Journals of the Secret Keeper Read Online Free Page A

to hide. Andrik had been closedmouthed about himself, and Willetta knew what that
meant. He had secrets. She wasn't big on secrets
and had no use for them. In her mind secrets were
the root of all evil.
She knew no more about him than his name.
He hadn't even been the one to tell her that. She
took another look at him and shook her head. He
was a good-looking man with secrets. That had to
spell a whole lot of trouble for some poor woman.
She dusted her hands against her thighs, figuratively
wiping Andrik off.
"Well thanks for checking on us," she said.
Andrik stepped off the porch and walked
backwards to his truck. He watched Willetta as
Willetta watched him. "You did good for your first
day home. I'm sorry about being so hard on you
this morning. I guess I misjudged you. I'll see you
in the morning," he said and climbed into his truck.
He drove off leaving a trail of dust and a
contemplative Willetta.
"Now why would he bother to judge me at
all?" she asked into the night.
Willetta sat on the steps for a while. She
was in no rush to sleep in the twin bed and sheets
that she had left behind eleven years ago.
Everything was just too eerily the same.
She'd had
a baby that was violently conceived growing within
her young womb the last time she slept in that bed.
Willetta held her head in her hands and cursed the
past and the winds that had blown it to the present.
She wanted to be left alone, but she knew
what this was. This was what everyone eventually
had to go through. This was the reckoning. She
had only been surviving the past eleven years. She
really hadn't dealt with anything.
The time had
come for her to feel it, deal with it, and be done
with it. She vowed to take her time and sort it out.
She was twenty-six and had her whole life ahead of
her. She would come out stronger for it, not
weaker.
Willetta stood and faced the old house. She
went through the door and locked it this time. By
the time she reached the bedroom, every candle had
been blown out except for one. Willetta took one
more look at Mama Jean and blew out the last
candle. The room became pitch black and then her
eyes adjusted. Moonlight filtered through the lone
window along the side of her bed and she could see
again.
She eased between the covers and closed
her eyes.
"Etta, I'm not gone live another day," Mama
Jean's crackly voice rose above the silence.
Willetta stiffened beneath her covers. She
knew Mama Jean had more to say and so she
remained silent.
"I know your secrets baby, because I made it
my business to know them, but I'm a secret keeper
and always have been. I want you to marry Andrik.
He's the one for you."
"Mama Jean stop it! I don't have any
secrets. I was raped and then I had a miscarriage
and I worked like a slave in order to make it
through high school. I didn't want to come back
and bring shame on you and I know you aren't my
real grandmother. There! You keep more of your
own secrets than anybody else's. I don't believe in
secrets. And what are you talking about? Marry
Andrik?" Willetta finished wheezing out.
"Child, I ain't got much breath left in me to
argue with you. The journals are under the
mulberry tree in a black trunk. Don't touch it if you
don't believe in secrets. Save it for you and
Andrik's children. You'll have one that believes in
secrets. Give them to her."
"I don't believe I'm having this conversation
with you. It's crazy. The whole thing is crazy.
Whose secrets are in the journals? Why are you so
sure Andrik would even think about marrying me?"
"I love you Willetta. I always have. I ain't
your grandmother, but your little soul done always
spoke to mine. Andrik is gone see what I see. Now
I got to rest, baby. Just do what I tell you to do."
she said.
"Mamma! Mama Jean whose secrets are in
the journals?" Willetta all but screamed.
Mama Jean wouldn't say another word.
Willetta jumped into bed with her and got
underneath the covers. After Mama Jean's little
speech, Willetta wasn't taking any chances of