Secrets of Foxworth Read Online Free Page A

Grimms’ fairy tale or something, and that would usually end it. But that didn’t mean they didn’t keep trying. A busybody has got to keep busy.”
    â€œDid she talk about it with you?”
    He gave me that look again, the expression that told me he was considering my age and what he should say. “I told you, Kristin, it’s all hearsay, even what your mother knew and what we were told years later.”
    â€œI’m all ears,” I replied.
    He shook his head. “I’m going to regret this conversation.”
    â€œNo, you won’t, Dad. I won’t be the one to tell stories out of school,” I added, which was another one of his favorite expressions. I knew he loved that I used them, remembered them.
    â€œYour uncle Tommy once claimed he had met someone who said he had known one of the servants in the original house at the time the children were supposedly locked in the attic. He went out to Hollywood to pitch the story for a movie, and Tommy heard it. He called us immediately afterward.”
    â€œWhat did he say?”
    â€œHe said the man claimed it was true that they were up there for more than three years, a girl who was about twelve when they were first locked up, a boy who was about fourteen, and the twin boy and girl about four. Their father was killed in a car accident and supposedly didn’t leave them enough money to fix the heels on their shoes. Malcolm Foxworth was pretty sick by then, but he hung on for a few years more. The story was that he wouldn’t put his daughter back in his will if she had children with her husband.”
    â€œDo you know why? Did he say?”
    â€œHe was vague about it. Tommy, who hears lots of stories, said he was sure the man was making most of it up as he went along just to season his story enough to sell it for a movie.”
    â€œDid it fit with anything you had heard or knew already?”
    â€œI told you, I never really knew what was true and what wasn’t. What I do know from what the old-timers tell me is that Malcolm Foxworth was a real Bible thumper, one of those who believed Satan was everywhere, and so he was very strict. Whatever his daughter did to anger him, forgiveness was a part of his Christianity that he neglected. That’s what your mother would say. She didn’t even like being known as a distant relative, and to tell you the truth, she would cringe whenever anyone brought that up. She’d be angry at me for telling you this much hearsay.”
    â€œSo?” I asked, ignoring him. “At least tell me what else Uncle Tommy told you.” Despite his reluctance, I thought I had him on a roll. He had already said ten times as much as he had ever said before about the Foxworth family story.
    â€œAccording to the story the man pitched, the kids were hidden up there so Malcolm wouldn’t know they existed.”
    â€œSo that part is really true?”
    â€œI told you. The guy was trying to sell a story for a movie.”
    â€œBut even in his story, why did that matter, not knowing they existed?”
    â€œI guess Malcolm thought they were the devil’s children. Anyway, your uncle says that this servant who was the main source for the story swears the old man knew and enjoyed that they were suffering.”
    â€œTheir own grandfather? Ugh,” I said.
    â€œYeah, right, ugh. So let’s not talk about it anymore. It’s full of distortions, lies, and plenty of ugh.”
    I was quiet. How did the truth get so twisted? Why was no one sure about any of it? “What a mess,” I finally muttered.
    â€œYeah, what a mess. So forget it.” He smiled. “You’re getting to look more like your mother every day, Kristin. You lucked out. I have a mug for a face.”
    â€œYou do not, Dad. Besides, if you did, would Mom have married you?”
    He smiled. “Someday I’ll tell you how I got that woman to say ‘I