Free Olivia by V. C. Andrews Page B

exactly what he is doing all the time and he never does anything without evaluating the consequences thoroughly."
"Of course, he doesn't," she agreed. "But how he evaluates it and how he reaches a conclusion is my little secret. I think you have to relax more when you're in the company of men, Olivia. You act as if . . ."
"As if what, Mother?"
"As if you have to compete, to win something, to show them up, and men just don't appreciate that in a woman. You have to work on being more subtle."
"Be more like Belinda, is that what you're saying?"
"I suppose, in a way," she admitted, nodding.
"And get pregnant and pop out babies in my room in the middle of the night?" I shot back. She stiffened. "Of course not, dear. You have to know when to say no, when to be firm."
"As long as you give them the impression it's their idea to stop, too, is that it?"
"Yes," she said.
"Frankly, Mother, I don't want to be that sort of a woman, that sort of a person. I want to always say exactly what I feel and be as honest as possible and if a man can't stand that, he's not the man for me."
"Oh. Pity," she said softly, more to herself than to me.
"I don't think so, Mother."
She looked at me a long moment and then sighed deeply.
"I just want you to be happy, Olivia."
"I will be happy, Mother, but on my own terms, with self-respect," I insisted.
"Very well. You're so smart, Olivia. I'm sure you'll find the right man and make the best wife and marriage."
She stood up and gazed around my room a moment.
"You might do something about brightening your room, dear. Have the walls painted, get new curtains and a new bedspread. It will be easy to get your father to agree to that," she added.
"By making it seem his idea?"
"Yes, exactly."
"I'm fine, Mother. I'm fine as I am," I said.
She nodded and then turned to leave, pausing at the doorway.
"If you ever want to talk, Olivia, I want you to know I'll always want to talk, too."
"Thank you, Mother. I won't die an old maid. I promise," I said.
She smiled as if I had uttered the magic words and then she left.
I gazed at myself in the mirror.
How can you be so certain of that, Olivia Gordon? Who is out there, waiting for a woman like you?
Surely someone, I thought, someone who won't mind that I have brains, too.
I was about to get up and prepare for dinner when I heard Daddy's heavy footsteps on the stairs. I knew he was practically running and I went to the doorway.
"Olivia," he said, "you've got to come with me." "What is it, Daddy?"
His face was flushed.
"Embarrassment, utter embarrassment. I received a call from the finishing school's chief administrator, Rosemary Elliot, just a little while ago."
"What?"
"Your sister has been expelled for . . . immoral activities."

4
Always a Bridesmaid
.
Daddy and I left without telling Mother any
    details. Daddy simply said we were going to bring Belinda home. Actually, he didn't know any details either.
    "All Mrs. Elliot would say," he told me after we left, "is I must come to take her off the property. She wouldn't discuss the matter over the phone, but would wait for our arrival at her office. It sounds very bad, very bad. What could Belinda have done?" he wondered aloud.
    "Knowing Belinda and what she has done recently, anything imaginable," I replied dryly.
Daddy said nothing. We rode in silence for a while.
"What will you do about her now, Daddy?" I asked. "There is still a great deal of summer left and you've got to make plans for the fall. She's not registered in any other school." He sighed and shook his head.
"I don't know, Olivia. What do you suggest?"
"How about the Foreign Legion?"
He almost smiled.
"I guess we'll have to find something for her to do at the office for the remainder of the summer at least," he said.
"Why don't we wait to see what horrible things she has done at the school, Daddy? If it's as bad as they seem to suggest, you might want to put her under house arrest. I'm serious," I said when he glanced at me. "Don't permit her to socialize or go on