Secrets Can Be Deadly by Nancy Roe Read Free Book Online Page A

was seven-thirty. Time to start the day. A long hot shower—that’s what I needed.
     
    I set the diary on the kitchen table and kept staring at it while making breakfast—burning the toast and overcooking the eggs. I put them on a plate anyway. One of Grandfather’s rules was that no food ever went to waste. I was still following his rules and probably always would. I wondered what mysteries would be uncovered this morning.
    M y hand rubbed the dark blue suede diary. It was still soft all these years later. I imagined my mom caressing the cover. I opened it and began reading. She wrote about her friends, going to basketball games, sleepovers, and the movies—things I was never allowed to do. I thought my mother had the perfect life, until I read the entry from September 21. That was the day she learned she was pregnant. The last line of her diary: My life will never be the same.
    I read the diary again. This time , paying attention to the smallest details. I wondered why my father was never mentioned, and why my mother hadn’t written any more entries in her diary. I speculated that Grandfather found the diary and took it away as punishment.
    Six hours passed. So many questions. The only person who had any answers—Grandfather. I couldn’t ask him. He’d know I’d been in the attic.
    Grandfa ther would be expecting a visit. He’d question why I hadn’t visited him sooner. I had to come up with a feasible excuse. I grabbed an apple and headed out the door.
    The last time I ’d been to the hospital was when my tonsils were removed right before my ninth birthday. The only thing I remembered was the smell of alcohol. The nurse at the front desk told me Grandfather was in room 418, sharing a room with an elderly man who had slipped on a wet sidewalk and broken his hip.
    The door stood slightly ajar. I knocked, walked in.
    “Can’t they give him pain medication so he stops moaning?” That was Grandfather’s way of saying hello.
    “I can check with the nurse on my way out.”
    “What took you so long? I expected you this morning.”
    “I was going to come after breakfast. I noticed the car had a flat, so I put air in the tire. Then I saw grease on my pants. Grandmother always told me to get a stain out right away. By the time I washed my pants, it was time for lunch. I started reading and lost track of time.”
    “You’re going to be late for your own funeral.”
    “Yes, Grandfather.” I was still acting like a coward. “When do you get to go home?”
    “Doctor says I have to stay here at least three more days. They ’ve got to monitor my lungs, plus my blood pressure is too high. And, I got a concussion. Good thing Red stopped by, otherwise I might have been on the ground for hours and died.”
    All I heard was three more days . That meant I had more time to search through the house to see what other secrets would be revealed before I left for a new life.

12 Sunday, January 27, 1980 (Mason)
    S ophia always looked lovely. Mason gazed at her from the pew as she sang in the choir. Reverend Blake’s service today was on forgiveness. He read Psalm 103:8-12.
    The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
    Mason occasionally looked at his father, sitting three rows ahead. Mason always sat in the last pew in case he needed to make a quick exit. His dad never raised his head to look at Reverend Blake, which seemed odd—only looking up when the choir sang.
     
    Mason and Sophia exited the church to find groups of people gathered on the church steps. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of his dad waving. Walter was across the