Read Online Staying Together by Ann M. Martin - Free Book Online

brother, offering him her hand.
    He stood up and brushed off his jeans but didn’t take her hand.
    â€œIt’s going to be all right,” said Willow.
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œDad said things will be different.”
    â€œMaybe Dad will be different, but I bet Mom won’t.”
    Willow began to feel annoyed. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said. “She’s home and that’s that.”
    She marched ahead and had gone six paces when she felt Cole’s hand slip into hers. They walked the rest of the way to their house in silence, but Willow smiled at her brother as they opened the front door. “Ready?” she said.
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œHello!” called Willow. “We’re home!”
    Cole closed the door behind them, and an instant later, Willow heard footsteps. Her parents hurried into the front hall.
    â€œOh,” Mrs. Hamilton said, and put her hand to her mouth. “You’ve grown.”
    Willow could see tears in her mother’s eyes. “Mom,” she said, “you just saw us in March. We couldn’t have grown since March.”
    â€œBut you did!” Mrs. Hamilton pulled Willow and Cole to her and hugged them both.
    â€œWelcome home,” said Cole in a small voice.
    Willow stepped back and took a good look at her mother, who seemed calmer than when Willow had last visited her in the hospital. And her attention was solidly on Willow and Cole. Not once did her eyes stray to the closet door, which was closed, or to the pair of sneakers Cole had left by the bottom of the staircase that morning.
    â€œCome in the living room. Tell me everything,” she said.
    Willow glanced at her father, who smiled, and the Hamiltons sat down in their living room as self-consciously as if they were entertaining an unexpected visitor.
    â€œUm,” said Willow after a few moments, “I got an A on a math quiz.”
    â€œGood for you!” exclaimed her mother. “Bravo! We’ll have to celebrate tonight.”
    â€œIt was just a quiz, Mom.”
    â€œNevertheless. And you, Cole. How is school?”
    â€œFine.”
    â€œDon’t you have any details?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œTell me about your friends, what you’re studying.”
    Cole and Willow had spoken with their mother on the phone frequently in the past month, and she always asked about their friends and what they were studying.
    â€œYou know,” said Cole, and Willow nudged him, but he shrugged and looked away.
    â€œCole has to give a book report on
James and the Giant Peach
,” she told their mother. “And over the weekend he and Jack and Henry did something really cool. Tell her, Cole.”
    â€œWe decided to have a drive at school. We’re going to collect pet food for the dogs and cats at Sheltering Arms.”
    â€œYou thought that up all by yourselves?” said Mrs. Hamilton. “Darling, that’s wonderful!”
    Cole dared to smile at his mother. And then he brought out his work folder from school and showed her his last month’s compositions and drawings and book reports and quizzes.
    At six o’clock, Willow’s mother said, “What shall we have for dinner tonight? I’ll cook.”
    â€œOh, no,” said Mr. Hamilton. “I’ll fix something. This is your first night home.”
    â€œBut I want to cook. I haven’t cooked in ages.”
    â€œDuring the blizzard,” spoke up Cole, “Dad let us make popcorn in the fireplace.”
    â€œIn the fireplace?” exclaimed Mrs. Hamilton.
    â€œWe didn’t have any power,” Cole told her. “It was exciting.”
    â€œBut in the
fire
place? That isn’t —” Mrs. Hamilton stopped abruptly. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
    â€œWe were like pioneers in the olden days,” said Cole, but Willow watched her brother’s spirits fade.
    She put a smile on