Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

even flutter. I fixed his blanket, stood back, and looked at him, at that perfect handsome face, for a few moments to confirm in my own mind that he was really there and that we were really thinking of a life together. Then I turned off his lights and closed his door softly.
    To my surprise, when I stepped back into the hallway, I found Lucille standing by my door. She was in her robe and had her face covered in one of her special expensive skin creams. In the hallway light, her face had a yellowish glow, and her eyes seemed more catlike.
    “What is it?” I asked. “Something wrong with my father?”
    “No, no. He’s fine. I think we should talk,” she said. “I won’t have much time to spend alone with you after tonight. We have all sorts of last-minute preparations tomorrow and then, late in the day, the wedding rehearsal. As you know, your father and I will be gone for ten days immediately after the wedding.”
    “Talk about what?”
    “Your future,” she said. She opened my bedroom door for me and stood back.
    I looked at her as if I thought she was crazy, but I went into the room. She followed and closed the door behind her.
    “My future?”
    “You can get into bed,” she told me.
    How odd, I thought. What was I, her little girl now? Nevertheless, that was just what I did. I was tired, and I did want to go to sleep. Maybe if I closed my eyes, she’d stop talking and leave.
    Instead, she stepped closer to the bed, fiddled with my blanket, and smiled.
    “I’ve been meaning to have this conversation with you for days now,” she began. “I apologize for taking so long and being so wrapped up in thewedding arrangements. Half the time, I forget to eat lunch, not that I need it. I’m not going to be like so many women as soon as I get married and neglect my figure because I have my man or something. I can assure you of that. You’ll never be ashamed to be seen with me.”
    “What conversation, Lucille?”
    “The mother-daughter conversation you should be having. I realize I’ll never be what your real mother was to you,” she said, nodding at the framed photograph of my mother and me that she had bought me, “but I’m not one to neglect any responsibility. When I marry your father, I take on all his burdens as well as his pleasures, just like the vow dictates. I’ll mean it when I say ‘I do.’ ”
    “I don’t like to think of myself as a burden for my father, Lucille.”
    “No, I don’t mean you’re a burden. I meant his responsibilities,” she said quickly. Then she smiled. “My, I guess I do have to watch every word with you now. That’s good. You’re a sharp, alert young lady.”
    “Really, what is it, Lucille? I’m tired.”
    “Ethan,” she said.
    “Ethan?”
    “I know I told you that we trust you both to behave as responsible adults, and I’m sure you will, but I didn’t want to give you the impression that I was—or rather, that your father and I were—arranging your life for you. If Ethan is indeed the man for you and he continues to develop and mature, fine. If he’s not, I don’t want you to hesitate in coming to tell me otherwise. Or if you are confused and unsureabout everything, please rely on me to help you. In short, I’d like to be your confidante in the same way a mother should be. I don’t expect you to throw yourself at me, but I just wanted to be sure you understood that I care about you and welcome being there for you.
    “You are very young,” she continued. “What is good for the Heaven-stone Corporation is not necessarily good for you personally.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Ethan might be a very good young man to develop at our business, but that does not mean he’s being groomed here to be your husband. As I said, if it turns out that he’s right for you and you for him . . .”
    My God, I thought. She does see us all as her puppets, especially me perhaps.
    “I don’t think I need anyone to tell me who’s right for me, Lucille. Thank you for your concern. I am tired now.”
    She stared a moment and then smiled. “You’re just like I was when I was your age, defiant to the end. Be sure you don’t do something just for spite, because in the end you spite only yourself.” She patted my bed and walked out of my room.
    “That’s what I call covering your rear end,” Cassie said. She was standing by the door. “That way, Daddy can’t blame her for anything you do.”
    “I didn’t need you to tell me that,” I said, and