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

don't have much time to spare, said my grandmother. "Miles is heading
straight for home, Heaven dear. We hope you don't mind if we don't show
you around Boston today. And this handsome man next to you is Townsend
Anthony Tatterton. I call him Tony. Some of his friends call him Townie
to irritate him, but I suggest you don't do that.

As if I would. "My name is Jillian," she went on, still holding my hand
firmly between both of hers,, while I sat enthralled by her youth, by
her beauty, by the sound of her soft, whispery voice that was so
different from any I'd previously heard. "Tony and I plan to do
everything we can to see. that you enjoy your visit with us." Visit? I
hadn't come for a visit! I had come to stay! Forever stay! I had no
other place to go! Had Pa told them I was coming only to visit them?
What other lies had he put in their heads? From one to the other I
glanced, so afraid of arr assing myself with tears I knew instinctively
," they'd find in bad taste. Why had I presumed that cultured city
folks would want or need a hillbilly granddaughter like me? A lump came
to choke my throat. And what about my college education? Who would pay
for that if not them? I bit down on my tongue in order not to cry or say
the wrong thing. Perhaps I could work my way through. I did know how to
type

And in their black limousine I sat for long moments completely stunned
by the enormity of their misunderstanding.

Before I could recover from this shock, her husband began to speak in a
low, husky voice, using words that were English, but strangely
pronounced: "I think it best that you know from the beginning that I am
not your biological grandfather. Jillian was married first to Cleave
VanVoreen, who died about two years ago, and Cleave was the father of
your mother, Leigh Diane VanVoreen.

Again stunned, I felt myself shrink. He was so much the kind of father
I'd always wanted, A soft spoken, kindly man. My disappointment was so
devastating I couldn't fully experience the joy I had once upon a time
expected to feel when I knew my mother's full name. I swallowed again,
and bit down even harder on my tongue, letting go of the image of this
fine, handsome man being of my own fleshand blood, and with great
difficulty I tried to picture Cleave VanVoreen. What kind of name was
VanVoreen? No one in the hills and hollers of West Virginia had been
called anything as odd as VanVoreen.

"I feel very flattered that you look so disappointed to hear I am not
your natural grandfather," said this Tony, his smile small and pleased.
Puzzled by his voice, by his tone, I turned questioning eyes on my
grandmother. For some reason she blushed, and the flood of color into
her lovely face made her even more beautiful. "Yes, Heaven dear, I am
one of those shameful modern women who will not put up with a marriage
that isn't satisfying. My first husband didn't deserve me. I loved. him
in the beginning of our marriage, when he gave me enough of himself.