When Isabelle finished singing, she realized that nobody was talking, not even her father. She raised her beautiful blue eyes and, very close to her she met another pair of eyes that were staring at her in complete awe. She hadn't noticed that while she was singing, he had moved and was now near to her."You're such a good singer, Isabelle," he said stunned almost whispering those words. “Your voice is so stunning.”"Shawn is right, my dear," Marie added in a tone full of enthusiasm. “Sweetie, you are a young woman full of surprises.”              But she wasn’t paying attention to the other comments. Apart from Shawn's tender words, she heard nothing else. Someone cleared his throat and Isabelle looked in the direction of her father who was

        Frannie and Diana were finishing breakfast when Christopher came down with the suitcase ready for the trip to England. He kissed his wife and the girls and he was about to get into the car and go to the airport, but the loud noise made by a sports car stopped him. Everyone turned in the direction from which all that noise came. Christopher shook his head when he saw his nephew getting down from a black Ferrari, walking all full of himself towards the small group. The girls ran to their uncle who leaned down and hugged them, then he said hi to Marie and Christopher. As usual, he didn't consider Isabelle."Uncle Chris, have a good trip, and let me know what can I do to help you from our main office," Shawn said shaking his hand. “I’ll go right now to San Francisco. If you need me, you'll find me there.”“Very well, son. I will keep you informed about everything,” his uncle said and the

          Isabelle looked at her watch and realized that she would arrive at the villa too early if she continued the journey by car. The girls were never out of bed before nine in the morning. She still had a good half hour to enjoy a little walk, so she asked the driver to stop the car. After a while, Isabelle saw the villa and stopped to admire it. It was not just a gigantic house made of bricks, granite, and marble, but also a house made of love, trust, laughter, sweetness. The bond that Marie had with her husband was strong, sweet, full of love, and respect. All this could be felt since the first second spent inside the Grayson’s house.           To have a house like this had always been a dream of hers, but both her mother and her father had never been able to get along very well. Her father, too busy with his job and his company, and her mother, too t

            During dinner, Shawn sat at the table without talking much. He still remained quite unbearable, but at least that evening he had not spoken to her, he had not verbally attacked her… yet. But the night was young, so she kept her fingers crossed. Marie tried very hard to carry on the conversation at the table, but her nephew opened his mouth only to give monosyllabic answers. Shawn finished dinner and asked his aunt to excuse him, after which he retired to the study."Something bad happened in the office," Marie murmured, looking at him as he was closing the door of the study. “He’s always like this when there is something that worries him or when he’s angry. He barely speaks and closes in on himself worse than a hedgehog. I adore him, but sometimes I wish he was more open to me."          &nbs

          Isabelle closed the door to her room, turned on the light, and stood by the bed. Although the day had been long and tiring and ‘the match’ just ended between her and Shawn had left her without strength, Isabelle wasn’t sleepy at all. Since she hadn't had so much time to organize all the things Marie had bought for her, she opened the small closet and started looking at all the clothes lying on her bed. Marie had bought her so many clothes and she checked carefully every little thing. Her fingers touched the wonderful fabric of the dress she was to wear at Friday's party and she felt a tear rolling down her cheek. Isabelle could not believe that a stranger like Marie was acting with her as only a mother should act. Apart from Lucy, nobody had taken so much care of her. Isabelle felt so emotional... She covered her face with her hands and started to cry without making a noise. She didn’t w