Free Secrets of Foxworth by V.C. Andrews

She’ll make pure mush out of the man she marries.”
    Of course, I was happy Momma came to me for help with Cathy, but I noticed something I hadn’t noticed until now during the days that followed. Momma seemed to have less tolerance for Cathy. She was criticizing her more and more at the dinner table and afterward. Cathy’s sulking over the twins that were coming was no longer cute or understandable.
    â€œYour sister is just selfish,” Momma muttered to me one day. “You should know that it’s not easy for a woman when she’s pregnant. Look at my figure. Look at how difficult it’s getting for me to move around. I feel . . . like a truck. I don’t know why I even bother with my makeup or my hair. Your father says I’m as beautiful as ever, but I know he’s just trying to please me. You’re the only one who knows the truth and is not afraid to say it, Christopher. You will be a wonderful doctor, because you will always say what’s true and not what someone wants to hear. Go on. Tell me.”
    I shrugged. She was right. I didn’t like telling lies or distorting facts. What was true was true, and pretending it wasn’t wouldn’t change it. People who lived like that were weak and foolish. Putting off reality just made it more difficult to faceit. I know this attitude doesn’t go over well with my classmates, but there’s none whose opinion really matters that much to me.
    â€œYou can’t look the way you looked before you were pregnant, Momma. Of course, you don’t have the same figure, but your complexion is rosy. You look healthier than ever,” I told her. “It’s characteristic of pregnant women who take care of themselves, take their prenatal vitamins, and do whatever their doctors tell them to do. Women were made to be pregnant.”
    She looked at me and half-smiled. “I hope you won’t always couch your compliments in some medical observation. Any girlfriend you have won’t think that’s very romantic, Christopher, but thank you anyway,” she said. Then she thought about it for a moment and shook her head. “I think I’d rather hear your father tell me I’m no different. Little lies are okay if they make you happier.” She walked away, smiling.
    I went to see Cathy, who was pouting as usual. She was being destructive, too. She had practically torn apart one of the dolls Momma had bought for her and ripped most of the clothing. The gifts Daddy had been buying her to make her happy were piled up in a corner as if they had been discarded.
    I sat across from her and stared at her.
    â€œWhat?” she asked. She could never stand my staring at her with a sour expression on my face.
    â€œYou don’t want anyone to treat you like a baby, but you go and act like one.”
    â€œI don’t care. Momma is mean to me, meaner than ever. Maybe those twins are making her meaner. I wish they’d fall out and go away.”
    â€œAll right,” I said, sighing and sitting on her bed. “Let me try to explain things. When a woman first gets pregnant, a married woman, she’s usually very happy about it.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œAs time goes by and the baby grows and she gains weight, she gets depressed. You remember what that means.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œShe needs to be comforted and loved even more than before she became pregnant, Cathy. Someday you’ll be in the same condition.”
    Her eyes widened. “I’m not going to get pregnant. I don’t want to care for a real baby and change diapers full of poop and wipe drool.”
    I laughed. “Sure you will, but”—I narrowed my eyes—“if you really love Momma, you will stop making her feel even worse. You’ll do more to help her. Daddy is upset with you, too,” I added, because I knew that would have more effect.
    â€œHe is not.”
    â€œYou know he tells me