“You no longer do?”
“No,” I said. I held up the watch by the end of the band. “This is a very special watch. He had it custom-made for my mother. It has a unique shape, and on the back, he had Love, D engraved.”
“Where did you find it?”
“On Ava’s vanity table an hour or so ago.”
He shrugged. “He’s unoriginal. He wanted to give her the same romantic gift.”
“No. If you look at the watch, you will see a small scratch by his initial. I think… I believe now that my mother once tried to scratch it out and only was able to do this.”
He reached for the watch and studied it.
“Are you saying this is the one thing besides you that he saved?”
“He had it on him already. He was planning on giving it to Ava. His marriage was going up in flames. He’d be free to do what you wanted.”
He stared at me hard. “I wanted?”
“This way, the way he designed it all, Ava never knew about me. I imagine he had her feeling sorry for him… the fire and all. He was having trouble figuring out what to do. You were dangling all this in front of him, probably increasing the pressure.”
“So this is my fault?”
“That’s for you to decide, but I’m thinking you’ll find another conclusion.”
He handed the watch back to me.
“So you intend to run away again?”
“And escape from all these lies.”
“To what? Do you think you’ll find a place where lies don’t exist? You’re using that watch like a key to open some door. Like you clearly said, you knew all this without the watch, but you kept it buried, pushed it away.
“Why did you let your father create this fictional background for you? Why did you come here in the first place?”
“To find the truth.”
“A truth you already knew. I understand how painful it was for you to find that watch and let the truth free. Things like this happened to me, too, as I was growing up. Believe me. My father’s picture is probably next to the word scoundrel in the dictionary, but I didn’t go, ‘Oh, woe is me. I have to pretend and accept so many terrible things.’ No. I looked around and saw that there were more men like my father. Did he do good things? Yes, just like I do. I made that school happen. I’ve helped so many people in this community make a living, a good living, support their families and send their children to college. I make very large contributions to all sorts of causes, but I live in the business world. Lies are the currency, not dollars.
“And when or if you’re caught lying, you hire lawyers who are experts in hiding it, distorting it, and basically shoving it off somewhere so you can continue. Someone’s hurt, but usually they’ll survive, and so many will benefit. A great many people depend on my success. And yes, your father is one of them.”
He smiled again, but it was a different smile, a smug smile.
“And so are you one of them. You want to be ethically strong, morally outraged, pure, but all this time, you lied. You kept the deception going. To this day, to this moment, my daughter does not know the whole truth, and you helped make that possible.”
“Aren’t you angry about it? For her?”
“No. Exactly the opposite. For her, I hope the truth is never fully revealed. She’s a very proud person. She won’t tolerate it. Her family will suffer. Karen, who needs more tender loving care than you might imagine, will be destroyed, too. You’ll leave all that behind and rush off to some fantasy world. Years from now, you’ll stop and realize how much you lost, if you were only more…”
“Deceitful.”
“Self-protective. It’s very cynical, I know. If you work hard enough, you might come to a place where you’ll feel more honesty. You might find someone to believe in and marry him, but you won’t be able to stop being suspicious until you pause and think maybe you’ll be happier if you don’t know every secret, every bit of truth, if you can pretend some or weigh the wonderful things you have against being so foolishly…”
“Angelic?”
“Exactly, Saffron. Leave the angels their wings. You don’t know for certain that what you think happened did happen. Maybe your father had that watch in a safe-deposit box. Maybe he really believed he was going back into that house, but first he wanted to save you. Maybe now that you’ve appeared, he really wants you to enjoy this life, to have everything you need and want, to go to a good school and then to a college you choose to become whatever you want.”
“Do you believe any of that?”
“It’s not important for me to believe it. It’s what is at the moment. If I have any good motives, it’s to protect my daughter, who thinks I don’t love her. There’s not enough of me in her for her to survive the truth.
“From what she’s told me, what Derick’s told me, I think you’ll do well, and she’ll be very happy to be a mother to you. As long as you’re the orphan and not the true daughter,” he said. “I think you can live with that.”
He sat back.
“You won’t survive out there, Saffron. You’re too demanding. You want too much honesty. Work on it here. Look at that bag you brought. You don’t want to take it with you. You want to leave it behind, way behind.”
I could feel the tears on my cheeks, but I wouldn’t touch them.
“How can I live with him, thinking and believing what I do?”
“You know what I would do? I’d think, how does he do it? How does he tolerate your presence? Take that from him, and turn it on him, the same self-denial. Choose your smiles, accept whatever affection you want, and punish him with your strength of acceptance. If he’s guilty and he does have the conscience you wish everyone had, he’ll confess someday and truly ask for your forgiveness. If it’s important to you, you’ll give it to him. If it’s more important to hold on to the hate and rage, you’ll hold on to it.”
“I can’t decide if you’re wise or evil.”
He laughed. “Maybe it’s both. Stay here, live in the Saddlebrook world, and make me one of your causes. Get me to apologize for my life someday, someday soon. I’m pretty healthy, but life is finite. You’ll have to work fast and hard.”
I flipped away the tears and took a breath.
“Go back, Saffron. I hear you have a boyfriend who is making the school’s sports history tonight. I’ve been following it on my mobile. He’s on the way to a league scoring record. Maybe a little of that has to do with you.”
I started to shake my head.
“Don’t be shy when it comes to taking credit for anything good. Show them all that you’re better and stronger. I assure you. In a short while, they’ll all think of you as a Saddlebrook, if you’re ashamed of Anders.”
I swallowed hard and looked away. Who would I rather be?
“Tyson has orders to take you wherever you want, Saffron—home, to the train station, the bus station, or even the airport in Albany. Wherever you want.”
He stood up. I looked at my mother’s watch in my hand and then put it back in the bag and stood, too. Then he walked me to the front entrance.
“You’ll be proud of what I’m about to tell you,” he said, thinking hard as we stood there together. “Once, toward the end of my father’s life, he asked me coldly, ‘Do you want to be better than me or more successful?’ ”
“And?”
“I told him, ‘Both.’ He didn’t like my answer. Your father won’t like it, either, when that time comes. Sort of the gold ring out there, huh?”
“Maybe.”
“Good luck to you, whatever choice you make.”
He opened the door. Tyson literally leaped out of the car to open the rear door.
It felt good to see someone that dedicated to serving you. Was that terrible? Arrogant? I looked at Amos Saddlebrook. He was smiling.
I got into the car, and Tyson started away.
“Where to, miss?” he asked.
I looked back. Amos Saddlebrook was still standing in the doorway. He knew the differenc
e a right or a left would make. Right was back home.
“Do you have an umbrella in this car?” I asked.
“Umbrella? Yes, miss. Right on the seat beside me. Always.”
“Can you hand it to me?”
“Why? It’s not raining, miss.”
“Oh, it is, Tyson. It is.”
He shrugged and reached over to grasp it and hand it to me. I just held it in my lap and sat back.
“Make a right, please, Tyson,” I said.
More from this Series
The Umbrella Lady
Book 1
More from the Author
Becoming My Sister
Whispering Hearts
Shadows of Foxworth
Out of the Attic
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
One of the most popular authors of all time, V.C. ANDREWS® has been a bestselling phenomenon since the publication of Flowers in the Attic, first in the renowned Dollanganger family series, which includes Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. The family saga continues with Christopher’s Diary: Secrets of Foxworth, Christopher’s Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger, and Secret Brother, as well as Beneath the Attic, Out of the Attic, and Shadows of Foxworth as part of the fortieth anniversary celebration. There are more than ninety V.C. Andrews novels, which have sold over 107 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than twenty-five foreign languages.
Join the conversation about the world of V.C. Andrews at Facebook.com/OfficialVCAndrews.
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V.C. Andrews® Books
The Dollanganger Family
Flowers in the Attic
Petals on the Wind
If There Be Thorns
Seeds of Yesterday
Garden of Shadows
Christopher’s Diary: Secrets of Foxworth
Christopher’s Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger
Secret Brother
Beneath the Attic
Out of the Attic
Shadows of Foxworth
The Audrina Series
My Sweet Audrina
Whitefern
The Casteel Family
Heaven
Dark Angel
Fallen Hearts
Gates of Paradise
Web of Dreams
The Cutler Family
Dawn
Secrets of the Morning
Twilight’s Child
Midnight Whispers
Darkest Hour
The Landry Family
Ruby
Pearl in the Mist
All That Glitters
Hidden Jewel
Tarnished Gold
The Logan Family
Melody
Heart Song
Unfinished Symphony
Music in the Night
Olivia
The Orphans Series
Butterfly
Crystal
Brooke
Raven
Runaways
The Wildflowers Series
Misty
Star
Jade
Cat
Into the Garden
The Hudson Family
Rain
Lightning Strikes
Eye of the Storm
The End of the Rainbow
The Shooting Stars
Cinnamon
Ice
Rose
Honey
Falling Stars
The De Beers Family
“Dark Seed”
Willow
Wicked Forest
Twisted Roots
Into the Woods
Hidden Leaves
The Broken Wings Series
Broken Wings
Midnight Flight
The Gemini Series
Celeste
Black Cat
Child of Darkness
The Shadows Series
April Shadows
Girl in the Shadows
The Early Spring Series
Broken Flower
Scattered Leaves
The Secrets Series
Secrets in the Attic
Secrets in the Shadows
The Delia Series
Delia’s Crossing
Delia’s Heart
Delia’s Gift
The Heavenstone Series
The Heavenstone Secrets
Secret Whispers
The March Family
Family Storms
Cloudburst
The Kindred Series
Daughter of Darkness
Daughter of Light
The Forbidden Series
The Forbidden Sister
“The Forbidden Heart”
Roxy’s Story
The Mirror Sisters
The Mirror Sisters
Broken Glass
Shattered Memories
The House of Secrets Series
House of Secrets
Echoes in the Walls
The Umbrella Series
The Umbrella Lady
The Girls of Spindrift
Bittersweet Dreams
“Corliss”
“Donna”
“Mayfair”
“Spindrift”
Stand-alone Novels
Gods of Green Mountain
Into the Darkness
Capturing Angels
The Unwelcomed Child
Sage’s Eyes
The Silhouette Girl
Whispering Hearts
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An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Following the death of Virginia Andrews, the Andrews family worked with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Virginia Andrews’s stories and to create additional novels, of which this is one, inspired by her storytelling genius.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Vanda Productions, LLC
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition November 2021
V.C. ANDREWS® and VIRGINIA ANDREWS® are registered trademarks of Vanda Productions, LLC
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Interior design by Erika R. Genova
Cover design by Anna Dorfman
Cover photographs by iStockphoto/Getty Images, Shutterstock, and Adobe Stock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Andrews, V. C. (Virginia C.), author.
Title: Out of the rain / V.C. Andrews.
Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2021. | Series: The umbrella lady ; 2
Ide
ntifiers: LCCN 2020049508 (print) | LCCN 2020049509 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982156251 (paperback) | ISBN 9781982156268 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982156282 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3551.N454 O93 2021 (print) | LCC PS3551.N454 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020049508
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020049509
ISBN 978-1-9821-5626-8
ISBN 978-1-9821-5625-1 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-9821-5628-2 (ebook)