Vision Read Online Free PDF Page A

know that.”
    “You’re my sister. I love you.”
    “I know, but—”
    “He presses you too hard.”
    “Not this again, Alan.”
    “He does.”
    “I wish you and Max could get along.”
    “So do I. But we never will.”
    “But why?”
    “Because I know what he is.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “For one thing, he’s so different from you,” Alan said. “He’s not as sensitive as you are. He’s not as kind.” He seemed to be pleading with her. “You’re gentle, and he’s—”
    “He can be gentle, too.”
    “Can he?”
    “With me he can. He’s sweet.”
    “You’re entitled to your opinion.”
    “Oh, thank you very much,” she said sarcastically. Anger flared briefly in her but was quickly extinguished. She couldn’t stay angry with Alan for more than a minute. Even a minute was stretching it.
    “Mary, I don’t want to argue with you.”
    “Then don’t.”
    “We never had cross words, not in thirty years... until he came into the picture.”
    “I’m not up to this tonight.”
    “You’re not up to anything because he presses you too hard and too fast when he’s guiding you through your visions.”
    “He does it well.”
    “Not as well as I did it.”
    “At first he was too insistent,” she admitted. “Too anxious. But not anymore.”
    Alan put down his Scotch, got up, turned his back on her. He went to the window. Moody silence enveloped him.
    She closed her eyes and wished Max would get back.
    After a minute Alan walked away from the window. He stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at her. “I’m afraid to go away on vacation.”
    Without opening her eyes, she said, “Afraid of what?”
    “I don’t want to leave you alone.”
    “I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Max.”
    “That’s what I mean—alone with Max.”
    “Alan, for Christ’s sake!”
    “I mean it.”
    She opened her eyes, sat up straighter. “You’re being silly. Ridiculous. I won’t listen to any more of this.”
    “If I didn’t care what happens to you, I could walk out right now. Whether you want to hear it or not, I’m going to say what I think is true about him.”
    She sighed.
    “He’s an opportunist,” Alan said.
    “So what?”
    “He likes money.”
    “So do I. So do you.”
    “He likes it too much.”
    She smiled indulgently. “I’m not sure you can ever like it too much, dear.”
    “Don’t you understand?”
    “Enlighten me.”
    Alan hesitated. There was sadness in his beautiful eyes. “Max likes other people’s money too much.”
    She stared at him, surprised. “Look... if you’re saying he married me for my money—”
    “That’s precisely what I’m saying.”
    “Then it’s you who’s pressing me too hard.” There was steel in her voice now.
    He changed his tone with her, spoke softly. “All I’m trying to do is make you face facts. I don’t—”
    She raised herself up, away from the headboard. “Am I so ugly that no one would want me if I were poor?”
    “You’re beautiful. You know that.”
    She wasn’t satisfied. “Then am I some mindless little twit who bores men to death?”
    “Don’t shout,” Alan said. “Calm down. Please.” He seemed genuinely grieved that he had hurt her. But he didn’t change the subject. “Plenty of men would give everything they own to marry you. And for all the right reasons. Why you ever picked Max—”
    “He was the first decent prospect, the first full-fledged man who asked.”
    “That’s not true. I know of four others who asked.”
    “The first two were spineless wonders,” she said. “The third one was about as gentle and considerate in bed as a bull is in the ring. The other one was virtually impotent. Max wasn’t any of that. He was different, interesting, exciting.”
    “You didn’t marry him because he was exciting, or because he was intelligent or mysterious or romantic. You married him because he was big, strong, and gruff. A perfect father image.”
    “Since when have you practiced