Mirror Image

From the Inside Flap ne was to see the other. For family, even the girls' own father, it was a constant guessing game. For strangers, the surprise was overwhelming. And for the twins Olivia and Victoria Henderson, two remarkable young women coming of age at the turn of the century, their bond was mysterious, marvelous, and often playful--a secret realm only they inhabited.Olivia and Victoria were the beloved daughters of a man who never fully recovered from his wife's death bearing them in 1893. Shy, serious Olivia, born eleven minutes before her sister, had taken over the role of mother in their lush New York estate, managing not only a household but her rebellious twin's flights of fancy. Free-spirited Victoria wanted to change the world. She embraced the women's suffrage movement and dreamed of sailing to war-torn Europe. Then, in the girls' twenty-first year, as the first world war escalated overseas, a fateful choice changed their lives forever.It began when Victoria's life was about to be Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 570 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Amazing Grace, Bungalow 2, Sisters, H.R.H., Coming Out, The House , and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light , the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death. From the Paperback edition. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The sound of the birds outside was muffled by the heavy brocade curtainsxa0xa0of Henderson Manor, as Olivia Henderson pushed aside a lock of long darkxa0xa0hair, and continued her careful inventory of her father's china. It was axa0xa0warm summer day and, as usual, her sister had gone off somewhere. Herxa0xa0father, Edward Henderson, was expecting a visit from his lawyers. Nestledxa0xa0as they were in Croton-on-Hudson, nearly a three-hour drive from Newxa0xa0York, his attorneys came to see him fairly often. Edward Henderson ranxa0xa0all his investments from here, as well as overseeing the steel millsxa0xa0which still bore his name, but which he no longer ran himself. He hadxa0xa0retired from business entirely, two years before, in 1911, maintaining allxa0xa0his holdings, but trusting entirely in his attorneys and the men who ranxa0xa0the mills for him. With no sons, he no longer had the interest inxa0xa0business that he once did. His daughters would never run his steel mills.xa0xa0He was only sixty-five, but his health had begun to fail over the past few years, and he preferred viewing the world from his peaceful perch inxa0xa0Croton-on-Hudson. Here, he could observe the world quietly, and it was axa0xa0healthy, wholesome life for his two daughters. It was not exciting,xa0xa0admittedly, but they were never bored, and they had friends among all thexa0xa0grand families up and down the Hudson.The Van Cortlandt manor was nearby, as were the Shepards on the oldxa0xa0Lyndhurst estate. Helen Shepard's father had been Jay Gould, and he hadxa0xa0died twenty years before, and left the extraordinary property to hisxa0xa0daughter. She and her husband, Finley Shepard, ran it beautifully, andxa0xa0gave frequent parties for the young people nearby. The Rockefellers hadxa0xa0finished building Kykuit in Tarrytown that year, with its splendidxa0xa0gardens and magnificent grounds, and a house which rivaled Edwardxa0xa0Henderson's just north of them at Croton-on-Hudson.Henderson Manor was a handsome home, and one which people came from milesxa0xa0to see, peering through the gates into the lovely gardens. They couldxa0xa0barely see the house from where they stood, shielded as it was by tallxa0xa0trees, and little turns in the road which led to the formal driveway. Thexa0xa0house itself sat high on a cliff, looking over the Hudson River. Andxa0xa0Edward liked to sit in his study for hours, watching the world drift by,xa0xa0remembering times past, old friends, and the days when his life had movedxa0xa0a great deal more quickly . . . taking over his father's mills in thexa0xa01870's . . . being instrumental in the many industrial changes at the endxa0xa0of the last century. His life had been so busy then. When he was younger,xa0xa0his life had been so different. Edward Henderson had married when he wasxa0xa0young, and lost a wife and a young son to diphtheria. After that he hadxa0xa0been alone for many years, until Elizabeth came along. She had beenxa0xa0everything any man could ever dream of, a bright shining streak of light, a comet in a summer sky, so ephemeral, so dazzling, so beautiful, and soxa0xa0much too quickly gone. They were married within the year they met. Shexa0xa0was nineteen, and he was in his early forties. By twenty-one, she wasxa0xa0gone. Much to Edward's horror, she had died in childbed. After her death,xa0xa0he had worked even harder than usual, driving himself until he was numb.xa0xa0He had left his daughters to the care of his housekeeper and theirxa0xa0nurses, but finally, he realized that he had a responsibility to them. Itxa0xa0was then that he began building Henderson Manor. He wanted them to havexa0xa0healthy, wholesome lives, out of the city. New York was no place forxa0xa0children in 1903. They had been ten when he'd actually moved them, and nowxa0xa0they were twenty. He kept the house in the city and worked there, but hexa0xa0came up to see them as often as he could. At first only on weekends andxa0xa0then, as he fell in love with it, he began spending more time on thexa0xa0Hudson, rather than in New York, or Pittsburgh, or Europe. His heart was there in Croton with his daughters, as he watched them grow, and littlexa0xa0by little his own life began moving more slowly. He loved being withxa0xa0them, and now he never left them anymore. For the past two years, he hadxa0xa0gone absolutely nowhere. His health had begun to fail three or four yearsxa0xa0before. His heart was a problem, but only when he worked too hard, or letxa0xa0things upset him, or got terribly angry, which he seldom did now. He wasxa0xa0happy in Croton with his daughters.It had been twenty years since their mother had died in the spring ofxa0xa01893, on a warm balmy day that had appeared to him to be God's ultimatexa0xa0betrayal. He had been waiting outside, filled with such pride, and soxa0xa0much excitement. He had never dreamed it could happen to him again. Hisxa0xa0first wife and infant son had died in an epidemic of diphtheria more thanxa0xa0a dozen years before. But this time, losing Elizabeth had almost killedxa0xa0him. At forty-five, it was a near mortal blow to him, and he almostxa0xa0couldn't bear going on without her. She had died in their home in Newxa0xa0York, and at first he felt her presence there. But after a while, he camexa0xa0to hate the emptiness of it, and he had hated being there. He hadxa0xa0traveled off and on for months after that, but avoiding the house meantxa0xa0avoiding the two little girls Elizabeth had left him. And he couldn'txa0xa0bring himself to sell the house his father had built, and that he hadxa0xa0grown up in. A traditionalist to the core, he felt an obligation to maintain it for his children. He had closed it eventually, and it hadxa0xa0been two years since he'd been there. Now that he lived in Crotonxa0xa0full-time, he never missed it. Neither the house, nor New York, nor thexa0xa0social life he'd left there.And as the summer sounds droned on, Olivia continued her painstakingxa0xa0inventory of the china. She had long sheets of paper on which she wrotexa0xa0in her meticulous hand, making note of what they needed to replace, andxa0xa0what had to be ordered. Sometimes she sent one of the servants to thexa0xa0house in town to bring something up to them, but for the most part, thexa0xa0city house was closed, and they never went there. She knew her fatherxa0xa0didn't like it. Her father's health was frail, and, like him, she wasxa0xa0happy here in their quiet life in Croton-on-Hudson. She had actually spentxa0xa0very little time in New York since she was a child, except for the briefxa0xa0time two years before, when her father had taken them to New York, toxa0xa0present them to society and all his friends. She had found itxa0xa0interesting, but truly exhausting. She was overwhelmed by the parties,xa0xa0the theater, the constant social demands made on them. She had felt asxa0xa0though she were onstage the entire time, and she hated the attention. It was Victoria who had thrived on it, and who had been in a state of totalxa0xa0gloom when they returned to Croton at Christmas. Olivia had been relievedxa0xa0to return to her books, their home, her horses, her peaceful walks highxa0xa0on the cliff which led her sometimes to neighboring farms. She lovedxa0xa0riding here, and listening to the sounds of spring, watching winter meltxa0xa0slowly away from them, seeing the splendor of the turning leaves inxa0xa0October. She loved taking care of her father's house for him, and hadxa0xa0since she was a very young girl, with the help of Alberta Peabody, thexa0xa0woman who had raised them. She was "Bertie" to them, and the closest to axa0xa0mother the Henderson girls had ever known. Her eyes were poor, but herxa0xa0mind was sharp, and she could have told the two young women apart in thexa0xa0dark, with her eyes closed.She came to check on Olivia now, and asked her how far she had gotten.xa0xa0She didn't have the patience, or the eyes, to do this kind of minute workxa0xa0anymore, and she was always grateful when Olivia did it for her. Oliviaxa0xa0carefully checked the embroidery, the crystal, the linens. She kept an eyexa0xa0on everything, and she loved doing it, unlike Victoria, who detested allxa0xa0things domestic. Victoria was, in every possible way, different from herxa0xa0sister."Well, have they broken all our plates, or will we still be able toxa0xa0manage Christmas dinner?" Bertie smiled as she held up a glass ofxa0xa0ice-cold lemonade and a plate of gingersnaps fresh out of the oven.xa0xa0Alberta Peabody had spent twenty years caring for the two girls she hadxa0xa0come to think of as "her children." They had become hers at birth, andxa0xa0she had never left them for a day, not since their mother had died, andxa0xa0she had first looked into Olivia's eyes and realized instantly how muchxa0xa0she loved her.She was a short, round woman, with white hair in a small bun at the backxa0xa0of her head. She had an ample bosom where Olivia had rested her headxa0xa0through most of her childhood. She had comforted them whenever theyxa0xa0needed it, and whenever their father wasn't there, which had been oftenxa0xa0when they were young. For years, he had grieved silently for their motherxa0xa0and kept his distance. But he had warmed toward them in recent years, andxa0xa0softened considerably since his health had begun to fail and he hadxa0xa0retired from business. He had a weak heart, which he a... Read more