"Oh, but you are. Grace. We all are, but don't

worry about that. Competition is healthy. Don't be

afraid of it. You're a winner." he said with a confident

nod and a smile.

Mommy gazed at me. I could see the pleasure

in her eyes. She looked so satisfied with herself. We

weren't just with any man. We were with a very

successful man who, like my daddy, had leadership

qualities and could teach me something.

"I don't feel like a winner." I said almost under

my breath.

"You will.' he assured me. I looked at him. His

eyes were full of kindness, Maybe I was being unfair.

Maybe he really did like me. And just like that my

body began to relax. When the walls and the gate of

Joya del Mar came into view. I felt like a little girl

about to be taken to Disneyland.

It was everything Mommy had described and more, because she had seen it in the evening and hadn't seen the flower beds, the hedges, all of the ponds and fountains. It was incredible to think that one man lived alone in a house this large. It looked

more like a hotel.

Everywhere we looked people were working,

pruning bushes and trees, planting new flowers,

blowing away debris. whitewashing. I understood

now why she said it wasn't so much of an

exaggeration to imagine someone vacuuming the

driveway. All the stone looked new, every window

glistened.

Closer to the house the royal coconut palm trees

stood like sentinels lining the circular entry drive. The

house itself contained four pavilion-like structures

punctuated by graceful arches with a tree-shaded main

Tags: V.C. Andrews De Beers Horror
Source: readsnovelonline.net