Well Behaved Wives(75)
“I wasn’t about to let a stranger move into my house. I did some digging. Jewish geography, you know. It wasn’t that hard. And do you know what we found?”
“I wouldn’t try to guess.” Even though Ruth had no other secrets, she still worried what her in-laws had found out.
“We discovered a nice Jewish girl who had just finished Columbia Law School. I figured you were only there to find a husband. You found one, of course, but as I started to get to know you, I realized that wasn’t the reason you were studying law. I imagine you must want to use your education. It isn’t something I would’ve done, but times are changing. Who knows what things will be like when you have children.”
Ruth blushed. Yes, there was so much she didn’t know about this family.
“You gave up your home and put your dreams on hold for our son. You have nothing to prove. The etiquette lessons, the hair, the fashions—they’re not important.”
Ruth doubted this and twisted her mouth. “I don’t believe you.”
Shirley laughed. “Fine, I do think they’re important, but not the most important. Love and loyalty rank higher. And honesty, under the right circumstances.”
“I agree.” Ruth could not believe she agreed with her mother-in-law. Times really were changing.
Shirley nodded. Ruth brought the spices for the rub and they worked side by side in companionable quiet. In silence there was a new comfort for Ruth. She hoped Shirley felt the same way.
Shirley broke it. “You know, if you don’t take that exam soon, I’ll have your father to answer to.”
“What does he have to do with this?”
“His only daughter was moving into my house a hundred miles away. You don’t think he gave me and Leon the third degree? When the dust settled, and we realized we all had the same interests at heart, your father confirmed what we’d already discovered about your career aspirations.”
“Oh no.”
“He’s a real mensch, Ruth. Asher was taking you away, but he saw the love between you. Of course, he had an advantage. He actually knew Asher.” Shirley covered her mouth with her hand and then lowered it. “I’m sorry. My mouth talks sometimes before my brain can stop it.”
“I know the feeling.”
Shirley laughed. “It was hard for your father to let you go so far away, but he really loves you. He asked us to promise two things. To treat you like our own daughter and encourage you to always follow your dreams. So you wouldn’t lose who you are, who he raised you to be. You don’t want us in trouble with your father, do you?”
Verklempt, Ruth swallowed and shook her head. She smiled. “Of course not.”
“You’ll understand when you’re a parent too.” Shirley walked over to Ruth and squeezed her hands, transmitting affection and conveying pride—or trying to. “I may not have had a great experience with lawyers, but I do believe you will be one of the good ones.”
Ruth smiled. She might even have been blushing. She might not know what it was like to have a mother, but the warmth she felt from having this mother-in-law, this woman, her new family, here to support her, was something she wanted to keep.
Chapter 27
LILLIAN
When Lillian returned home from Shirley’s without the coffee can with its dollars and coins, she should have felt lighter, but she didn’t. Weighed down by everything she’d learned that day, she might as well have been carrying bricks.
Anna, Shirley, Carrie—so many women had lived with brutal secrets. Including her blameless mother. It was so unfair. And the effects went out like ripples on the water—women injured, children without parents. Her mother must have had strength of her own to survive. And to make sure that Lillian never got hurt by her father. The least she could do was honor that by being strong herself.
She entered the kitchen to find Pammie and Penny dunking Oreos into milk. She noticed the crumbs on the table, the milk mustache on Penny’s lip, and felt so grateful she had these girls. Grateful that they could live a life with her, with their father. But she would make sure they understood that their good fortune wasn’t everyone’s. That women suffered in some marriages. She would make sure that her girls didn’t wind up in those kinds of marriages, that they spoke for themselves, that they were independent.
She gave them a quick hello and dashed toward the basement.
“Mother, do you want some Oreos?” Penny called. Lillian had to admit she was a sweet girl, if a little indulged by her circumstances.
“Thank you. Maybe later.” Lillian closed the basement door behind her and began sorting through the clothes that she hoped would suit and fit Carrie, now and after the baby, as well as some of her old forgotten maternity dresses she’d hidden away in a steamer trunk. She piled everything into a rickety laundry cart that would also accommodate the baby clothes and maternity wear Irene would drop off soon.
Lillian claimed a used coffee tin from the storage shelves. She’d always kept a few in case they came in handy for something. Peter used to tease her about it. Taking it upstairs, she dropped in a few coins, and instead of the echo evoking a feeling of emptiness, her heart raced at the promise of saving her change and extra money to help a girl in need. She’d give all the money she had—the money Peter gave her—if she thought it would help someone like her mother.