Pa shook his head.
"You're famous, sis!" Seb crowed, but there was an undertone in his voice she couldn't decipher. What was wrong with him?
He was smiling, but something was wrong. Something he was hiding.
Not that she had time to ask him about it, because a man in a tall hat was suddenly in her face. "I'm from theChicago Tribune. I'd like to get a comment from the winning cowboy—er, cowgirl."
Here was a journalist, but not the one she wanted to see. Where was Adam?
Had he not made it in time?
15
It was at least a half hour before Breanna was able to break away from the press of the crowd and from her family.
She was drooping with exhaustion. All she wanted was the bed at the hotel.
And Adam.
Where was he?
Maybe he'd seen her family—and the crowd—and decided to bide his time. It wasn't exactly the place or time to convince her to hop on the train to Philadelphia.
The train.
Surely he hadn't gone already… No. He wouldn’t go without Domino.
She'd check the livery first. The race master had rented several stalls for the riders' horses. Adam might be there. She couldn't imagine him leaving without Domino, and really the animal needed rest as much as Breanna did. She would begin there.
The city was coming alive for the morning as Breanna followed the directions Matty had given her for the livery. Down the street and turn left.
A shopkeeper was out sweeping the sidewalk in front of his dry goods store. A woman in an apron washed the front windows of a millinery. The energy of the very city itself seemed to be waking up.
It energized Breanna.
It reminded her of the morning three years ago when she and Cecilia had walked along the streets in Philadelphia.
The very morning she'd met Adam.
Her thoughts were muddled. Why hadn't he come to her at the race's finish? Maybe he hadn't made the train.
She slipped inside the huge double doors of the livery and paused so her eyes, accustomed to the bright morning sunlight, could have a moment to adjust.
When they did, the sight brought relief that filled her like the wind catching her bonnet.
Adam was there.
The relief was promptly replaced by dismay when she saw who he was chatting with just outside Domino’s stall.
It was a man in a wheeled chair so similar to the one Hattie used on occasion. And a woman in a dress that cost more than Breanna's prized saddle.
They hadn't seen her yet, and Breanna ducked behind a partition. Her heart pounded in her ears, though she was so tired, the adrenaline rush at seeing Adam with... his family?...was minor compared to what she'd experienced in that final few minutes of the race.
Reggie had come to Chicago, though Adam had said he never left the house. Why?
Had something happened to Adam's father? Had they come to fetch him home?
If they had, why hadn't they already gone? Hopped a train and been on their way?
