The Promise of Home by Darcie Chan Read Free Book Online

the ceiling. On the floor beneath the shelving and forming a center aisle were wooden crates and bushel baskets placed side by side. Michael looked down the line at the containers of produce. There were separate ones for apples, potatoes, carrots, turnips, and beets. Not a single container was anywhere close to being full.
    His mother started thinking aloud. “We’ll need to go through and take out anything that’s gone bad or started to grow. Hopefully, there won’t be too many. We need to stretch what’s left for quite a while yet. But first, while Lizzie’s out of the house…” She walked to the far corner of the room. In a space between the wall and the end of the shelves on one side was a pile of burlap sacks they used when it was time to bring in the root crops.
    “What I’m about to show you must stay between us, Michael,” his mother said quietly. “But you’re the man of the house now, and I want you to know about it.” She bent over and reached behind the pile to remove a shiny wooden case.
    “What is that?”
    “It’s…my insurance policy.” She set the case on an empty stretch of shelving and opened it. Inside the rich mahogany, nestled in deep purple velvet, was a glowing set of sterling flatware. “This has been in my family a long time. My mother sent it to me years ago, even though my father would have abused her terribly had he known. He was a tyrant. When I married your father against his wishes, he disowned me and forbade everyone in the family to have contact with me.”
    Michael was shocked to be hearing about the taboo subject of his mother’s parents. He knew very little about his maternal grandparents—only that they had lived in Boston and had cut off all communication with his mother. Never had his mother spoken to him about the reason for the estrangement. “Why did he disapprove of your marrying Father?”
    “My parents were well-to-do, and I wanted for nothing growing up. Mama’s family owned a big department store in the city. My father was a banker. Naturally, they assumed I would go to finishing school and marry well, preferably a gentleman they selected. It was especially important to them, I think, because Frank had decided to study for the priesthood, and they knew marriage wouldn’t be in his future.
    “They arranged several introductions for me, each one worse than the last. I couldn’t imagine marrying any of the men my parents presented. I wanted to marry someone I loved, who loved me in return for more than my family’s wealth. I’d seen my father’s cruelty toward my mother all my life, and I didn’t believe he or any man would beat his wife if he truly loved her.”
    “How did you meet Father, then?”
    His mother smiled. “Your uncle Frank introduced us. Mama and I came out to Vermont to visit him a few years after he was ordained, and your father was up at the church with a delivery for needy families. Your grandfather did that often, you know. Donated milk and butter from the farm for the less fortunate. He was a good man.”
    “Times must have been much better back then.”
    “Financially, yes. Not like the twenties, but better than now.” She traced her finger down the side of the wooden case. “Much better than now.”
    “If your parents wouldn’t have approved of you marrying Father, how did you manage to do it? And when?”
    “Frank helped me again.” She gave a little laugh. “I suppose it’s true that my brother can be a bit devious at times. He certainly isn’t like any other priest you’re ever likely to meet. He always tried to shield me from our father, and he told me once that he felt guilty for entering the seminary because it would mean I’d be left at home without a big brother to protect me. Oh, he genuinely felt the call, don’t misunderstand. But he knew, too, that the priesthood was his escape, and that marriage could be mine, if it were to the right man. He agreed with me that a marriage should be based on