Virtue & Vanity Read Online Free Page A

Everett was getting married.” Mother stepped in as usual.
    “Then my further announcements will be even more pleasing to you,” Mrs. Moran said cynically, as if she wanted to make my mother aware of the fact that she was too upfront about being a shameless gold-digger. “Mr. Everett Senior has already replied to my email, and the Everett’s want to meet Isabelle as soon as next week.”
    “That is wonderful.” Mother was beside herself.
    “Of course, Isabelle will have to join us on our trip to New York tomorrow, in order to go through further preparations.”
    “What kind of preparations?” I couldn’t help but intervene.
    “Well, to answer your question. To proceed with this arrangement we have to establish that you are perfectly healthy. That means you will be tested to see if you have any serious diseases, especially the ones that could compromise your ability to have children.” I tensed at her words.
    “I see.” It was all I managed to say.
    “I’m glad you understand. Now, if you will excuse us, we have to get going. Isabelle…” Mrs. Moran lifted her eyebrows and glanced at me with a warning. “Make sure you are ready by ten tomorrow.”
    “You don’t have to worry about that. She will be ready on time,” Mother happily replied on my behalf, and escorted Rosario and the doctor out of our house. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    Chapter Four
     
     
    The following few days were a roller coaster. For the first time in my life I was leaving the boring stillness of Rosemont, and though it had been something I’d dreamt about my entire life, I wasn’t as nearly excited as I thought I would have been. Somehow, I always thought that leaving Rosemont would feel empowering and liberating. That was not the case. I felt like I was yet to be imprisoned and not liberated.
    I had flown in a plane for the first time in my life and although it was quite nerve-wracking, it had been far better than the rest of the experiences that followed my visit to New York. All of the examinations and doctor appointments made me feel like I was some sort of a thing, and not a person. Not to mention how much I hated being subjected to an army of stylists whose facial expressions screamed how inappropriate my country-style look was. I was scheduled to meet the famous Everett family, and my future husband Sebastian, at the end of the week. Questions kept forming in my mind but I had no one to answer them.  Why would a rich guy from New York want to marry me when he didn’t even know me?  Why did that crazy condition which made Everett heirs marry girls from Rosemont, exist to begin with?
    I walked up to the window and took in the beautiful sight of the magnificent city at night. Everybody was rushing and going somewhere, whereas I felt like I was stuck in time—frozen and desperately alone. I didn’t have anyone to talk to, and it was painfully clear that I didn’t fit in. Suddenly, my thoughts wandered off into the future and thoughts about what it would feel like to be married to this mysterious man I had yet to meet, and to live in the huge city that must have been about a million times bigger than Rosemont, filled my mind. I remembered Ashley’s comforting words before I had left home. She’d told me that maybe everything would turn out better than I expected. My silly sister had tried to convince me that maybe I’d like him, or even come to love him after some time. I was a dreamer but I knew better than to fool myself with such childish dreams. I would hope for the best, and that best was that somehow I wouldn’t have to get married after all. I hoped that the results of the examination would be my ticket out of the mess my mother had put me in.
    ***
    A few days later I found out that I was perfectly healthy and all my hopes of getting out of this situation were crushed. This meant that the day to meet the famous Everett family had arrived. It seemed as though the preparations to make me pretty enough