Read Online My Mother's Secret by J. L. Witterick - Free Book Online
Authors: J. L. Witterick
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grandfather finally asked if he would like to court me, and your fatherâs answer was that he would like that very much.
âFor the next year, your father came over every Sunday. We would go for walks in the park or he would listen to me play the piano. It was all very formal and always with a chaperone.
âWhen your father finally graduated at the top of his class and was offered a position at the hospital in Sokal, your grandfather gave his consent for him to marry me.
âHe told your grandfather that he would always look after me.
âAs you can see, Mikolaj, he keeps his promises.â My mother wants to point this out to me.
âI went from having servants to look after the cooking, cleaning, and shopping at home, to having different ones to do the same thing when I married your father.â
I know that my father dotes on my mother, bringing home beautiful dresses and jewelry for no particular reason.
She tells him that she loves everything he buys her because this makes him happy.
Secretly, she gives away some of her dresses. She says to me, âTheyâre nice, but not all of them are really my taste.â
She knows I wonât tell.
One day, my father sees a young woman in town wearing the exact same dress that he had just given to my mother. When he comes home that night, he says, âFelicia, it was the same dress that I bought you, but I know that it would have looked much better on you.â
He never asks my mother if it was her dress that the young woman was wearing.
That is just my father.
Chapter 34
M y fatherâs reputation grew and, with it, his position at the hospital. He felt that he next needed a family to be complete.
Five years after they were married, they anxiously received me into the world.
The best nurses were hired to be on hand weeks ahead.
My mother, at twenty-two, was considered old for being a first-time mother.
âThe day you were born was the happiest day of my life,â my mother often tells me.
Because my mother is home all day, she tells me stories. Thatâs my favorite, her stories.
Sometimes at night, when I canât fall asleep, she asks me to close my eyes and then magically transports me to faraway places with her words. There are pirates looking for treasure, princes rescuing damsels, and dragons to be tamed.
My mother is the most beautiful of all the mothers. When we have big dinner parties, itâs clear that my father is very proud of her.
Like her father, my father asks her to play the piano for everyone, but never to sing. It was her singing that made him fall in love with her, and he feels that it is private.
I feel privileged that my mother sings to me all day, when we are on our own.
Chapter 35
E very night after dinner, my father reads us a passage from his medical journal. He wants my mother and me to be well informed.
One evening, he reads that eggs are good for the mental and physical development of children.
The very next day, my mother and I make a trip to the market looking for fresh eggs. We find this old woman, who brings them in from her little farm on the edge of town.
My mother thinks that Franciszka is sweet because she doesnât mind me playing with the eggs, which makes most of the other merchants upset. People donât realize that the path to my motherâs heart passes through me.
So we buy a dozen eggs from her and put them in our basket to take home.
On the way, there is an argument in the market when two vendors are fighting over a space. The shouting becomes shoving, which becomes fighting. A crowd gathers, and it pushes us forward.
My mother and I are terrified, and, standing too close, she is pushed over when one of the men falls back. All the eggs go flying out of the basket, so that both of us are dripping and covered with broken eggshells as we rush home.
When my father hears what happened, he is furious.
âYou never go to the market,â he says. âThat is
âFor the next year, your father came over every Sunday. We would go for walks in the park or he would listen to me play the piano. It was all very formal and always with a chaperone.
âWhen your father finally graduated at the top of his class and was offered a position at the hospital in Sokal, your grandfather gave his consent for him to marry me.
âHe told your grandfather that he would always look after me.
âAs you can see, Mikolaj, he keeps his promises.â My mother wants to point this out to me.
âI went from having servants to look after the cooking, cleaning, and shopping at home, to having different ones to do the same thing when I married your father.â
I know that my father dotes on my mother, bringing home beautiful dresses and jewelry for no particular reason.
She tells him that she loves everything he buys her because this makes him happy.
Secretly, she gives away some of her dresses. She says to me, âTheyâre nice, but not all of them are really my taste.â
She knows I wonât tell.
One day, my father sees a young woman in town wearing the exact same dress that he had just given to my mother. When he comes home that night, he says, âFelicia, it was the same dress that I bought you, but I know that it would have looked much better on you.â
He never asks my mother if it was her dress that the young woman was wearing.
That is just my father.
Chapter 34
M y fatherâs reputation grew and, with it, his position at the hospital. He felt that he next needed a family to be complete.
Five years after they were married, they anxiously received me into the world.
The best nurses were hired to be on hand weeks ahead.
My mother, at twenty-two, was considered old for being a first-time mother.
âThe day you were born was the happiest day of my life,â my mother often tells me.
Because my mother is home all day, she tells me stories. Thatâs my favorite, her stories.
Sometimes at night, when I canât fall asleep, she asks me to close my eyes and then magically transports me to faraway places with her words. There are pirates looking for treasure, princes rescuing damsels, and dragons to be tamed.
My mother is the most beautiful of all the mothers. When we have big dinner parties, itâs clear that my father is very proud of her.
Like her father, my father asks her to play the piano for everyone, but never to sing. It was her singing that made him fall in love with her, and he feels that it is private.
I feel privileged that my mother sings to me all day, when we are on our own.
Chapter 35
E very night after dinner, my father reads us a passage from his medical journal. He wants my mother and me to be well informed.
One evening, he reads that eggs are good for the mental and physical development of children.
The very next day, my mother and I make a trip to the market looking for fresh eggs. We find this old woman, who brings them in from her little farm on the edge of town.
My mother thinks that Franciszka is sweet because she doesnât mind me playing with the eggs, which makes most of the other merchants upset. People donât realize that the path to my motherâs heart passes through me.
So we buy a dozen eggs from her and put them in our basket to take home.
On the way, there is an argument in the market when two vendors are fighting over a space. The shouting becomes shoving, which becomes fighting. A crowd gathers, and it pushes us forward.
My mother and I are terrified, and, standing too close, she is pushed over when one of the men falls back. All the eggs go flying out of the basket, so that both of us are dripping and covered with broken eggshells as we rush home.
When my father hears what happened, he is furious.
âYou never go to the market,â he says. âThat is
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