“I’m as good as gold,” Evelyn said. “Honestly, Mama, you always suspect me of being so much worse than I am.”
“I’ve known you since before you were born,” Miriam said tiredly. “I know exactly who you are.”
Even though Miriam couldn’t know about Tony, a chill went through Evelyn as she looked into her mother’s eyes, which somehow missed nothing. And she realized that even if by some miracle Joseph was won over, the more formidable obstacle might be standing in front of her now.
Bernie’s family moved into his cottage, Helen and her brood into the other along with Miriam and Margaret. Gertie came every weekend with her children in tow. Sam took up residence in Bernie’s house, and Evelyn and Vivie once again crowded in wherever there was a bed for them at night.
But unlike the previous summer, finding time to see Tony was difficult. As one of the newest officers, he frequently worked night shifts. But with everyone together during the day, Evelyn’s absence was noticeable the one time she snuck off—she blamed it on cramps and needing to lie down, but there were only so many days a month she could use that excuse.
Each day, the entire clan gathered for the beach together—an ordeal with seven children under nine years old. Mornings were an assembly line of first breakfast, then preparing stacks of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, which were stuffed back into the bags that the loaves of bread came in for lunches, filling canteens of water, packing the towels and blankets that had spent the night airing on the railings of the cottage porches, dressing the children in their bathing suits, and waddling down to the beach, loaded up with chairs and blankets and toys, like a line of baby ducklings.
Joseph spent more and more time at the cottage as well, leaving the store in the care of his two clerks to enjoy the hard-earned fruits of his labor with his ever-expanding family.
Evelyn’s time with Tony was then limited to the mercy of his nights off—and even then, the beach was no longer safe. Sam had taken to bringing Louise out for bonfires, which her older siblings frequently joined them around once the children were in bed. Now, when she snuck down the road to his waiting car, they had to find other places to go.
“Evelyn,” Tony said. They had driven out to the woods off the Ipswich Road and were sitting on a boulder together with a lantern. If the woods were haunted, the spirits didn’t bother them.
She sighed heavily at the tone of his voice. He didn’t need to say it. “I know.”
“This week?”
For a long moment she said nothing. Then, quietly, “If he says no, they won’t let me see you. What then?”
He wrapped his arms around her. “We wait. And he’ll see how unhappy you are. And then we try again. He likes me.”
“He likes you. But that doesn’t mean he wants you as his son-in-law. He’s still got one foot in the old country.”
“And one foot here. Remember that.”
She nodded, then leaned against him.
They settled on Monday, in two nights’ time, when Joseph would return to the cottage for supper after a day at the store. Gertie, Helen’s husband, and Margaret would all be gone, making the scene less chaotic.
Supper ended and Joseph retired to the porch to smoke a cigar in the twilight. Evelyn dropped two dishes, and Miriam finally banished her from the kitchen. She went to the living room and paced instead.
“What is the matter with you?” Miriam asked, coming to the doorway, a dishtowel in her hand. “Evelyn.” She turned to look at her mother, whose face went pale when she saw her daughter’s wild eyes. “What did you do?” she asked in a whisper. “Chas vehalilah.”
The sound of a car approaching and then pulling to a stop came in through the open windows, followed by a door closing. Evelyn and Miriam both ran to the window.
“Officer Delgado,” Joseph said pleasantly. “Is everything all right?”
“Delgado?” Miriam asked.
“Mama, hush!”
Under normal circumstances, Evelyn wouldn’t have gotten away with that, but Miriam wanted to hear what was happening outside as badly as her daughter did. They had missed Tony’s reply, but whatever it was, Joseph invited him to sit and offered him a drink and a cigar.
Evelyn’s heart was racing. The hospitality was beyond what she could have hoped for—whatever Tony had done to lay the groundwork, he did it well.
“No, thank you, sir. But I’m here on an important matter.” Evelyn could just make out the tense set of his shoulders through the screen, her mother next to her. She felt him take in a breath. “I don’t know if you know this, but your daughter Evelyn—”