The Gift of the Twin Houses by V. & D. Povall

Author:V. & D. Povall [V. & D. Povall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Heather Lewis 1915-1940

“The house looked lovely, and the woman who sold it to me was so sad, with such need to get away from her painful memories that I just couldn’t resist. I bought it right then and there. I was sure I could talk James into it.” Heather spoke quite directly.

I’d been organizing the frames and the pictures in my attic when I saw the photograph of an elegant family standing in front of my porch. They didn’t look like they belonged there. They looked like four tourists posing for the camera in front of a quaint little house.

I hadn’t heard any more stories since Ethan’s account and didn’t expect one today. Needless to say, Heather’s authoritative voice took me by surprise.

“James would not care anyway,” Heather went on. “It was my money, and he knew it. I think it was the money that killed our marriage. He didn’t feel manly enough since he was not the primary breadwinner. The bread just came to him ready to enjoy, and he had forgotten how to take pleasure in it, given that the bigger portion came from me.”

“How long did you own the house?” I dared to ask.

“A long time. I do not exactly know. After a while we just forgot about it.”

I heard myself gasp. “Forgot about it?”

“Are you going to listen or are you going to interrupt me? I have no patience for that, you know.” She continued without the courtesy of waiting for an answer. “As I was saying, James was just too weak. It was not my fault that I had inherited a lot of money from my family. My father had built an empire from scratch, and I had inherited its proceeds as the only child—just a simple fact of life.

“I married James when I was only eighteen—a good match, by all accounts. We were both born into wealthy families and were accustomed to lives of luxury; consequently, the match seemed perfect at the time. What we did not understand was that we should have had something more in common. Pity.

“When my parents died, the money just poured in. James was rich as well and enjoyed the freedom the money brought, but obviously he resented my superior status. Or so I thought.

“I became pregnant right away and had my two children. I did not know any better then. After the second was born, thank God, I dried up. Having two was hard enough. I do not know what I would have done had I had more children.

“Of course, they had nannies, but that is not the point. It is what a pregnancy does to your body. Prior to the pregnancies I was beautiful, some would say perfect. But after the children ravaged my body, I lost that sharp look about me. No one noticed, and obviously it did not get in the way of enjoying men, since they’re always so willing and ready to please and be pleased. But I didn’t look as I wished to look.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.