Delia's Heart by V. C. Andrews Page B

pass. I didn’t move, didn’t lift my eyes from the plate. Finally, she spoke.
    “What was the curse?” she asked.
    I shook my head.
    “What did you say?”
    “I was very angry, Tía Isabela. It means nothing.”
    “I know it means nothing, but what was it?”
    “I told her that she should feed on her goodness and starve.”
    Tía Isabela said nothing. I looked up at her. She was nodding.
    “My father…he said the same thing to me,” she said.
    “I was very angry,” I repeated.
    “Someone put a curse on this family,” she muttered, more to herself than to me. “It’s been with us for years. Never mind,” she added, returning to herself quickly. “I don’t want to hear any more about any of this. Get through a week without any turmoil. I have a lot to do this week.”
    She rose and started out, then paused and turned back to me.
    “You should have come with me to Los Angeles. Maybe none of this would have happened,” she added, and left.
    Maybe she was right, I thought. Perhaps she was changing. Perhaps she was tired of the bitterness in her heart and was hoping to rid herself of the past. Despite how cruel she had been to me and all of the unhappiness she had caused or participated in, I couldn’t help having this desire to win her over, to bring her back toher family, to have her see me as her niece, her blood. Was I weak and stupid for wanting this, or was it what my mother would have wanted?
    I spent the remainder of the day keeping to myself. Sophia did the same. I finished my homework, did some reading, took a walk around the grounds, and spoke in Spanish to the pool man who had come to clean it and treat the water. Then I changed to have dinner. To my surprise, neither Sophia nor Tía Isabela appeared. Tía Isabela went out to meet someone, and Sophia ordered her dinner brought to her room. I half suspected she would not rise in the morning to go to school, but she was there at breakfast, bouncing about with unexpectedly renewed energy. I thought nothing of it. After all, she had slept away most of the day.
    However, her enthusiasm and flashy smiles came from a different source of rejuvenation. I should have realized she was spending more of her day on the telephone plotting with her other two witches, as Edward and Jesse would say. I was not fooled by her overly friendly behavior toward me at breakfast and in the limousine. Señor Garman had returned from delivering Tía Isabela in time to be the one to take us to school.
    “I hope Mr. K isn’t going to pull one of those Monday-morning history quizzes on us,” she said. “I didn’t have time to study. What do you think?”
    “I think yes,” I said, and recited some of the areas and answers to questions I expected him to ask. I didn’t do it for her. I was reviewing it for myself as I described it.
    “You really are better at school than I am,” she admitted. “I don’t understand why. I thought girls were thought to be too stupid to go far in school in Mexico.”
    “Who told you that?”
    “My mother.”
    “It is not so.”
    “Whatever,” she said. “I’m not worrying about it. If I don’t go to college, I don’t go.”
    “What will you do?”
    “I won’t work hard, I can tell you that. I’ll do something simple in one of our businesses just to pass the time maybe. Maybe not. I have time to decide. Well, here we are. In Wonderland,” she added, smiling at me. “Have a good day, Alice.”
    “Alice?”
    “Alice in Wonderland, stupido . I thought you were supposed to be the well-read one, not me,” she said, getting out of the car to hurry in.
    Señor Garman, who had overheard us, turned to look at me as I got out slowly. His face was full of skepticism and warning.
    “Count your fingers and toes every time you’re near her,” he told me, and drove off.
    I looked at the entrance to the main building. Sophia was already inside with her friends. Something really wasn’t right, I thought, but I headed for the entrance,