Chapter 14

                                    

                                          
One night, after a lesson at the NS, Peter and Catherine decided to prolong their evening at Greenspring Park. The brisk early winter air made them both shiver, wrapping their coats tighter around their cold bodies. After an extra hour of sitting around and talking, they reluctantly headed back home.
                          
"Peter?" Catherine's shaky voice asked tentatively as they walked back home, hand in hand. She took a deep breath. "What do you tell your mom when you go out to the NS or to see me?"
                          
"If it's just the NS, without plans of staying out later, I say friends have organized a soccer game or something. But if I'm seeing you..." He shrugged and looked her in the eye before continuing: "I tell her the truth. I love spending time with you, Catherine, and I haven't felt this comfortable with anyone before, and I just don't see the point in hiding it." He spoke without hesitation, as it was the most obvious thing in the world.  Catherine lowered her eyes and stared intently at the floor, not daring to look up.
                          
He squeezed her hand reassuringly, but Catherine sighed. "Peter...that's awfully sweet. But to tell you the truth, I haven't told my mother." She finally looked up at Peter, afraid of his reaction. Pain showed in his eyes, and his hand loosened its grip on hers. Guilt overcame her, and she stroked his hand. "It's not that I don't love our outings, Peter, because I do. A lot. It's just...complicated. I could never have told my dad, he would've kept me from leaving the house ever again if he found out. And since he's left, things have been really hard on my mom and the last thing I should be doing is to bring anything else on her just now. But I will, I promise." She pecked his cheek, bringing the smile back to his face, and the rest of their walk went on in silence, neither feeling the need to talk.  They held hands under the carpet of stars, feeling alone in the world.
                          
"Goodnight, beautiful." Peter kissed Catherine softly on the lips in lieu of goodbye when they had reached her house and set back off into the night towards his own house.
                          
Catherine creaked open the door, not wanting to disturb anyone inside the house. She had been much later than usual, Adam and Lily would almost certainly be asleep by now or just about to. She had slipped off her boots and was about to climb up the stairs to her bedroom when a light flicked on in the living room. "Hi, sweetie.". Her mom said, setting down her knitting. "It's pretty late, you know. And you've been taking an awful lot of long walks lately."
                          
Catherine gulped. Had her mother figured out what she did when she went out at night? "I like it. I don't know, I guess it's just a way of forgetting about everything going on, clearing my head. And I know I was out a long time tonight, I'm sorry. It was just one of those walks where you don't really know where you're going, you just go wherever your feet lead you and you get lost in your thoughts. When I snapped out of it and actually looked around, I realized I was already across town, so I came back as quickly as I good."
                          
Julia patted the spot next to hers on the couch. "I guess that makes sense." Catherine let out a sigh of relief.  So, her mother hadn't figured it out after all. "But, the town isn't that big that it takes three hours to cross it, Catherine. So why don't you tell me what you're really up to all these nights."
                          
Catherine took a deep breath, deciding there was no point in hiding it anymore. Her insides always tightened when she had to lie to her mother about her whereabouts, and it was getting hard to constantly hide her NS homework. And, since Peter had already told his mother about them...maybe it was time she told hers too. "Oh, alright then.  I suppose it all started that night dad took me to father George. When we came home, I needed some air. I was angry at dad for not letting me do anything and confused as to what I should do, and I needed to think, so I went for a walk. I had just started when I saw a light moving forward a little further down the street. I found that rather odd, so I decided to follow it. We walked through town a few minutes. I never saw who was carrying that light, though. But that person eventually came to a stop in front of an abandoned barn and went inside. There were lights and muffled sounds coming from inside, so I figured I would investigate. I went up to the door and listened, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. But I stepped on a twig, and the noise alerted someone from inside and he came to see what was going on. He feared I was police or smething, because this activity wasn't approved, you see. But when he realized I meant no harm, he explained this was the NS, or Night School. Basically, it's night classes for people who can't go to school or didn't get the chance to when they were younger. He asked if I wanted to join, and obviously I said yes." She paused, waiting to see if her mother would speak. When she didn't, Catherine went on.