Secrets and Lies by Jacquelyn Johnson

Author:Jacquelyn Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crimson Hill Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

nine

I get home from school one day to two surprises.

Usually, I’m not really a fan of surprises. In my opinion, surprises are usually bad. Especially at my house. I’d rather have some idea of what to expect most of the time. It just makes everything easier.

SURPRISE ONE: a post card, dropped on the table near the door. I take a minute to look at the picture. It’s a city street with a lot of yellow taxis and a big plume of steam puffing out the top of an orange striped pipe in the sidewalk. On the back, it says “A shopping district street in New York City.”

The postcard is addressed to me, in black pen. The message is from Sam. Strange to get it now, more than two weeks after she got back to Seabright.

It doesn’t say much, just thanks again for all the fun we had at Christmas, and I loved being with you and your family.

I loved our Christmas together too, but now it seems so long ago. Like it happened to some other Morley, with some other Sam at some other Christmas.

There are voices coming from the kitchen. One is familiar. It’s Sheila. The other voice, a woman’s, has an accent. Spanish, I think. This woman sounds a lot like Margaret, who used to be the housekeeper at Sam’s house. But it can’t be Margaret, because I heard she went to work for another family.

SURPRIZE TWO: It IS Margaret. She’s baking cookies with Sheila. Gus is sitting at the table, joking about his job as a cookie tester and how hard he has to work.

Margaret? Here? Then I kind of remember someone saying Margaret would be coming to stay and help us, whatever that means. Looks like she’s helping with the cookie orders right now.

“Ah, Morley, it’s good to see you,” Margaret says. “Your sister is in bedroom, playing, your mother and baby are fine, upstairs, lie down. Nothing to worry about. Why don’t you sit down? Have snack? Tell me, how is your day?”

Uh…right. All I want to do is grab something to eat and escape to my room. Good to know everyone is OK and I don’t have to rush upstairs and see if Lily needs something. Or Mom does. Or worry about Daisy.

“Margaret…uh…hi,” I say. Margaret is a good person. She’s always been kind to me like she is to all Sam’s friends. “Did you, uh, did you find…”

“My room? Yes. Gus show me.” I hope he didn’t give her MY room. He looks at me and winks. I try to smile, even though I’m not happy about Margaret being here. Even if she does make us dinner and do laundry and all those other jobs at home, she’s Sam’s Margaret. More like Sam’s mother than her real mother ever was, at least whenever I was around.

She’s in the Sam camp, not in the Morley plus Daisy plus Lily plus their mother camp.

I remind myself that Margaret is just here because she needs a place to stay.

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