"Andrews, V C - The Casteels 02 - Dark Angel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Andrews V.C)

low and scared. Pa had told me he'd talked to my grandparents, that they
would welcome me into their home. But what else had he told them? He'd
always despised me, blamed me for killing his "AngeP' wife. Had Pa told
them everything? If so, they'd never learn to like me, much less love
me. And I needed someone to love me for what I was-less than perfect.

Those shining blue eyes swung my way, totally void of expression. It
bothered me how empty she could make her eyes, as if she knew how to
turn all her emotions off and on. Despite those cool eyes and those
tears that defied gravity, when she spoke her voice was sweet and warm;
"Heaven dear, would you be a darling girl and not call me GrandmotherT I
try so hard to retain my youth, and I feel I have been successful in my
endeavors, and being called Grandmother' in front of all my friends who
think I am years younger than I actually am would defeat all my efforts.
I'd be so humiliated to be caught in a lie. I confess I always lie about
my age, sometimes even to doctors. So please don't be hurt or offended
if I ask that from now on you just call me Jillian." Another shock, but
I was growing used to them by now. "But but " I sputtered,\"how are you
going to explain who I am?-and where I come from?-and what I'm doing
here?"

Oh my dear, sweet dear, please don't look so hurt! In private, maybe on
rare occasions, you could call me oh, no! On second thought that just
won't If I allow you you'd forget and thoughtlessly call me
Grandmother.' So I am right to start us off like this. You see, dear,
it's not real lying. Women I nave to do what they can to create their
own mystique. I suggest you start right now lying about your I own age.
It's never too soon. And I will' simply introduce you as my niece,
Heaven Leigh Cas teeM It took me a few moments to take this in and to
find the next question. "Do you have a sister whose surname is the same
as mine, CasteeIT' ---Why no, of course not," she said with an efficient
little laugh. "But both of my sisters have been married and divorced so
many times no, one could possibly remember all the names they've had.
And you don't have to embroider anything, do you? Just say you don't
want to talk about your background. And if someone is rude enough to
persist, tell that hateful someone your dear daddy took you back to his
hometown what did you say the name was?"

Winnerrow, Jill," supplied Tony, crossing his legs and meticulously
running his fingers down the sharp crease of his gray trouser leg.

Back in the Willies most women competed to become grandmothers at the
earliest age possible! It was something to boast about, to be proud of.
Why, my own granny had been a grandmother by the time she was
twenty-eight, though that first grandson had not lived a full year. Yet,
still that granny at age fifty had looked eighty or more. "All right,
Aunt Jillian," I said in another small voice. "No, dear, not Aunt
Jillian, just Jillian. I have never liked titles, mother, aunt, sister,
or wife. My Christian name is enough." r husband chuckled.