Delia's Heart by V. C. Andrews Read Free Book Online Page A

while Ignacio remained in my heart and mind?
    “Maybe you aren’t as sophisticated as I thought,” she said. “I don’t know why I ever thought it, now that I consider what has happened to you when it comes to men.”
    “That’s for sure,” Sophia said.
    “I wouldn’t pat myself on the back just yet, Sophia,” Tía Isabela snapped at her. “Your relationships with boys have been nothing to brag about. Do I have to remind you about some of the situations you got yourself into, situations that could have been very embarrassing for me?”
    “It’s always you, isn’t it, Mother?”
    “If you had half a brain, you’d realize it’s both of us, Sophia. You can’t live in a bubble.”
    “I’m not the one living in a bubble, Mother. I’m not trying to be eighteen again.”
    “That’s enough,” Tía Isabela said sharply. She glared at Sophia who just calmly continued to eat. “Disregard any advice she gives you,” she told me.
    “She doesn’t listen to my advice,” Sophia complained. “She’s a big expert when it comes to boys now. Haven’t you heard?”
    Tía Isabela thought for a moment. “Maybe she is,” she said. “Christian Taylor’s father was my husband’s heart doctor. Finally, you’re socializing with the rightsort of people,” she told me. “Don’t do anything to embarrass me.”
    “I wouldn’t do anything to embarrass you or myself.”
    “We’ll see,” she said.
    I said nothing more. As usual, we finished our dinner in silence, the air so thick with tension around us it could be cut with a knife.
    To my surprise, a little after nine o’clock, my phone rang. It was Christian.
    “I’m just calling to see if you rethought your decision,” he said. He made it sound like a business decision. “Girls can be impetuous. Maybe you were just in the wrong mood.”
    It would be like him to find a way to blame me, I thought.
    “I do not mean to be disrespectful of your invitation,” I said.
    He laughed. “I’m not your teacher or your father, Delia. I’m not worried about respect.”
    “But you should worry about that,” I countered quickly. “We must first respect each other. We must always respect each other’s feelings.”
    He was quiet a moment, and then he said, “Maybe you are cut out to be a nun.”
    “It is not a bad thing to be.”
    “Hey, it’s nun thing to me,” he said, laughing. “Let me know if you have a change of heart,” he added, and said good-bye.
    I suspected that, as usual, Sophia had kept one ear out for the sound of my phone ringing. Almost the moment I hung up, she was in my room.
    “So?” she asked. “Where’s he taking you Fridaynight? If he told you he’s taking you to a drive-in, that’s bull. There’s no drive-in. He just means he’s taking you parking and pretending you’re watching a movie. That’s his big joke he pulls on innocent, stupid girls.”
    “Did he pull it on you?” I asked her quickly.
    She started to say yes and then realized and nearly spit out her answer. “I’m not stupid. Well, what did he say?”
    “He asked me if I had changed my mind.”
    “Changed your mind? What does that mean?”
    “I had already told him no,” I said.
    She was obviously quite taken aback. For a moment, she couldn’t think of anything clever or mean to say. “Why?”
    “I listened to what you said,” I told her. “How he flits about ruining girls. I want nothing to do with such a boy.”
    She stared for a moment, smiled, and then grew serious, actually looking to the doorway as if someone could overhear our conversation. “Don’t you dare tell my mother I said those things and that was why you turned him down,” she warned.
    “Why not? You were only trying to protect me.”
    “My mother won’t see it that way. She’s a social climber, always. She would go out with the devil if it got her picture on the social pages or in the magazines. Just…don’t blame me for your not going out with Christian, understand? If you make