Chapter 24
His shoulders sagged.
"I don't know how to be the man you want."
"I don't want you to be any man for me."
He looked back.
"Then who?"
"Your son."
Silence.
Clover shifted.
Birdie cropped grass beside the ditch.
Far away, a meadowlark called.
Curtis rubbed his face.
"What happens now?"
"You come back with me."
His eyes lifted.
"To the house?"
"To Oscar."
Understanding came slowly.
"You tell him what you did."
Curtis grimaced.
"Rosalie."
"You tell him."
"He'll hate me."
"Maybe."
"He's seven."
"Then don't teach him that being seven means adults can lie to him."
Curtis looked down the road.
For several seconds I thought he would walk away again.
Then he nodded.
"All right."
We returned near sunset.
Oscar was sitting on Mrs. Talbot's fence when he saw Clover.
He ran so fast he nearly fell.
"Clover!"
He reached her and wrapped both arms around her neck.
The same way he had the morning Adrien came to buy her.
I stopped breathing.
Clover stood perfectly still.
Oscar pressed his face into her hide.
Then he looked up.
His eyes found Curtis.
Everything in his expression changed.
"You took her."
Curtis knelt.
"Yes."
"Why?"
Curtis looked at me once.
I gave him nothing.
He had to carry this himself.
"I thought selling her would help your mother."
"I told you not to."
Curtis's eyes closed for half a second.
"When?"
"Before."
Oscar's voice cracked.
"The night before Mr. Brandt came. I told Mama I didn't want Clover to go."
Curtis swallowed.
"I didn't know."
"You didn't ask."
My throat tightened.
The words had come from Oscar.
Not me.
Curtis bowed his head.
"No."
Oscar held Clover tighter.
"I don't want your horse."
Curtis looked up.
"The wooden one?"
Oscar nodded.
"You can keep it."
"I don't want it."
Curtis's face crumpled slightly.
"All right."
Oscar ran toward the house with Clover following behind.
Curtis remained kneeling in the dirt.
I stood several feet away.
"Now you understand."
He stared at the ground.
"I think I do."
He rose slowly.
"I'll go."
I nodded.
He walked toward town.
After six steps, he turned.
"Can I come back?"
I thought before answering.
"For Oscar?"
"Yes."
"If he wants."
Curtis nodded.
"And for you?"
"No."
He looked wounded.
But this time he did not argue.
"All right."
He continued down the road.
The next morning, Adrien arrived before breakfast.
He had heard from Silas Kern.