The Summer House by Jean Stone Page A

Father would hate it if he knew I was trying to change his plans.”
    It was hard to believe that even Will Adams had put such fear into one of his own.
    Despite what Roger asked, Evelyn decided she’d ask Grandfather if he thought it was true. Besides, Grandfather could keep a secret.
    This last thought turned out to be most assuredly true, for when Evelyn arrived back at her house, Congressman Carter was dead.

Chapter 10
    He kissed her.
    Three days after Daniel left and two days after BeBe did, Father, Mother, and Roger went up to Boston for Congressman Carter’s funeral. Father had wanted Daniel to be there but it was too soon for him to leave boot camp. But even if Daniel had been there, Liz would not be. Instead, she had feigned menstrual cramps. Under ordinary circumstances, Father would not have allowed her to stay alone on the island overnight, but nothing about these days seemed ordinary. Father had barely blinked when he’d learned BeBe was gone; Mother had commented that summer school should be fun for BeBe. And then the congressman had died, and they had all left for the funeral, and Liz had waited for her chance to see Josh.
    She had waited all day. She had counted the hours and minutes and once even the seconds until she had known Josh would be out walking Snuffy. Now here she was—here they were—standing in the moonlight by the old rowboat at the cove, and he had his lips on hers, and she knew there was nothing more delicious or wonderful inthe whole world than his hands on her waist and their bodies pressed together.
    It was Josh who pulled back with a low laugh. “Wow,” he said. “I guess we’d better stop.”
    She did not want to stop.
    He studied her face. With the lightest touch of his fingertip he traced her chin, her nose, her eyebrows, her cheeks. He took her hand in his. “I want to show you something,” he said.
    Holding her hand, he led her alongside the water. Snuffy danced in and out of view as they moved from the cove to the rocky stretch of beach that separated the Adamses’ house from the others.
    “Look.” He pointed to a house that sprawled above the dunes. It was deep gray in the moonlight and the shadows, imposing in the night salt air; a house not unlike Liz’s. “That’s my house,” he said. “My family’s house.”
    “You’re my next-door neighbor.”
    “It’s more than a house, Liz. It represents lifetimes—generations—of struggle.” She did not know how to respond because she did not know what he was trying to say. “All my grandparents died in the camps,” he said slowly. “Birkenau. Auschwitz. Before they could be captured, my father and his sister were evacuated on the Kindertransport. Their lives were spared, but they lost everyone and everything.”
    Liz knew of the war; she knew of the concentration camps. But the only person she’d ever known who’d been connected to the atrocity was Mr. Goldman, the custodian at school. He was a quiet, small man who wore long-sleeved shirts even in warm weather. One of the girls said it was to conceal the blue-purple numbers tattooed on his forearm. But no one knew for sure: it was not something Mr. Goldman ever talked about.
    “My father met my mother here in America,” Josh went on. “She’s Jewish, too. Together they have built agood life. Their family—and their beliefs—are held together by their faith.” He turned from the house and faced Liz. “I’m only telling you these things so that maybe you’ll understand.”
    “Understand … what?”
    “Understand if, well, if I can’t be as open about seeing you as maybe I’d like.”
    He touched the hair on her forehead again. “I took a risk when I took you out the other night. If my father ever knew I had a date with …”
    Suddenly it all became clear. “With a girl who’s not Jewish?”
    He nodded. A knot tied itself around her heart. “Does that mean you can’t see me?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “But I feel really foolish. I