When she raised her arms around his neck and leaned her body into his, his mind stopped yelling and all he heard was the pounding of their hearts.
THIRTEEN
NICHOLE FOLLOWED NANCE Edward through a tiny crawl space and into the attic. The musty air danced in the light from dirty windows. Spiderwebs hung as thick as drapes between rafters. Voices drifted from below in muffled rumblings of conversation.
During the week Nichole had been hiding in the study, Nance decided she was his playmate. He sneaked into her room every afternoon when his chores were done and told her of all the happenings in the house. He seemed to hear every conversation, though many he was too little to understand. Nichole had nicknamed him General Ears.
With his help as lookout, Nichole had found ways to move around the house, otherwise she would have gone crazy in the little study. Most of her time was spent taking care of Dancing. No one came for the young prostitute, so Dancing took up residence in Adam’s examining room. Fever kept her in its grip. Each day she seemed weaker, not better, though Adam did all he could.
“You sure you can make it, miss?” Nance pulled Nichole from her worries as he slowed his climb into the attic and looked over his shoulder.
“I can make it,” Nichole answered. “Lead the way, General Ears.”
The little boy moved into a dusty space between the rafters. “It ain’t really an attic.” He straddled one of the beams. “There’s not enough room to store much up here. Mom says it wouldn’t be worth the trouble to try to shove it through the opening, so she just uses the room below for storage.”
Nichole found a level spot that looked sturdy enough to hold her weight. She sat, crossing her legs underneath her. This wasn’t much of an adventure, but at least it was a change. Plus Nance was showing her one of his secrets, and that was important to him. He was a boy who loved secrets as other boys love fishing.
“My dad told me,” Ears whispered, “that if I was ever real afraid I was to come up here and hide. He said not even the devil could find me here. When my dad and his partner rebuilt the house, they put these and other spaces in the walls like they weren’t there at all. My dad used to say you can never have too many places to tuck things away for safekeeping.”
“It would make a good hiding place.” Nichole looked around. The area was the width between two windows with only a little square tall enough for an adult to stand between the beams.
“But I’ve checked all the openings and passages except the cellar and my dad didn’t leave nothing for me to find.”
“But you found something to hide away yourself,” she whispered. “That’s much more special than something left behind by someone else.”
Nance agreed and leaned closer, loving having someone who would talk to him. “I never showed this to anyone because nobody has the time to listen. Mighta been a waste of time for me to learn to talk.” He smiled. “But you listen, Nick. So I want to show you something.”
He pulled a box from between the boards. “When my dad died, my mother threw his things in the trash to burn. I dug ’em out and brought ’em up here.” He handed the box to her. “I figured I’d hide ’em just in case anyone ever wanted to look.”
Nichole opened the box slowly. A black silk shirt with pearl buttons lay on top, the kind a gambler or dandy would wear. “These were your father’s?”
“Yeah.” Nance smiled. “I don’t know what to do with ’em. My mama says they’re trouble clothes. She said once that my dad thought he was bulletproof in ’em.”
Black trousers unfolded across Nichole’s legs. A belt with a thin silver buckle was laced between the folds.
“Do you think these clothes are magic?” His eyes danced as he rocked on the beam. “Maybe my dad couldn’t be seen in the dark in them. Maybe that’s why he never got caught until the day he didn’t have time to change into them. Maybe they are magic.”
“I don’t know.” Nichole didn’t want to destroy the boy’s daydreams.
“I heard some men talking one night outside the bar, and they said my dad wasn’t no bum of an outlaw. He had class, they said. Dad and his partner never killed nobody.”
He fought back the tears. “When they went to prison, the sheriff came by and told Mama my dad got sick and died. But the men in front of the bar said someone tried to beat where my dad hid his money outa him. He wouldn’t tell and they finally beat him all the way to death. When his partner heard the jailers killed my dad, he went crazy and started fightin’ like a wild man. He broke out of that jail killing maybe six, maybe twenty, men on his way out.”
“Nance, are you sure?”
“Heard ’em talking, I swear. They had no reason to lie. They didn’t know I was listenin’. My dad didn’t die of any fever in a prison… he was killed.”
Nichole wanted to pat his hand, but she knew he didn’t want sympathy. Not this little boy. He needed to believe in his father even if no one else in the world did.
“I think this is a fine outfit.” She moved her hand over the silk. “I bet I could put this on and move through the night like a whisper.”
Nance picked up the idea. “Sure you could. I got a black hat and gloves too. You could go anywhere and no one would see you.”
Nichole laughed at the fun it would be to move about the town. She had all the skill she needed and with these clothes it would be easy. “But where would I go? It wouldn’t be any fun unless I had a mission.”
“We’ll wait for a mission,” Nance whispered. “Maybe we’ll find out who killed my dad and you can go round them all up.” He laughed. “Or maybe you could just walk around making sure nobody’s doing nothing wrong.”
“And we’ll never tell anyone,” Nichole could see the excitement in his eyes. She laughed just thinking of how Adam would react if he knew of such a plan. “We’ll keep it a secret, acting all surprised when we hear about it the next morning.”
Somewhere, far below, they heard Nance’s mother calling his name.
“I got to go,” he whispered. “You wait by the opening and when the coast is clear I’ll signal. I’ll help you make it all the way back to the study.”
“I’ll wait.” Nichole watched him slide through the opening as she folded the clothes and put them back in the box. For years she’d been free, always on the move, living on the land. Now the confines of the house were like bars. Logic told her to stay with Adam and be safe, but she was restless. She liked Adam, he felt right beside her, but she could never live his way of life. Maybe marrying Tyler wasn’t such a bad idea. At least with Tyler she’d be free as a bird.
She waited almost an hour before Nance reappeared. “Everyone’s eating lunch.” He made a swipe across his chest as their secret signal. “All clear.”
Nichole climbed out of the space and moved silently, first down the hall and then the stairs to the first floor. She could hear Bergette in Mrs. Jamison’s room sharing lunch and gossip. The doctor had told her that Mrs. Jamison seemed to thrive on Bergette’s small talk, growing healthier every day since she arrived. Nichole couldn’t understand why. The times she’d eavesdropped, she found Bergette’s conversation reminded her of a colorful bird constantly chirping the same boring tune.
She might not be able to see herself in Adam’s world, but he didn’t belong in Bergette’s.
Turning the corner, she slipped into the back entrance to Adam’s examining room. Dancing was sleeping on a bed by the windows, and Adam stood next to her.
“How is she?” Nichole knew this was a safe room for her because no one except Adam and Sister Cel came in. The only danger lay in crossing the open hallway to his bedroom and study. She’d discovered that with patients in the hall, if she lowered her gaze and walked straight across, no one paid any notice. “Any improvement in her condition?”