much would never sleep through a night. It seemed as if people tried
to surprise it at all hours, appearing here and there, laughing or just walking quietly,
as we were. Lights danced on the Seine. Despite all the beauty surrounding me, I couldn’t
help but think back to earlier days.
There was a time—rare, I know—when we were almost a family. A truce was called between
my father and Roxy. My mother was very happy. The four of us were doing something
very simple, walking through Central Park on a warm spring day. I was too young to
remember real details, but I could vividly remember a feeling. It was warm and hopeful.
Love seemed so strong, invulnerable. Nothing could harm us. There wasn’t even a rain
cloud in the distant sky.
Roxy walked ahead and then paused and waited for me. I took her hand. I looked back
at my mother and my father. They had never looked as young to me.
We walked on, lost in our own thoughts, drifting into tomorrow and the promises we
hoped to keep.
Which was what Uncle Alain and I were now doing.
Isn’t that what we all do?
Pocket Books
proudly presents
the first book in the Forbidden series . . .
Forbidden Sister
V.C. Andrews ®
Available now from Pocket Books
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Turn the page for a preview of
Forbidden Sister . . .
Prologue
My mother wasn’t supposed to have me. She wasn’t supposed to get pregnant again.
Nearly nine years before I was born, she gave birth to my sister, Roxy. Her pregnancy
with Roxy was very difficult, and when my mother’s water broke and she was rushed
to the hospital, Roxy resisted coming into the world. My mother says she fought being
born. An emergency cesarean was conducted, and my mother nearly died. She fell into
a coma for almost three days, and after she regained consciousness, the first thing
her doctor told her was never to get pregnant again.
When I first heard and understood this story, I immediately thought that I must have
been an accident. Why else would they have had another child after so many years had
passed? She and Papa surely had agreed with the doctor that it was dangerous for her
to get pregnant again. Mama could see that thought and concern in my face whenever
we talked about it, and she always assured me that I wasn’t a mistake.
“Your father wanted you even more than I did,” she told me, but just thinking about
it made me wonder about children who are planned and those who are not. Do parents
treat children they didn’t plan any differently from the way they treat the planned
ones? Do they love them any less?
I know there are single mothers who give away their children immediately because they
can’t manage them or they don’t want to begin a loving relationship they know will
not last. Some don’t want to set eyes on them. When their children find out that they
were given away, do they think about the fact that their mothers really didn’t want
them to be born? How could they help but think about it? That certainly can’t be helpful
to their self-confidence.
Despite my mother’s assurances, I couldn’t help wondering. If I wasn’t planned, was
my soul floating around somewhere minding its own business and then suddenly plucked
out of a cloud of souls and ordered to get into my body as it was forming in Mama’s
womb? Was birth an even bigger surprise for unplanned babies? Maybe that was what
really happened in Roxy’s case. Maybe she wasn’t planned, and that was why she resisted.
Wondering about myself always led me to wonder about Roxy. What sort of a shock was
it for her when she first heard she was going to have a sister, after having been
an only child all those years? She must have known Mama wasn’t supposed to have me.
Did she feel very special because of that? Did she see herself as their precious golden
child, the only one Mama and Papa could have? And then, when Mama told her about her
new pregnancy, did
to surprise it at all hours, appearing here and there, laughing or just walking quietly,
as we were. Lights danced on the Seine. Despite all the beauty surrounding me, I couldn’t
help but think back to earlier days.
There was a time—rare, I know—when we were almost a family. A truce was called between
my father and Roxy. My mother was very happy. The four of us were doing something
very simple, walking through Central Park on a warm spring day. I was too young to
remember real details, but I could vividly remember a feeling. It was warm and hopeful.
Love seemed so strong, invulnerable. Nothing could harm us. There wasn’t even a rain
cloud in the distant sky.
Roxy walked ahead and then paused and waited for me. I took her hand. I looked back
at my mother and my father. They had never looked as young to me.
We walked on, lost in our own thoughts, drifting into tomorrow and the promises we
hoped to keep.
Which was what Uncle Alain and I were now doing.
Isn’t that what we all do?
Pocket Books
proudly presents
the first book in the Forbidden series . . .
Forbidden Sister
V.C. Andrews ®
Available now from Pocket Books
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Turn the page for a preview of
Forbidden Sister . . .
Prologue
My mother wasn’t supposed to have me. She wasn’t supposed to get pregnant again.
Nearly nine years before I was born, she gave birth to my sister, Roxy. Her pregnancy
with Roxy was very difficult, and when my mother’s water broke and she was rushed
to the hospital, Roxy resisted coming into the world. My mother says she fought being
born. An emergency cesarean was conducted, and my mother nearly died. She fell into
a coma for almost three days, and after she regained consciousness, the first thing
her doctor told her was never to get pregnant again.
When I first heard and understood this story, I immediately thought that I must have
been an accident. Why else would they have had another child after so many years had
passed? She and Papa surely had agreed with the doctor that it was dangerous for her
to get pregnant again. Mama could see that thought and concern in my face whenever
we talked about it, and she always assured me that I wasn’t a mistake.
“Your father wanted you even more than I did,” she told me, but just thinking about
it made me wonder about children who are planned and those who are not. Do parents
treat children they didn’t plan any differently from the way they treat the planned
ones? Do they love them any less?
I know there are single mothers who give away their children immediately because they
can’t manage them or they don’t want to begin a loving relationship they know will
not last. Some don’t want to set eyes on them. When their children find out that they
were given away, do they think about the fact that their mothers really didn’t want
them to be born? How could they help but think about it? That certainly can’t be helpful
to their self-confidence.
Despite my mother’s assurances, I couldn’t help wondering. If I wasn’t planned, was
my soul floating around somewhere minding its own business and then suddenly plucked
out of a cloud of souls and ordered to get into my body as it was forming in Mama’s
womb? Was birth an even bigger surprise for unplanned babies? Maybe that was what
really happened in Roxy’s case. Maybe she wasn’t planned, and that was why she resisted.
Wondering about myself always led me to wonder about Roxy. What sort of a shock was
it for her when she first heard she was going to have a sister, after having been
an only child all those years? She must have known Mama wasn’t supposed to have me.
Did she feel very special because of that? Did she see herself as their precious golden
child, the only one Mama and Papa could have? And then, when Mama told her about her
new pregnancy, did
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