Journals of the Secret Keeper Read Online Free PDF

make
this situation much easier for me. What I need
now is a real smart wife. I need somebody
who can help me hang on to this house and
this land."
#
When Willetta pulled into the drive she was
aware of many changes. There was no longer a
gravel road leading to the house, it was paved with
dark concrete. Trees neatly lined each side of the
narrow road. The road, itself, curved around to
reveal a huge iron gate. The gate was at least eight
feet tall and could not be breached by man or
animal with its pointed iron spikes. Willetta could
see the luxurious landscaping through the black iron
bars of the gate.
The house itself had even changed. It no
longer had the look of a two-hundred-year-old
Victorian monstrosity. The soft yellow paint,
updated windows, and security-controlled entrance
gave it a modern edge. The face of rural
Mississippi had been completely wiped away. The
sight was inviting and uplifting in a way Willetta
was at a loss to explain.
She eagerly rolled down her window to push
the receiving button on the black box at the entrance
of the gate.
"Whose there?" Andrik's voice sounded
through the intercom.
"It's Willetta, Andrik," she said.
There was a moment of silence, before the
gates slid apart. Willetta drove through. Her eyes
ate up the view. Trees, bushes, and flowers of
every sort strategically covered the expansive front
yard of Thompson Estates. It was a garden. For a
moment, she forgot about her fears and simply
enjoyed being in the middle of the richest kind of
beauty there ever was.
Willetta parked her car in front of the threecar garage, which was a new addition as well. Her
eyes went wide in amazement at the changes. She
couldn't help but remember how Mr. Thompson had
kept the place. The house had always been white
and sterile looking. The yard never had flowers or
bushes, but the tall pecan and oak trees had always
been there. The old cars and equipment were gone
from the front yard. There were no longer patches
of grass missing and burnt away from tractors and
trucks being parked upon it. The grass was deeply
green everywhere. Willetta felt an urge to roll in it.
"What's the matter, Willetta," Andrik came
from the side of the house. His face was guarded.
He wore a white T-shirt and Khaki pants. He was
barefoot. He stopped a couple of feet away from
Willetta and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I can't stay at that house. I'm scared. I
know it sounds silly, but I just can't stay there," she
said.
Andrik stared at his feet as his thoughts
rushed forward. What did she want from him?
He'd only just met Willetta yesterday. The tie that
brought them together was gone and he'd made a
fool out of himself just an hour ago. Surely, she
didn't want to stay with him. Her unpredictability
unnerved him and made it hard to think when he
was around her. The last thing he'd expected was
for her to show up here.
"Willetta, what do you want me to do," he
asked.
Willetta turned around and looked at the
huge house. "I would think there would be room
enough for me to stay here until I can go back down
the road. Is that too much to ask, Andrik," she said.
"No, of course not. I just didn't think you
would be comfortable being alone with me," he said
nervously.
Willetta shrugged, "You told me you were
not going to hurt me. I took your word for it. You
seemed sincere."
Andrik looked up. His eyes met Willetta's
and neither one spoke for a moment. Andrik was
relieved that she wasn't afraid of him, but he still
wasn't sure if inviting her to stay was a good idea.
It would just be the two of them. It was bad enough
that they were the only two people around for miles
and miles on this dark back road of Marks,
Mississippi. Clarksdale was thirty minutes away
and the next country road with homes on it was
about forty minutes away in the opposite direction.
They were isolated.
He knew what this sort of isolation
eventually did to a person. When he was a boy
every girl in the rural territory had been pregnant at
least once by the