The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain Read Free Book Online Page A

“Oh,” she said.
    “And our mother couldn’t take it. Mom always had problems with depression and she felt guilty that she and my father traveled so much and she hadn’t been there for Andie. Even though we were all old enough to take care of ourselves. So,” Tim said, and raised his hands in a helpless gesture, “I came home a few days after the trial to find my mother dead of an overdose.” He looked at the bed where CeeCee still sat, and she knew that’s where he’d found his mother. She stood up.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said, overwhelmed. His family, apparently once prosperous and happy, had quickly turned to dust. A daughter sentenced to death. A brother gone crazy in Vietnam. A mother’s suicide. She wrapped her arms around Tim, pressing her cheek to his bare chest. “It’s all so horrible,” she said.
    He returned the embrace and she felt his chin rest on the top of her head. “You still want to be here with me?” he asked.
    “More than ever,” she said. She could comfort him. They could comfort each other. “Is Andie…is she still alive?” she asked.
    “On death row,” he said. “And I still haven’t told you about SCAPE,” he said.
    She leaned back to look up at him. “What is it?”
    He put out his cigarette and drew her back to the bed again. “We—Marty and I and some lawyers—have been trying to get her sentence reduced. SCAPE is an organization of people who are against the death penalty. It stands for Stop Capital Punishment Everywhere. But it’s kind of an underground group.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Did you ever hear of the Weather Underground?”
    CeeCee shrugged. The name was familiar, but she didn’t know why.
    “It was a group of people who believed things needed to be different and who gave up on conventional channels. So, in the case of SCAPE, we try to find ways to get rid of the death penalty. We protest and…that sort of thing.”
    “Have you tried writing to President Carter?” she asked.
    “It’s really not up to Carter,” Tim said. “The only person who could stay her execution is Governor Russell. We’ve written to him and tried to get in to see him. He doesn’t give a shit. He’s a hard-liner who’s glad to see the death penalty back. He’s an asshole. I think he sees Andie as someone he can use as an example. ‘See? Even women will pay if they disobey the laws of the land.’”
    “There’s got to be something you can do,” she said.
    He looked at her and for the first time since he’d started talking about Andie, there was a smile on his face. “I love your optimism,” he said. “And I think I’m falling in love with you.”
    They were the words she was waiting for. “I know I love you,” she said.
    Tim wound a lock of her hair around his index finger. “I can honestly say I’ve never felt this way about a girl before,” he said. “You’re young, and I thought that might be a problem at first, but you have such a way about you. You’re so positive and you make me feel more positive. Thank you.”
    She nodded.
    “And please keep this…this stuff about SCAPE between you and me.”
    He looked worried and her heart filled with love for him. “I would do anything for you,” she said, and she meant it.

Chapter Five

    Dear CeeCee,

It’s hard for me to give you more advice about boys and men without scaring you. How do I balance preparing you without frightening you? I guess I can only tell you about my own experiences.

When I was fifteen, I was raped. (This was not your father, so don’t worry about that!) I worked after school at this nursery (the plant kind) and he was a regular customer there, so when he offered me a ride home one evening, I took it. It was dark when we got to my house and I stupidly told him my parents weren’t home. He walked me to the door and the next thing I knew I was on the porch, flat on my back, his hand over my mouth. I couldn’t do a thing. He just stood up with a smile afterward and