Vera's Book Corner

Three weeks later, after Valerie went to London with her family, all kinds of stories began to circulate in the town. Everyone had their own version of why the Pattersons have left Santa Monica suddenly, without telling anyone, and where they went. There is always a friend of a friend, who witnessed something and who literally knows everything. It's strange how people we have never met in our lives know more about us and our lives than we know about ourselves. Every day Timothy was hearing a different story about Valerie, and the latest thing he heard about her, is that someone apparently saw her in London, in a shop while she was trying a wedding dress. From a "reliable source", the same person, nobody knows his or her name, found out that Valerie is rushing with the wedding because she is pregnant with her rich Englishman, and she doesn't want her stomach to show off on her wedding. Her family went with her, to help her with the preparations for the big day, and...

After he landed in London, Timothy took a taxi from the airport to Stella and Edward's house. When Stella opened the door and saw him standing in front of her with a suitcase in his hand, she got shocked. There was no need for Timothy to explain to her why he was there. She already knew, but she couldn't tell him that Valerie was in her home at that same moment. Valerie wouldn't like that. From his face, she could see how desperate he was to find her. He looked so tired and exhausted. Who knows when the last time he slept. "Stella, hi! Please, if you know, tell me where Valerie is. I'm trying to find her because I need to talk to her. Please help me! I'm begging you!" Timothy said. "Hello, Tim! I didn't expect you! Yes, I know what happened between you two, and I'm truly sorry. Will you please wait here for a moment?" Stella said, and she left him outside to wait. She couldn't let him in because Valerie's parents and Tessa w...

Early in the morning, before the sunrise, Valerie stopped in front of her parents' house, and with deep sadness in her eyes, she looked at the house where she grew up, as she'll never see it again. From the taxi's window that was taking her to the airport, she was watching the streets and places she knew well. Valerie remembered: here in this exact place, Timothy helped her to get up when she fell off from her bicycle; on this corner he kissed her; in this garden he picked a bouquet of red roses for her, and he almost got caught; in this little shop every Saturday afternoon when they were kids, they were coming for ice cream... She couldn't remember a single memory without Timothy being a part of it. Accidentally or not, from all the streets that led to the airport, the taxi driver chose the street where she had been living with Timothy for the past ten months. While the taxi was passing by her apartment, Tessa saw the tears in Valerie's eyes. She took her hand, ...

On the following night, nobody could fall asleep at the Pattersons home. Since she was a little girl, Natasha hasn't been to a church, and tonight, for the first time in her life, she addressed God for help. She made some sort of pact with God, giving her life in exchange for her daughter's life. If someone had to die in her family, she was ready to die, just for her daughter to have a happy and long life. Philip was watching his wife, walking around in the room all night, talking to God, not knowing whether he should do the same. In the next room, Tessa was blaming herself for not being a better sister. But how would she know that her sister will get seriously ill and that she might lose her? All night, she was thinking about how they used to play with their dolls in the treehouse when they were little. Every day after school, Valerie was writing her homework. She was always protecting her from the bad boys in her class, and she never let them bully her. Every Saturday they...

The whole afternoon, since she left the hospital, Valerie had been walking around the town. She didn't go to work. She needed time to clear her thoughts. When she returned home, Timothy was still at work. Hurry, before he comes back, she packed the things she needed most; she took a taxi, and she went to her parents' home. Valerie had a spare key to her parents' house, and she let herself in. She didn't want her father to find out that she was in the house, because she wasn't ready yet to tell him the truth. Quietly, Valerie went upstairs, passed by his office, got into her old room, and turned off the phone, which hadn't stopped ringing the whole day. For hours, Valerie was lying in her bed and thinking about the new situation she found herself in. The first person who noticed that someone was in Valerie's old room was Tessa after she returned from college. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. She knocked again, and she opened the door, but wh...

It was at Abigail's birthday party, at the end of April, when Valerie felt strong abdominal pain for the first time. Then, she thought, it can't be something serious. Something she ate, or the too many cocktails she drank at her friend's party, probably caused the pain. But four days later, she felt the same pain again. She delayed a visit to the doctor for as long as she could. Valerie hated hospitals, and she hated going to a doctor. But, when the abdominal pain became frequent and sharp, she had no choice but to go to her doctor, who advised her to see a gynecologist. For eight years, since her mother took her to a gynecologist for the first time, Valerie had known Dr. Kwan. Dr. Kwan was always nice to her patients, and she was always smiling, but after Valerie explained the symptoms, suddenly she became serious. After she examined her carefully, Dr. Kwan requested more tests. She said, "We want to be sure", but when Valerie asked, "Sure for what"...

Sunday dinners at the Chambers' family were something special, and in their home, every Sunday, it was like a Christmas. Timothy's mother was always cooking food enough to feed an army, and nobody could understand why she did that when at Sunday's dinners there were only five of them: Timothy, his brother, their parents, and Valerie, who was considered a member of their family. Used to, there were six of them, but since Timothy's older brother Brian last year broke up with his high school sweetheart Carrie, he never brought another girl after her at these family dinners. Brian was a spitting image of his father, and he was his father's pride. Unlike Timothy, he was standing strong with his feet on the ground, and he was dreaming of one day inheriting his father's business. Since Brian was a little boy, he spent all his time in the store, and when he grew up, it was logical for him to start to work there. At college, he was studying business management, and h...

A week later, early in the morning, Tessa called Valerie to tell her that a letter from some magazine from New York had arrived for her at their parents' house. Last year, while Valerie was searching for a new apartment to live in with Timothy, she gave her parents' address to every place where she applied for a job. If someone decides to reply to her, the risk of losing the mail is smaller if she gives her potential employers a permanent address. Valerie left her breakfast unfinished on the table. She just grabbed her bag, and all excited, she left her home. "Finally, someone replied", that is what she was thinking of, all the way from her apartment to her parents' house. It never crossed her mind that this could be one of those letters where they inform her how much they regret not being able to offer her a job at the moment, but they will reconsider her application in the future. She had some sort of inexplicable feeling that this time, the news would be goo...