Recap: Garden of Shadows By Virginia Andrews, Part 6

Previously:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

It's been awhile since I've recapped but I'm going full steam ahead now because I hope to get to Petals on the Wind before the movie comes out next month (which I am way too excited about! Petals is so crazy and entertaining).

Anyway, in my last recap I left off with the birth of Corinne. Being a perfect angel, baby Corinne slept through the night, and Olivia finally remembers Christopher, who she left without a second glance to go into fake labour the previous day. But there's no trace of him or Alicia, and Olivia is devastated and swears to never let the same thing happen with Corinne. Aha. Ahahahahaha.

So it's Christmas and Malcolm plans a big extravagant party in honour of Corinne, because he's only stingy with everyone else in his life. Talk quickly turns to Corinne's looks and Olivia's lack thereof, because these characters are nothing if not superficial. Olivia makes a biting remark about how Corinne will take after her by being strong and intelligent (ahahahahahaha) which shuts everyone up for five minutes. She spends the rest of the party making bitchy remarks to everyone and it's kind of awesome. Then of course Malcolm has to be Malcolm and has a go at Olivia for being so nasty, accusing her of being jealous of Corinne. But Olivia is having none of it and is all this is MY game now.

As Malcolm circulates the party with baby Corinne, little Mal comments that their father loves her more than the boys. This gives Olivia hope. HOPE. Because he shows perception, or something. And instead of comforting her son she tells him to suck it up. She tries to make up for their awful father by giving them heaps of attention, but is kind of happy when they go back to school because she can turn her attention back to Corinne. Sigh. Too bad for Olivia that Malcolm has ordered the nanny to not let her near Corinne. She also finds out that he's turning the bedroom adjacent to his into Corinne's nursery and it's all incredibly creepy.

Olivia confronts Malcolm when he gets home from work, and he tells her he doesn't want her near Corinne because she fucked up the two boys so badly. Olivia, trying to gain the upper hand, insists Mal and Joel get new rooms as well as Corinne, complete with pianos, and Malcolm is like, do what you want, I don't even care about them anymore. Poor Mal and Joel.

Of course, Olivia is almost as obsessed with Corinne as Malcolm is, because she's just so PRETTY. Corinne gets an English governess to teach her how to be a LADY, and Olivia tries to learn too which is hilarious. Olivia and Malcolm argue constantly about Corinne's upbringing, blah blah blah, then Corinne gets sent to boarding school at age 10 and Malcolm and Olivia are lonely and depressed and Malcolm starts sleeping around (well, even more than before), and Olivia turns to her cousin John Amos and religion.

When all three kids come home for the holidays, Olivia tells Mal and Joel to stop spoiling Corinne, because she uses and abuses them like everyone else in her life. She also warns them against letting Malcolm take control of their trust funds when they turn 18, coz he'll totally give all the money to Corinne.

So yeah, Corinne is really spoilt. One day Olivia is spying on her and Malcolm like the creeper she is, and Malcolm is just staring at Corinne like the creeper HE is, and he suddenly asks Corinne to stay with him FOREVER, and she'll inherit everything. She promises she will as long as she can have the SWAN ROOM. He refuses coz the room is TAINTED, so Olivia lets Corinne go in there when Malcolm isn't around. And spies on her through Malcolm's peephole. This is a functional household, clearly.

By this stage Corinne is 14 and she's soon telling Olivia she's a woman coz she got her period. She's excited and is all YAAAY ROMANCE LOVE KISSES, and Olivia is all BUT CRAMPS AND PAIN, but Corinne is all HAHA I'M PRETTY MY LIFE IS GOING TO BE PERFECT.

Then Mal comes along on a motorbike he's bought with his trust fund in direct defiance of his father. Olivia is horrified by the bike but proud he's disobeyed Malcolm. Corinne begs to go for a ride with him and Olivia thinks it's not how a LADY behaves, but agrees to let them do a lap around the driveway. As they ride off Malcolm comes out and he and Olivia start arguing as per usual, when Corinne comes racing back totally distressed. Turns out after Mal dropped her off at the end of the driveway, he lost control of the bike and died. Olivia is distraught, and Malcolm hints at blaming her. So business as usual at the Foxworth's.

Next time: John Amos' shadow looms large over Foxworth Hall.