Seasons of the Heart by Cynthia Freeman Read Free Book Online

Phillip would have no place to be alone over the course of their year’s engagement.
    Finally, at the end of the second week, Ann decided to plead with Stella directly.
    Saturday morning, before leaving for work, she summoned the courage to say, “Stella … do you think that you and I could talk for a few minutes? Like two sensible people?”
    “Of course,” Stella said. She poured two cups of coffee, handed one to Ann, and sat down. “Now, what is it you want to talk about?”
    “Stella, I want to apologize for the other Sunday. I know that your intentions were sincere, and I do thank you for that. But—I am in love with Phillip and I am going to marry him. More than anything, I want to be able to bring him home and introduce him to you and Papa. Would it be asking too much if I invited Phillip here, for Sunday dinner perhaps?”
    Without rancor, Stella replied, “Quite frankly, it would.”
    Ann burst into tears. She had been so sure that if she pocketed her pride and begged Stella, her stepmother would concede.
    “Stella! You don’t mean it!” Ann sobbed. But the grimly unyielding expression told Ann that Stella mean it.
    “How can you treat me this way?” Ann cried. “It’s just not fair. This is my father’s house, too, you know!”
    “No, my dear,” Stella retorted coolly. “This house and everything in it belongs to me.”
    “But, Stella, you have no reason not to have Phillip come here. He’s wonderful. Really, he is.”
    “The truth is, Ann, that I am utterly opposed to this— affair . I think it’s beneath you.”
    “Affair? Stella, you’re making it sound like something sordid, and it’s not. Phillip and I are engaged!”
    “Well, it’s some fine engagement, I must say! I don’t see any ring on your finger. He said he didn’t want to marry you for a whole year? I don’t believe he’s serious.”
    “Phillip can’t afford to buy me a ring right now, Stella. But we are engaged—we are !” Ann covered her face with her hands.
    Stella looked away stonily. She knew how unreasonable she was being.
    Finally, Ann raised a tear-stained face and said, brokenly, “Stella, I never thought I’d say something like this to you, but you’re cruel! Why are you denying me the one thing in the world I need from you?”
    “You don’t need anything from me, Ann—you never have. Why are we continuing to pretend? You’ve never liked me, and I’ve never liked you. You’re not my child. And you have your precious papa to dote on you.”
    “Why did you marry Papa anyway, Stella? You never loved him either,” Ann said, almost inaudibly.
    “Let me tell you something. He and I would have been a lot happier if we hadn’t had you to deal with.”
    Shaken beyond tears, Ann got up from the table. There was no compromise possible; she could see that now. As she left the room she said, “You have no reason to do this to me, Stella. No reason at all.”
    Upstairs in her room, Ann stood trembling uncontrollably. What could she do? Her first thought was to move out of the house. Maybe she could share an apartment with one of the girls from Magnin’s. But she didn’t want to hurt her father. The knowledge that his wife had driven his daughter from under his roof would surely kill him—Ben would be willing to let her go only on her wedding day.
    For the first time ever, she called in sick. She sounded so distraught that they didn’t question her. Then she phoned Phillip at his office, where he spent Saturday mornings doing legal research. “I have to talk to you,” she pleaded. “Can you get away? Please.”
    “Ann, darling, you sound awful. Are you all right?”
    “I really need to see you, Phillip.”
    “Of course, darling. Where shall we meet?”
    “How about the Tosca Café, where we were the other night?”
    “I’ll be waiting for you.”
    The sight of her pale, drawn face as she walked to his table made him instantly apprehensive. Was Ann having second thoughts?
    “What’s wrong,