Recap: Aliza’s mother announces her engagement to Dalya’s father. Aliza is devastated and Dalya is also unhappy.
The next day, Dovid was sitting on my bed, trying to calm me down. “Aliza, no one died. This is not the end of the world.”
“I don’t want a replacement for Daddy. Not ever.”
“He’s not a replacement. Look, you have to get a hold of yourself. Mommy is not leaving. She’s just adding on to our family and––”
“You try dealing with that grumpy daughter.”
“Look, you don’t have to be best friends but––”
Just then, Mommy strode into the room.
“Oh, Lizzie, Dovid, Yeshaya invited us to a little birthday party for Dalya. Please wash up and we’ll be going to a restaurant with them in an hour.”
She left before I could say anything. Did she even notice I was crying? She didn’t care. She had her new family and her new life now.
…
At the restaurant, I sat as far away as possible from Dalya and Yeshaya.
Ima handed Dalya a card. “Happy 11th birthday,” she said.
Her father tried to get her to say something. “Beth and I are giving you a gift certificate for horseback riding. You always wanted that. It’s from both of us.”
Dalya read the card. “Thank you,” she said without a smile.
It seemed like the only ones talking or enjoying the dinner were Mommy and Yeshaya, as well as Dovid and Aharon, who were deep into their learning talk. Zevi and Reuvie were both home with babysitters at their own houses.
“When do you plan to get married?” Dovid asked.
“We’re going to try to plan for a small wedding next month,” Mommy said.
Next month! My whole world was crashing down on me in a month.
Dalya asked to be excused. She left for the ladies’ room and stayed there until we left.
In the car on the way home, I decided to try to get Mommy to see she was making a mistake. “You haven’t known him that long. It’s such a rush.”
Just then her phone buzzed. She pulled over to take the call.
“What! That’s terrible. Yes, I will get on this right away. They have to tell the Syrian officials that he has a serious heart issue. He does. Such a young boy. I will get on to my contact right away. We need to move him across the border to Turkey and from there to Israel. I’ll be in touch.”
She hung up. “I’m sorry, it’s an emergency.” Mommy started the car again. She was thinking about the boy she needed to rescue, so I knew it was no use bringing up what I was speaking about before.
…
In my room, I wrote a page in my diary. “This is the worst thing ever. Mommy doesn’t know him. His daughter is not friendly. I don’t want him as a replacement father. I don’t want him at all.
I closed my diary. It was late but I didn’t feel like sleeping.
Mommy appeared in the doorway. “Lizzie, can I speak with you?”
I thought maybe she was going to say she realized I was right. She hadn’t known him that long and she should slow things down but, no, she didn’t say anything about that.
“I have to take an emergency trip to Washington tomorrow morning very early. It’s pikuach nefesh. There’s a young boy, 15, who needs heart surgery. Rabbi H needs me to help get him an emergency visa to get out of Syria. I have to get the politicians in Washington to pressure the Assad regime. It will work, but it takes time and I have to go. I’m sorry for leaving you, but I’ll be back, b’ezras Hashem, tomorrow night, if all goes well.”
The usual was happening. Mommy was off to save the world. “How does Yeshaya (I didn’t like saying his name) feel about you rushing off to Washington?”
“He understands. He such a wonderful man, Lizzie. I hope you’ll give him a chance. He’s so passionate about the Jewish people and he believes strongly in what I’m doing. I wouldn’t be able to marry him if he didn’t. He wants to continue the work of the Fine fund, and he is 100 percent behind helping me to rescue Jews.”
I sighed.
Mommy hugged me and left the room because her phone was buzzing again.
…
The next morning, I woke up feeling groggy. It took me such a long time to fall asleep. The first thought that hit me was that Mommy was marrying Yeshaya.
Carol was in the kitchen fixing breakfast. Zevi was sitting in his booster seat, eating oatmeal, and Dovid had left for yeshivah.
“Good morning, Sleepyhead. Isn’t it wonderful news?” Carol bubbled.
I grunted. “I’m going to daven.”
After davening, I plunked myself down on a chair in the kitchen. Carol brought me a bowl of steamy oatmeal.
“Hey, why the frown?” she asked. “You know your mother always comes back.”
“I’m gonna get Reuvie as a brother,” Zevi said.
I couldn’t swallow any oatmeal. “I’m not so hungry,” I said. I excused myself.
I decided to go outside and sit on the porch swing. We have a cool swing in front that seats three people, which has cushions and a canopy.
I sat down on it and began swinging.
A white limo pulled up in front of our house. I was thinking about Dalya and feeling generally sorry for myself, so I wasn’t paying any attention to the white limo.
Someone threw something out the window and then the car sped away.
The thump of a package hitting the front walk of our house roused me to go take a look.
It was a thick brown envelope with foreign stamps. There was strange lettering on the front of the envelope. To my surprise, the envelope was addressed to the Donan Children.
Who would send us a package like this?
I lifted it. It was light. I brought it into the house and knocked on the study door where Dovid and Aharon were learning
Dovid looked up from his Gemara. “Look at this. It just came.”
Dovid took the envelope and examined the front.
“Aren’t you gonna open it? It must be a present.“
“I’m not going to open it. Look at those letters on the front. Those are Arabic letters.”
Arabic? I recoiled, like from a rattlesnake.
Dovid looked thoughtful. It’s probably a thank you gift from one of the families Mommy helped.”
“Why would they send us a gift?”
Dovid shrugged.
“Just in case it’s not that, we should wait till Mommy gets home and see what she says about it.”
…
The next day, when Mommy returned, Dovid showed her the envelope. Mommy took one look at it. Her eyes widened. She yelled. “Don’t touch it. Don’t open it.”
What was going on? Mommy raced out of the room clutching the envelope.
Dovid and I exchanged worried glances. I pulled out the journal. I needed a distraction.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of an historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishing, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams (a novel, Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022), and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).