The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope - By Rhonda Riley Page 0,32
not seem to notice anything at first, but their faces softened. In the kitchen, Daddy cocked his head, a look of concentration on his face, and Momma rubbed her breastbone. I touched Addie’s hand and in that split second of contact the humming sensation vanished, lifting from the room. Momma’s hand dropped to her side.
Addie left us to put the eggs away in the pantry. While Daddy stopped at the stove to pour himself a cup of coffee, Momma pulled me down the hall and into Ricky’s old bedroom, squeezing my arm. “It sure is strange how much she looks like you. She ought to look like that Hardin boy and your daddy’s side of the family. But she sure resembles you and my side of the family. Looks like her momma ran into one of my brothers on her way out of town. What will everybody think?”
What could Momma’s brothers have to do with Addie? Then I realized how utterly stupid I’d been. I looked like my mother’s side of the family. I had big hands like Daddy and thought my chin looked like his as much as Momma’s. But the McMurrough red hair, height, and freckles from Momma’s family trumped everything. How could Addie have gotten those through my daddy’s side of the family? My mind went blank.
She gave me a glance I couldn’t read, then turned her attention to the kitchen where Daddy and Addie were.
I heard him ask how the patch on the porch roof had held up through the storms. Would she know what a patch was? She replied softly, barely audible.
Momma pulled me close. “She even sounds like you,” she hissed. Panic rippled through my belly and I thought I would be sick. I opened my mouth to respond but Daddy called out for Momma then, and her face returned to its normal expression. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go see what your daddy wants. She’s family. We can figure the rest out later.”
They were cordial but they did not sit down, and stayed only long enough to make a list of the things I needed from town. Addie was quiet, big-eyed, and shy. They were leaving when Daddy stopped at the door and turned to Addie. He held his hat in his hands, turning the brim slowly. “Your family, how are they?”
Momma raised her eyebrows at me in surprise. Daddy inclined his head listening for her answer, his gaze drifting to the floor.
Addie glanced at me. “Her momma died not long ago,” I told them.
Momma touched Addie’s arm, muttering, “Oh. I’m so sorry.”
Daddy just nodded, his eyes still on the floor. He put his hat on and looked directly at Addie. “It’s Uncle, Uncle Robert. Welcome to North Carolina, Addie.” That was the last and only time he ever asked Addie anything about her family.
Momma and Daddy came back soon, of course, and they brought the rest of the family with them. Joe, Bertie, and Rita piled out of the back of the truck and stood in a line, their eyes darting from Addie to me and then back again in that ping-pong of glances that would become so familiar in the next weeks and months. Surprise showed on their faces, but they were meeting Addie with an explanation in hand, and I’m sure Momma and Daddy had prepared them.
For a long moment, we all just stared at each other, and then Addie laughed, sweet and pure.
Joe held out his hand. “Welcome, Addie Hardin. You are definitely among family.” I thought he might be making a veiled reference to her questionable paternity. But the wide grin on his face was a guileless match to Addie’s. He winked at me. “Next long-lost relation you bring home has to be a boy like me, okay?”
Bertie crossed her arms on her chest. Her mouth turned down at the corners and the tendons in her neck twitched. She didn’t like change or things that took her by surprise. “You came all the way from Chicago to work on this farm?”
Addie shrugged. “I like it here.”
Rita erupted in a shy giggle and touched my arm briefly as if checking the reality of what she saw, then she dashed past us into the house.
That was it: they accepted her. My story about her origins may have had its flaws, but she was clearly one of us.
I braced myself for Addie’s introduction to the rest of Clarion, certain someone would see her as an imposter or find a hole in