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"Janet will blossom like a flower in our soil, won't she, Sanford?"

"Yes, dear," he said "Please Just rest a bit now It's been a very long and emotional day for all of us"

"And when she does," Celine continued, ignoring him, "she will dazzle audiences the way I was meant to dazzle them"

Dazzle audiences? I thought Me? The one the other children called Miss Fraidy Cat for as long as I could reht beside me to hear properly? Perform before audiences and dazzle them? How could I? As soon as Celine and Sanford realized I couldn't, they would send ht little knot The beautiful room, this home, the promise of a family, all of it really was just a dream I bowed my head and slowly descended the stairs

I wandered into the living roo above the mantel The artist had captured her in the es, the ones that were hidden under a blanket, lifeless and li She rese, just as she had described hoould feel soainst the dark background The painting was so lifelike, I half expected her to land before me

"So here you are" I turned to see Sanford in the doorway "Celine's taking a little rest Corounds We'll walk down to the lake," he added and I noticed that he spoke in an entirely different voice when Celine wasn't around

When we got outside I saw that the sky had cleared as Celine had said it would I was beginning to wonder if everyone and everything did as Celine asked

"This way," Sanford said, turning right at the bottom of the steps He walked with his hands behind his back, his tall, lean body leaning forward He took long, lanky strides, one for every two of ood shape for its age, but we es and improvements," he said "I'm sure you will be as happy here as we have been, Janet" He s hillside before us "Just over the crest is our lake I have a rowboat, but we haven't used it for some time Can you swim?"

"No sir," I said softly, afraid to add another "can't" to my name Can't dance Can't swim Can't stay

"Oh, well, that will have to be remedied before summer, and please, don't call me sir If you can't call me Dad yet, just call me Sanford, okay?" His eyes twinkled and I relaxed and sotten the i to be a lot easier to please than Celine

We walked on

"I have a service that corounds," he said He waved his long arm toward the east "We own all this property and then some I've left woods intact so we have the privacy and the feeling we're out in nature We're really not that far from the city The private school you'll attend is only fifteen e you there to enroll you"

"She has?" Ita life for me, for us, before I'd evenhome with them? But then, I was an orphan, and orphans never say no

Sanford laughed at the perplexed look on my face

"Oh yes Celine has been preparing for your arrival literally froet that day She was so excited, she couldn't sleep and she wouldn't stop talking about you She talked late into the night and when I woke up the next , your name was the first word on her lips"