As she sat there stupefied, taking small sips, her mind suddenly recharged and refocused. Duvie Halpern! One of the handsome Halpern boys, grandsons of the admor, sons of Reb Shlomo Halpern, principal in Bais Yaakov. Not a bad shidduch. If her family was going down, it wasn’t going alone. But why did anyone have to go down at all? After all, they were both single, both from good families.

“How could you do such a thing, Shaindele? How?” Yaakov beseeched, beside himself.

Fruma Esther made a dismissive motion with her hand. “Let’s not get too excited, Yaakov.”

“What?” He stared at the old woman, shocked. “You? How can you say that? She’s been lying to us for weeks! Meeting with a boy on her own! Is this how your saintly mother and I raised you, Shaindele?”

The girl hung her head wordlessly. A livid color, like that of wine, rose in her pale cheeks at the onslaught.

Leah got up and put her arm around Shaindele’s shoulder. “Are you all right? Nothing happened to you?”

Shaindele looked at her, surprise and gratitude welling up inside her, along with her suddenly misting eyes. “I was scared by myself on the subway.”

“He let you go by yourself!” Yaakov exploded, jumping up and smashing his hand against the wall, rattling the laminated jigsaw puzzles in their frames.

“No. I just left without telling him.”

“What were you doing with him there in the first place, Shaindele?” Yaakov shouted.

Leah put a calming hand on his shoulder, shaking her head almost imperceptibly. “You’ll wake the baby. Look, it’s been a really hard night for all of us. We’re exhausted. Maybe we really should all talk about this tomorrow?”

To Yaakov’s surprise, Fruma Esther agreed. “Yes. This problem isn’t running anywhere. Morgen iz oich a tog.” Tomorrow is also a day.

Outnumbered, Yaakov gave in. Honestly, he was stunned, heartbroken, and defeated. How had he failed his little girl that she had behaved in such a way? How? And what was the right path to take now?

They bid good night to Fruma Esther, and Yaakov insisted on driving her home.

Leah listened sleepily as he returned, coming into the dark bedroom, changing into his nightclothes, then sliding in beside her.

She reached out for him, touching his shoulder gently. “Yaakov, don’t take it to heart. She’s just a teenage girl. They all get crazy ideas in their heads. At least she didn’t try to excuse herself or lie. Shaindele is a good girl, but she’s young, confused. She has a crush on some teenage boy, went off on a date with him. It’s no big deal. All of us did things like that when we were young, no?” she whispered.