Heavenstone 01 - The Heavenstone Secrets

make the room brighter! That means busting out walls!”
    I nodded. I didn’t know what to say. It all sounded fine with me.
    “You know how much all that will cost? They’ll spend more money on this nursery than most people spend redoing a whole house. Before our brother is even born, they’re doting on him, spoiling him. You can just imagine what’s going to happen when he is born.”
    I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the sibling rivalry Mother had told me Cassie had had when I was born. If it was that, why didn’t I have it, too?
    “They’re both so happy about it,” I said.
    She stared at me and then shook her head. “Listen to me, Semantha. Read my lips if you have to, but listen. Sure, they’re happy now,” she said, “but wait until they have to go through all that parents go through with infants, waking up all hours of the night, changing diapers, fighting baby rashes, worrying over every possible infant illness, doctor visits, on and on and on.”

    “They went through it with us,” I reminded her.
    “Are you a total zero, Semantha? They were both sixteen years younger then. They’re so used to their own time and interests now, especially Mother. She, especially, will be overwhelmed. What it means is I’m going to have to do more, and so will you.
    “Don’t you realize what the age difference between Asa and us will be?” she continued so intensely that I could see the veins in her temples. “By the time he’s ten, we’ll both be well into our twenties, maybe going to graduate school or married. Why, people might even think he’s my son and not my brother. They could even think it of you!”
    “Oh, yes. I never thought of that,” I said, and she calmed a little.
    “In any case, who will be here to help raise him?” she added, nodding.
    “They won’t need us for that by then, will they?”
    “Of course, they will. It’s harder when children get older. You know what Daddy says: little children, little problems, big children … understand?”
    I nodded, again not looking sufficiently upset for her.
    “Okay. Just wait,” she said. “You’ll see.”
    She paused and looked at me in the mirror and squinted as if it was a window and not a mirror and she was looking at someone else some distance away.
    “There’s something different about you these days. What is it?” she demanded.
    I raised my eyebrows and shrugged. “What?”
    “I don’t know. You’re acting flighty, like you’re always thinking about something else. I see the wayyou float through the halls and up and down the stairs like you’re in some kind of a movie hearing your own theme music.” She paused and narrowed her eyes again. “Are you interested in some boy? Is that it? Do you think you’re in love? Well?”
    “No,” I said weakly. She smirked.
    “Who is it? C’mon, out with it,” she said. “Who is this love of your life?”
    “I’m not in love.”
    “Semantha Heavenstone. This is your sister, Cassie, who’s talking and to whom you’re talking. You know we’re too close for you to hide any secrets very long from me. Your forehead’s like a neon sign flashing your thoughts. Well? Who?”
    “Kent Pearson has been paying a lot of attention to me lately,” I confessed. Just as she said, it was impossible for me to hide things from her.
    “Kent Pearson,” she repeated, chewing over her knowledge of him. “Yes, I know who he is. He has an older brother a year ahead of me, Brody. He’s a very poor student. I heard he might not even graduate. As I recall, the Pearsons aren’t very well off, either, so there’s no money for tutors.”
    “Kent’s very smart,” I said. “He won’t need a tutor.”
    “Um … be careful,” she said. “Don’t give him the impression that you like him too much.”
    “Why not?”
    “You might as well get used to the idea, Semantha. There will be many boys after you, hoping to get into this family and this wealth. That means you have to be extra, extra cautious.”

    “Is that why you don’t have a boyfriend?” I asked, maybe too quickly.
    “I haven’t seen or heard anyone worthy of my interest yet,” she replied without skipping a beat.
    I wanted to ask her more about the boys in her class and the classes above hers. How could there be absolutely no one worth her interest? There were many boys from well-to-do families, families as respectable as ours, but before we could continue the discussion, we heard Mother calling on the intercom