Hide Yourself Away Read Online Free PDF

transparent ones, Frank, for your extramarital escapades. What kind of role model have you been?”
    “If we had had a better marriage, Grace, I wouldn’t have had to look elsewhere.”
    “Oh yeah, that’s right. Poor you.”
    Frank ignored her sarcastic taunt.
    “Look, Grace. I have no interest in getting into a rehash ofour old problems. The fact of the matter is, Jan and I are very happy together, supremely happy. That will give Lucy a positive view of what a marriage can be. We have a beautiful new home here in an upscale suburb with excellent schools. Jan has given up her job and will be at home; she can be there for Lucy. As it is, Lucy is living in your father’s house. You’ve decided to go back to school, and that’s admirable. But it’s taking up a lot of your time, and when you finish, I assume you’ll be working full time, leaving your father to pick up the slack with Lucy’s care. He’s no kid, Grace. Even putting aside Lucy’s welfare for a minute, how fair do you think that is to him?”
    Grace had asked herself the same question. But she was certain that Dad enjoyed having them there, that he had a renewed sense of purpose since Lucy had brought youthful life into the house that had been so lonely since his wife’s death.
    “Dad loves Lucy, and I thank God for him, Frank. He’s wonderful with her. I know for certain that he has never resented having her here. Having Lucy around keeps him energized. He adores her.”
    “Maybe he does, Grace. But his health isn’t the greatest, and I’m her father.”
    “And I’m her mother, Frank. She’s staying here with me,” she declared firmly, holding herself back from hurling the phone across the room.
    “All right, Grace. I can see we’re not going to get anywhere here. Let’s see what the judge says. I’ll be waiting at the train station for Lucy tomorrow.”

    And to think that selfish bastard hadn’t even wanted her to have the baby.
    Grace fumed as she folded the laundry, still warm from the dryer, separating the garments into two piles. Of all the mean timing: Frank’s intention of getting custody coming just before Lucy was going off to spend two weeks up there. She wouldn’t put it past her former husband to have timed it so that Grace could be left alone to stew while he and his new wife worked on selling the advantages of coming to live with them to Lucy.
    How quickly things could change. Just yesterday Grace had been glad that Lucy’s trip was coinciding with her own assignment in Newport. Lucy had been excited at the prospect of taking the train to Rhode Island with her mother, then continuing all by herself up the tracks to Boston, where Frank would meet her. Now, Grace felt sick to her stomach at the thought of her child being separated from her and going to “them.”
    “Lucy,” she called up the stairs from the basement. “Will you go and get our suitcases out of the garage, please?”
    “Okay, Mom.”
    Lucy must sense something’s up, thought Grace. Usually, it would take two or three requests to get her to perform a task.
    “Should I bring them down there, Mom?”
    “No. Put them in our bedrooms.”
    Grace stacked the two laundry baskets and carried them upthe cement stairs. As she entered the kitchen, she was suddenly aware that the striped wallpaper had seen better days, many better days. The path through the dining room and living room revealed that a paint job was in order, and the carpeting could really use replacing. Funny how you could walk by things, day after day, and never really see them.
    She wondered what the place Lucy was going to would be like. Grace would bet Frank’s new house had gleaming steel appliances and polished granite countertops in its sparkling kitchen. There would be yards and yards of ceramic-tiled and fresh wooden floors. There were probably skylights and a Jacuzzi. All the houses being built these days had skylights and Jacuzzis. She thought of the peppermint pink tub that Lucy took