No One Must Know by Eva Wiseman Page B

could have walked there. You know how important this is to me!”
    “And you know that I never go anywhere by myself,” she said in a calm voice.
    “Well, you should! All of my friends’ mothers do. Why can’t you be like them?” I cried.
    She looked at me for a long moment. “Because I am not,” she said simply, before returning to her book as if I wasn’t even in the room.
    I stood in front of her, shaking with fury. But when I saw that she was intent on ignoring me, I turned and stormed upstairs. Once I was in my room, I sat down onthe edge of my bed, taking deep breaths to calm down. Then I stood up and walked over to my closet to choose another dress to wear. I couldn’t make up my mind, though, so I decided to wait for Molly and ask her opinion. Gradually, I began to feel guilty for yelling at Mom, so I went downstairs to apologize. I found her in the living room, at the piano, her fingers caressing the keys, her eyes closed, her face full of emotion. I could see that she was a million miles away.
    “I’m sorry, Mom,” I stammered. “I didn’t mean what I said.”
    Her fingers banged the keys into a startled crescendo.
    “I’m
so
sorry, Mom,” I repeated.
    She pushed herself up from the piano stool and opened her arms wide. I ran into them. I wanted the embrace to go on forever, but just then the doorbell rang. Molly was waiting for me on the doorstep.
    “Perfect! This is the outfit you should wear,” Molly said. “I like it even better than your new dress.” She was sitting cross-legged on my bed, surrounded by the contents of my closet. I had tried on and discarded every garment I owned. Now I posed in front of my dresser mirror in a navy blue dress with a sailor collar. Even though it hadn’t been my first choice, I had to admit that I looked nice in it.
    With a knock on the door, Mom came into the room. “What happened here – a hurricane hit your room?” she asked.
    “I’ll clean up first thing tomorrow morning, I promise! How do I look?”
    “Beautiful, darling,” she said. “But you must hurry up. Dad says you’ll be late if you don’t leave right away.” She turned to Molly. “They’ll drop you at home first.”
    Dad drove off as I climbed the steps to Jacob’s apartment with a box of Laura Secord chocolates clutched in my hands. I paused for a moment to catch my breath and looked around. There was no nameplate on the door, but a small metal cylinder had been affixed to the doorpost. I forgot all about it when the door swung open on the first ring. Jacob’s smile widened as his eyes swept over me.
    “You look nice!” he said as he helped me off with my jacket. “Everybody wants to meet you.” He led me into a small living room full of comfortable worn furniture, soft lighting, and lots of books on shelves.
    “This is Alexandra Gal,” Jacob announced awkwardly. “These are my parents, Alex,” he said, pointing to a middle-aged couple on the sofa. “And this is my sister, Marnie.” He nodded at a freckle-faced girl perched in an armchair, and she stuck out her tongue.
    Jacob’s mother rose from her seat. “Welcome, dear,” she said with a smile. “You’re the first friend Jacob has brought home since we moved here.”
    “Nice to meet you,” I replied.
    “Hi, Alex,” said Mr. Pearlman, a large, rumpled man with a pipe. “You’re just in time for dinner.”
    We crowded around the dining-room table, which had been set with cream-colored melamine dishes. Two tall tapers in heavy silver candlesticks burned in the center. Mrs. Pearlman noticed that I was looking at them and said, “They were my mother’s. They’ve been in our family for a long time.”
    “They’re beautiful.”
    “Thank you. They mean a lot to me.”
    “They remind me of our candlesticks. Mom told me that they belonged to my grandmother.”
    “Isn’t that nice,” she said as she motioned me toward the chair beside Jacob.
    “That’s my chair!” Marnie cried.
    “Not tonight,