around. "Well, we ain't no orphans. Whatcha think about that!"
Adam looked at him a moment. "You're runaways?"
"We're throwaways. But it ain't none of your business. Anyhow, Peggy ain't no orphan 'cause she's got me. And I ain't leavin' her."
Adam let it go. Showing him what his sister's life could be like out here was going to make more of an impression, anyway.
Half an hour later he had Johnny dressed in clean clothes with rolled-up cuffs and a cinched-in waist. Johnny declared that he looked funny.
"That was the whole reason for giving you a bath," Adam said.
Johnny nodded as if he believed it, but his eyes held the grin he would have denied. "I hope Peggy's awake causin' trouble 'cause I'm gone."
"Well, I hope not, but it's time we went to see."
They found Peggy on her knees on a kitchen chair, sipping from a coffee cup.
"They feedin' you coffee already?" Johnny asked.
Peggy scrambled off the chair to meet him. Before she flung herself into Johnny's arms, Adam noticed that her face bore traces of recent tears.
"She thought she had dreamed you," Jane said, turning from the stove.
"Bet you were hopin' that's all I was," Johnny said.
Adam wanted to cuff his ear for talking to Jane that way, but she just smiled. "You're not quite the nightmare you think you are.".
"I'd reserve judgment," Adam said.
Johnny shot him a wicked grin, then knelt down to give his sister his full attention. "Look at you! You got shoes. Where'd you get them shoes, baby?"
Peggy brought a leather-clad foot down on the wood floor and laughed at the sharp sound. The kitten ran up to pounce on her foot.
"You reckon I can borrow 'em sometime?"
Peggy shook her head. "Peggy's shoes." She bent and picked up her kitten.
"Breakfast will be ready soon," Jane said. "Do you want to wait in the dining room, or in the parlor with the others?"
Before Adam could protest, Johnny spoke up. "I think we should wait in the parlor, don't you, Dr. Hart?"
There was obvious challenge in the boy's tone. "The parlor it is," Adam said.
"Can the kitty stay here and have its breakfast?" Jane asked. Peggy relinquished the kitten and took her brother's hand.
Adam led the way to the parlor, where the Cartlands already waited. Both women looked surprised when the children entered.
"Nedra and Naomi Cartland," Adam said. "This is Peggy's brother, Johnny,"
"He's not wearing shoes," remarked Naomi.
"And you ain't wearin' no corset," Johnny said.
"Johnny!" Adam's sharp command was nearly drowned out by the women's gasps of outrage.
Johnny looked up at Adam. If he was trying for innocence, he was failing. "Go sit down," Adam said, indicating an unoccupied settee.
Johnny helped his sister into the chair and sat down beside her. Adam took a seat nearby, ready to stop him from moving but uncertain how he would stop him from talking.
Ferris joined them, followed almost immediately by George.
"Who's this?" George asked.
Adam explained briefly about the boy's arrival.
"There were several farmers wanting a boy," George said.
Adam heard Johnny's intake of breath and put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to forestall an outburst. "I think we better try to keep them together," he said.
George nodded. "I suppose you're right, considering. We don't want them running off."
Adam's hand on his shoulder wasn't enough to stop Johnny this time. "Why the hell not?" the boy asked. "What difference does it make to you? Do you own her or something?"
George wasn't as surprised at the outburst as the others. "I was thinking of your health and safety, son," he said. "As well as your sister's."
"Why don't you save yourself some trouble and just not?"
"Johnny," Adam asked quietly, "do you want breakfast?"
Johnny cast him a rebellious glare he took to be a yes. "Then you treat everyone in this house with respect."
Johnny settled back into the cushioned seat. "It ain't right," he muttered. "You put me on a farm, I ain't stayin'."
George looked like he was enjoying the whole situation. "What's Jane think about the boy?" he asked.
"I don't know, but I can guess," Adam said. Jane would want them both. She would think she could love the boy into angelhood.
Jane called them in for breakfast before Johnny treated them to his opinion on Jane. When they were seated around the table, Peggy and Johnny separating Adam from Jane, Bickford joined them. He gave the boy a glance and then a shrug. He evidently figured two urchins were not much different than one.
When Nedra glared at Peggy for eating with her fingers, the little girl waited for a chance to slip out of her chair.