Here is the long awaited Chapter three. I posted it b/c i felt like it.

Chapter three

The trees flashed by me, the wind shifting through my dark hair through the drop top convertible that was my graduation present from Tony. I was free. For the first time, I finally felt free. And there was nobody or nothing that could stop me from doing the things that I wanted to do now. The first stop was to head back to were I grew up, Winnerrow, and to take up residence there and get a teaching job back at the same school that I attended all those long years earlier. I vowed that if it was the last thing I would do, I would win the respect of the people that shunned me and my disgruntled kin all those early years in the hills, just because our last name happened to be Casteel. They would see all the newfound wealth that I had acclaimed since my departure from Winnerrow, and they would be shocked to see a Casteel had risen up, no less. Oh, boy, if it was my last dying wish, I would see them with newfound respect in their eyes.

I had to admit, that I did feel secret pleasure in absorbing all the stares that I was collecting in my flashy white car and my dolled up to a tee appearance. I knew that they had no idea whom was, but already the gossip tree was already beginning to begin. They would gossip about me, and when they actually did discover who I actually was, the gossip will be too hot to pass up!

The first place that I headed to that I was quite eager to get to, was the school that I went to growing up. It was important that I get this teacher job, for it would be one of the many stepping stones that I had to step on to find myself. I wanted to give back to the kids that had no hope. The ones that were like me at their age, so self-conscious, constant despair, all because of who my family was and that we didn't have the money to even buy the best second hand clothes, much less enough food to keep us all fed! These children needed someone solid in their lives, someone that wouldn't give up as easily on them as so many people had before. I would be the exact same kind of teacher like Miss Deale. I frowned. I wondered whatever happened to Miss Deale. The last time that me, Tom, Fanny, Jane, and Keith had heard from Miss Marianne Deale, she had been on her way to visit her sick mother, and after that, no more. We never even received her Christmas presents that she had intended to send, but wasn't on account of some screw up at the shop, and they couldn't deliver.

Finally, I reached the school building where I spent many of my years trying to get an education that would finally bring me along with the Casteel name from the ground. For sure, Casteels would no longer be referred to as 'hill scum'. As I drove up, I discovered that after all that I had seen and experienced in my years away from Winnerrow, I found the school building lacking poorly in comparison, at least the general structure of it. The building itself was small, peeling paint, small parking lot, etc. Not a major deal, but I'm sure it saw better times. I pulled into the parking lot, putting the car in park and turning off the ignition. Self-conscious and not wanting to show up looking anything but professional, I primped myself up a little in the visor window, and got ready to make my big debut as the new Heaven Leigh Casteel.

Principal Meeks stared at me in shock, as just as soon as he seated me across from his desk in the plushy chair, I formally introduced myself to him, as one of his former students. Apparently, even over the many years that had passed, he still remembered poor little Heaven Casteel who was a sad sight to see, and now he was staring at this beautiful woman before him dressed as if she were somebody important, her white pantsuit with a very large diamond pennant hanging around her neck [another gift from Tony, various gold rings on her fingers [but not too much to make her fingers look cluttered down to her very expensive black stiletto hills that probably cost more than his salary. Her slightly tanned skin in perfect contrast with her richly black hair that curved invitingly to frame around her heart shaped face, her blue eyes betraying nothing of what lay within. It was obvious from his expression that he was aware that Heaven Leigh Casteel had come a very long way. And that she just reeked of money from the looks of things.

"Miss Casteel!" He said, quite flustered. "I'm so surprised-uh-happy to see you again."

I smiled slyly. "I bet you are, Principal Meeks." He seemed flustered, or either it was very hot in the room at the moment. And Heaven wasn't sweating at all, and she was wearing a pantsuit. "Please," he coaxed. "Call me Richard. Wow, Ms. Casteel, I must say I was quite shocked to realize that it was you and that it puzzled me for a bit. But I can see life has treated you well, has it not?"

I laughed silently in my mind. This was grand. Principal Meeks was babbling, and I just rejoiced in the way he said Ms. Casteel. A name he probably figured he would never had to mention again less it be in less complimenting tones. "Obviously Richard. Life couldn't be more grander now than it had been before," I said smoothly, my talk no longer of backwoods country talk, but with the slight speed and precision of a very well educated young woman. I noticed how his eyes kept darting from my face to my chests, and lingered a moment on the hands that flaunted some of my rings. Then his beady eyes darted back up to my face, and he flustered. He was more paunchy than he was years ago. A receding hairline of thin brown hair and a belly that was beginning to show strain against his shirt buttons no longer made him to hottest catch in this part of town. Not that he was in the first place anyway. "And please, call me Heaven," I said invitingly. I well knew how to lay on the charm that I learned over the years.

He cleared his throat. So, Heaven, what brings you back here?" He could have meant Winnerrow, or this school in particular, but I chose the latter. "To put it bluntly Richard, I'm here for a job. A teaching job to be most specifically." He certainly wasn't expecting that for his eyebrows shot up so fast and clearly, I thought they were going to meet his receding hairline. "A teaching job, here at this school?"

I nodded. "Why, is there a problem? Are there no jobs available as of the moment?"

"No that is not the problem. In fact, we are as of right now looking for a teacher for the third grade. But it doesn't pay much," he offered, lamely.

I smiled. "Money I have Richard," I began, gaining so much glee in seeing the surprise in his face that such a Casteel could accumulate such wealth. "This, I want to do because I feel it in my heart that I should be here."

He nodded. "Well, do you have any creditals that could help back up your background in child education? Any type of degree at all?" This is where I could see he was truly curious as to what I would say.

I didn't say anything. I just pulled the Bachelor's degree that I received from my college at graduation out my tote that I had kept rolled up in a plastic to protect it from damage. I produced it to him, and he unraveled it. The degree more than made me capable for the job, no doubt about that. "I graduated in the top ten percent of my class at Radcliffe," I said, naming the very exclusive-and first rate-college. The name did not go well unnoticed by Principal Meeks. "Wow, Heaven. I'm truly shocked and really happy for you. I always knew you were such a promising student," he supplied. The compliment did not make it seem like a compliment at all, but instant groveling that was well veiled.

"So what I want to know is, can I have to job or not." He looked once more at my degree, and folded his hands on top of it. "Here's the deal Heaven. Looking at you accomplishments, I can well see that you are not qualified for this job, but in fact, over qualified. The pay is not that very well and I don't understand why you would come back to Winnerrow when we have nothing to offer."

I took the degree from his hand as he handed it back. "Leave the wondering and understanding to me, Mr. Meeks," I said. I had my own personal reasons for being back in Winnerrow, and it constituted on getting revenge.

He sighed, realizing that he was starting to piss me off now. "Well, if you want to job, then quite frankly, it is yours. I have utmost confidence in you that you will perform your absolute best."

I smiled a pageant winning smile, realizing the effect of a beautiful girl smiling at him all on his face. And the shame of it, for not only was he married, but he was attracted to a woman formerly known as 'hill scum'. "Thank you Principal Meeks. I will be looking forward to working with you," I said, choosing not to say 'under his authority' for he would believe that he would have the better hand.

"Please leave you contact information with Trudy at the front desk so that I can contact you in the future when needed be. There will be a mandatory faculty meeting in the last week of July and I expect to see you there. Kids will be arriving here at school the second week of August. And I believe that just about covers it. We will deal with the matter of moving you into the third grade classroom that you will be occupying for the school year in the next 2 weeks. Other than that, it is just the manner of you signing the contracts to make it all signed and legal"

I had to sign quite a few forms, for employment, health, salary, taking responsibility for the kids, blah blah blah.. But when I signed the last contract, I had a smile on my face. I was one step closer to my goal. "All right, then that will be all Ms. Casteel."

I stood up shaking his hand. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Meeks." I stood up and walked to the door, but I turned back around.

"Principal Meeks, I just have one more question," I said, thinking about something that often occupied my mind, and I needed to hear the answer.

"Sure. What's knocking on your noggin?"

I ignored his pun. "What ever happened to Miss Deale? Marianne Deale?" I really wanted to know what ever happened to the kindly teacher that had practically taken my siblings and I under her wing. Over the time of my youth, I had grown to love her like a mother, the mother that I was robbed of the day of my birth. To my young mind, she was my role model. And in a way, she still was. She was the type of person that saw beyond exteriors and got to know the person within.

"Marianne Deale? Why I haven't thought about her in years! Last time I heard from her was about…maybe ten or eleven years ago. She had taken a brief leave of absence due to her mother being ill. I remember that she came back briefly for a bit to collect her things here and such, since she was moving from here. Her mother had died, and she wanted to move back closer to home.

I grew slightly sick inside. That was around the time me, Tom, Fanny, Keith and Jane had received a note from Miss Deale of the condition of her mother, and that she wouldn't be there with us. I remembered that it was at Christmas time because we were waiting for presents in the mail from here that we never gotten, for there was some sort of screw up at the mail office.

"It was such a disappointment to lose such a talented teacher that was dedicated to her job and her students. She truly was an admirable woman/" I noticed that dreamy look that over came his face and eyes, and suddenly, I had the feeling that he was more fascinated with Miss Deale than an employer should have been with his employee. Hopefully, Miss Deale had did nothing on her part to encourage this (in my heart, I had a feeling that she didn't), for not only Mr. Meeks was a married man at that time (still was in fact), but if she had done something so…wrong, I had a scary feeling that it might have made me admire her a little less.

"Do you happen to know where she is now?" I wanted to contact her still even after all these years, so we could at least sit down and chat about all that had happened in our lives ever since the day I was sold off like a slave.

He shook his head. "All I know is that her home is up north, somewhere around New Jersey or so. Or maybe it was New York. I don't know, but its been at least a decade, and she could have moved long since then.

I nodded, having all the information that I needed. I would use whatever resources that I had to find her, for I had the money to pay whatever it would cost for such a request. I thanked Principal Meeks and left.

I walked out of that school with my head held up high, a happy gait in my walk. I had crossed the first stepping stone in my new life. I'm doing it Troy! I though gleefully in my mind. I'm one step closer to my goal.

I drove around town aimlessly, more looking around to see how much the town had changed than anything. OF course, I wasn't oblivious to the stares and the speculation that was coming my way on account of the very expensive way I rose into Winnnerrow in my expensive car.

The town hadn't changed a lot, but quite noticeably in all the years of my absence. More businesses as well as homes had sprouted up, and people were just moseying along on the sidewalks, enjoying the sunny and peaceful Tuesday morning. I past in front of Stonewall Pharmacy, and for some reason, I parked in front of the store, just staring. I instantly though of Logan, and how he would steal things from his father's pharmacy for me and my siblings. Simple things that he thought nothing of in his daily life, but were a luxury in the cabin in the hills that I had grown to hate while growing up there.

Logan. I though back to the time that I had seen Logan was years ago, back when I was a senior at the exclusive private girl's academy, and I had bumped into him on the sidewalk. I remembered the pain that I had experienced when I realized that he had not recognized me, and how he chose not to acknowledge me. I well remembered the bitter conversation we had in the coffee shop, with his jealous girlfriend looked on. How he could have any girlfriend for the matter since I was still in love with him then, was breaking my heart at the time. After that day, I had never seen or spoken to him again. And then I had fell in love with my Tory, also known as my uncle.

I should have felt dirty in loving my uncle, my love for him sexually and romantically should have instantly been turned off for I should have been very repulsed. Bit I wasn't, and I didn't. For my love for him continued on even after his departure, and now I only experienced pain in his departure, hurt that he would choose to run away and just leave me here with a note on the table and a broken heart. Damn Jillian for coming in between us, and telling Troy the truth before I could. Damn Tony for raping my mother, making me an abomination that my father could not stand. Damn Logan for keeping me away from my fiancé to take care of me during the storm [but for I had to admit I was grateful for, for I would have surely killed myself on the road. And Damn Troy for being weak and running off before I could talk to him, leaving like a thief in the night.

But as I damned him in my mind, I knew that I could not damn him in my heart, for my love for Troy continued to swell exceptionally in my heart. And I knew truthful in my heart I could not blame him for running off. Troy was always sensitive to things and to have a bombshell dropped on him without the one that he loved near, it must have been true torture and unbearable. For the woman he loved and made love to every night was not his brothers step-granddaughter, but his child. And to Troy, I was his niece. Forbidden. I cried for Troy's hurt soul, wishing he were near so that I could heal it.

I don't know how long I sat there staring off into space, but the presence of another person near me startled me, and I looked up to see who it was. My mouth was dry. Logan.

He stood there in all his dark Viking glory. His dark hair was longer than I remembered, a tossed look to it. His dark eyes coolly assessed me, betraying nothing. I shivered, in terrifying delight. "Logan," I said softly. I hadn't seen him in so long. His body looked tall and forbidden as he neared the car.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, instead of a polite greeting. My face fell. He was still mad with me. The last time I had seen Logan was before Troy had left. I had come back to Winnerrow for a brief visit, and had wound up getting sick. Logan had to help nurse me back to help, but keeping me away from Troy for the longest days of my life in the process. I thought back to my thoughts and feelings, how I should have been grateful that Logan was helping me and polite as well as gracious, but instead, I treated him meanly, snapping back at him, much the same manner as of a rabid dog, minus the foaming mouth.

"I've come home." I said simply. His eyebrow quirked. "Home? Last time I remembered, your home was a mansion, with your new family, and that fiancé of yours." His words bit at me and the stung, especially since he mentioned Troy in the literal sense. I held my head down briefly, not meeting his eyes. "I'm not engaged anymore."

He was silent. "Oh? Well what happened, wait let me guess. You broke up with him? Or was it the other way around?"

I glared at him. "That is none of your business!"

He smirked. "A little testy we are on the subject, aren't we? Well, you should just forget about Trudy."

"His name is Troy and you know that just perfectly well Logan Stonewall! Why are you so mean to me lately? Is there something about me that you just don't like?"
He leaned against my car, his arms folded against his chest. "Oh I'll tell you what I don't like about you. I don't like the fact is that you've changed Heaven Leigh Casteel. Or should I say Heaven Leigh Tatterton?"

I got out of the car, slammed the door, and stood to him head to head. Or should I say head to shoulder. I had to tilt my head up to glare into his eyes. "My name is Heaven Leigh Casteel, and I'm the same Heaven that I've been ever since. Only now, I'm not poor and have a degree behind my name, and it just kills you that I don't need to depend on you for my every needs anymore. Is that just it Logan? That you fell out of love with me because you no longer had to resort to stealing such simple things such as a bar of soap from your father's pharmacy for me?"

His eyes spat fire at me. "That is just not fair and not the issue here. You roll back in town with your fancy Mercedes Benz, and your expensive clothes and jewelry," he flung a hand to gesture at what he was talking about. "What are you trying to prove Heaven? I'll tell you what you're trying to do. Your trying to shove it in people's faces that you have all this money, more than anyone around here probably, and that you are not the one on the wrong end of the stick here. You're trying to show people that you are different Heaven, and you are doing a fine job of that!

I opened my mouth to get a word in, but he started talking again. "You are not the same Heaven that I fell in love with all those years ago. You talk different. You walk different. You even act different! Sure you are all glammed up right now with all your make-up and your fancy hair, but whatever happened to that girl in the hills? That girl that wasn't so concerned with what she wore or what her hair looked like. That girl worked everyday to make life better for her and her family."

I stared him deeply into his eyes, my frustration building up. "That girl on the hills, also know as hill scum is dead. She is not forgotten, but she is dead. That girl did not worry about such trivial matters that matter to girls because that girl never had the luxury to focus on such matters. And I never want to be that woman again. I don't want to know what it feels like to feel every inch of poverty, the hungry and cold nights, the father that barely cared. I had to take on a lot of responsibility on my shoulders back then, much too much for a child back then. Not to mention the added pressure of the people here that disapproved of us, believing that we were lower than dirt. And they still do, sadly. People can be so stupid. But now that I've come a long way with my fancy car and fancy clothes," I bit those words purposely at him, watching him flinch. "Not to mention a degree behind my name, they only have to think differently not only about me, but about my whole family."

He sighed. "And you will get certain satisfaction from these people thinking differently about you?"

"Yes," I stressed. That was the whole point of all of this!"

"I thought the whole point of this was to prove to yourself most importantly. I remembered when we were younger, you use to say that the opinions of other people didn't matter much. As long as you had somebody there by your side."

I shook my head. "What did you expect me to say back then Logan! Sure it's true, but it still hurts to have people just resent you because of your name. But I wouldn't' expect you to know how that feels Logan, for everybody just loved your family."

He growled at me. "That is not fair. Let's not fight about this. How long is your visit here?"

"What's it to you," I said childishly. He sighed a weary sigh. "Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you Heaven. Can we go on talking like two friends?"

After a stubborn moment, I nodded. "I'm not visiting Logan. I home for good. Or at least until I have a reason to leave." His eyebrow raised in surprised. "Are you serious?"

"As serious as a heart attack. I just in fact finished signing up for a teaching job at the school. I'll be starting in August," I told him proudly. He grinned crookedly. "That's great, Heaven. But why are you coming back?"

I was silent for a moment. "I have to make peace with myself, find a purpose. There's more to life than just sitting idly around, when you could be helping somebody. So what better way than to help students that are in the same position that I was in years ago?"

He nodded understandingly. "Well, where are you going to stay? I see you have a some things in the backseat," he gestured to my car.

"I have more in my trunk," I supplied. "I plan on staying at the cabin, you know, since its been refurnished and nobody's using it for the moment since Grandpa is living with Pa and Tom."

Logan appeared uneasily. "The cabin is not exactly unoccupied. Fanny's there." If my eyes weren't securely stuck in my head, I for sure would have thought they would have shot out of my head. "Fanny's here? For how long has she been here?" I knew nothing of this arrangement, nor of her change in residence. She never wrote to tell me anything. But for that, I wasn't much surprised, for Fanny and I were never really that close, for she always seemed to be jealous of me in some way that prevented us from being as close as two loving sisters should be. But no matter how crappy Fanny treated me, I still loved her as my sister.

"She's been here for about a month. I've visited her a couple of times to check in on her and it seems like she's doing ok." I thought nothing of it, perhaps because I wasn't looking into it, but I saw that he'd avoided my eyes as he said this.

"The last time I knew of, Fanny was still living in that apartment, with me paying her rent! And she had the nerve of having me to pay for this month also even though she did not even consider telling me of her change in address. She probably had her mail forward here, so she could pick up whatever spare money I could give her." That's what Fanny and I were fighting about 2 months ago: money. Or specifically her lack of money and my abundance in it. Fanny had always been money hungry, even when we were younger. She would cry for things she knew we could not get, and do sexual favors at the young age of seven to get money! She had no same of exploiting her body, and I believe that is how she paid for her apartment before I stepped in and decided to pay her rent for her. Sarah, Tom, Fanny, Keith, and Jane's mother said Fanny was a born whore through and through. And that there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

"Sounds like Fanny. She may have been in a money jam." I scoffed. "Fanny is always in a money jam. The problem is that with her, she can never have enough and she doesn't know how to save or stretch it out. She needs to start earning her own way in life instead of expecting to live off of everyone else. Especially me." I shook my head. "I need to head up there and see what's up, for I have a feeling that I'll be having a roommate longer than I expected."

I opened my car door and slid into the seat, closing the door behind me. "When will I be seeing you again?" he asked, bracing his hands on the door after I started the ignition. I paused and peered up at him. His light brown eyes were staring intently down into my own, revealing nothing, but something about his gaze put me off. "I don't know. I guess around town or whatever."

"How about I take you out for dinner tonight?" he suggested. My hackles went up. For certain I could not go out on a date with a man after I still had fresh wounds after Troy's departure. He must have seen me about to protest for he pleased with me now. "Please come Heaven. We haven't seen each other in a while and we should catch up. Besides, I don't know if you realize, but I have never not once taken you out to dinner in our lives." He did have a point there.

"It's too soon…Troy…" I faltered off. Was it just me, or did his face harden at the mention of Troy's name? Then he said a bit darkly. "It won't be a date, just a causal dinner between friends. I doubt your Troy would protest against that, despite the fact that you are no longer engaged to him."

My heart hurt, for he called him 'my Troy', but now, Troy was no longer mine to claim. I nodded my head after a moment. "Yes. I'll go to dinner with you tonight."

He smiled a tight smile. "Good. I'll pick you up at the cabin around seven. " and then he was off just like that. After a moment of staring off after him, I put my car in drive and horded my way towards the cabin.

I parked my car in front of the cabin, but not getting out just yet. The cabin had been remodeled again sometime during the time that I had been gone from here. Originally, it was to suit for grandpa's needs, and make things easier for him by getting it up to date, but ever since he left to go live where Pa, his new wife Shellie, and Tom, the cabin had been unoccupied. But that was until Fanny showed up. I sighed, getting out of the car, not wanting to deal with Fanny at the moment, but I knew that I would have to sooner or later. I left my stuff in the car. I would unpack it all later.

I let myself in the front door with the copy of the key that was kept underneath the mat. I wouldn't let myself put it there no more since I was going to live here for a while. I opened the door. "Fanny?" I hollered in the silence after I closed the door. It was a little warm in here, since the a/c wasn't turned on [a long way from way back then….we weren't even blessed with the utility of a/c. I hear someone coming down the stairs and saw my sister.

Fanny was just as beautiful as ever. Fanny didn't have an everyday beauty about her, but more of an exotic one, with her ebony hair that contrasted beautifully with her equally almost black eyes. Her fair skin gave her the appearance of a delicate, exquisite flower, but I knew more than anyone that fanny was not delicate.

"Well, well, well…" she drawled, a smirk coming to the side of her mouth. "If it isn't my dear sister Heaven. How did you know that I was here?"

"Logan told me," I said, folding my arms, angry that she had the nerve to just stand there like nothing at all was wrong.

Her eyes seemed to light up at the mention of Logan's name, and her smirk turned into a full grown grin. "Logan did? Well, that isn't much of a surprise. He has been here a lot lately, helping me in more ways than one," she said suggestively. I knew instantly what she was doing, and if she thought she was going to get a rise out of me, then she'd be waiting for a very long time. Though I could only imagine what she and Logan did in this cabin. I no longer knew Logan as the same boy he had been all those years ago. And that Logan from long ago would have never paid any attention to Fanny. Just to be on the safe side, I mentally reminded myself to change the sheets on the bed whichever I decided to occupy during my residence here.

I ignored her bait. "Fanny, what are you doing here? I though you still was in that apartment in New York."

She smiled, and sat down in the chair, crossing her legs, which made the already short skirt rise up even higher. I couldn't help but believe that I was sadly lacking next to Fanny. She oozed sex appeal and I couldn't even identify mine sometimes.

"Oh, that. I was going to tell you about that sooner or later. But Heaven, things were just so rough in New York, that I just had to come home. I couldn't stand that city any longer." She pouted. I had to admit, Fanny knew exactly how to put on the dramatics at the right moment. I wondered why she never got a job with acting, for she was really good at that, I though sarcastically.

"So, for the past month, or however long you were holed up in this house, you had me send you a $700 dollar check to your New York address that God knows what you did with?"

"Oh, I had all my mail forwarded here before I left," she said breezily. "So, my dear sister, what brings you back to these neck of the woods?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm moving back here." If I didn't think they were attached to her forehead, I swear her perfectly arched eyebrows would leap off her forehead. "Whaatt?" she screeched. "Are you serious? Your leaving the rich life for this?" she gestured around her. "Heaven, I really never knew that you were really that stupid."

I felt my blood simmer. "Fanny, I am not stupid. As a matter of fact, I just recently graduated from college, an invitation that I sent you that you did not even bother to respond to," I said pointedly. I understood why Tom couldn't make it, barely, but nevertheless did. But Fanny didn't come at all just out of plain hatefulness.

"I had other things to do," she said nonchalantly. She examined her nails as if I weren't even worth her time.

"Like what?" I spat. I was sick of Fanny's jealousy and her constant ways of trying to hurt me. "There is nothing more important that you couldn't have put off here than to see your own sister graduate. I wanted you there Fanny. But you didn't care enough to be there."

Her eyes flashed at me. "Like you didn't care enough for to send me more money to tide me over?"

I groaned. "Oh, so this is what it's about? You're mad because I would send you more money than you already needed. It wasn't enough that I paid your rent or you, or I bought other stuff for you, and I got nothing in return from you. No gratefulness, no love, no nothing! Just your ever growing greed that clouds your eyes with green, seeing nobody's pain but your own." My words got harsher as I spoke.

All of a sudden, Fanny's eyes clouded with unshed tears. "How can you think that way about me Heaven? How could you even think that?" She got up and rushed over to me, hugging me tightly by the waist. The force slightly threw me off balance. "Of course I love you Heaven! Its just that you have much more money than I do, millions in fact, and all I asked was just a piece of it," she whined. "Just to tie me over."

I sighed deeply. Would money ever not be the most important in Fanny's eyes? "I don't have millions, Fanny. My mother's parents have millions. I just accept what they decide to give me."

"And they'll give you however much you want," she whined again, leaning back and staring me straight into my eyes, her dark ones battling with my own blue ones. "Fanny, enough. You are basically making me sick with all this talk of money. Why must you be the only one in this family that must depend upon somebody else? Tom has found his purpose, so have Keith and Jane. When are you going to wake up Fanny, and realize that people can't take care of you and deal with your crap your whole life?"

All at once, the mask of malice was back, and she coldly backed away from me. "Oh, I see how you want to be Heaven. You just wanna hog up all the millions for yourself. Well, I don't need any of your stinkin' money. You ain't all that special anyway, I can get my money elsewhere. You want me to sell my body, is that what you want me to do?" I flinched at the anger in her voice, the barbs in her words. "No Fanny, don't do that, its disgusting."

"That's exactly what you want me to do! How do you think I barely got by before you came to New York Heaven, hmmm? You're not that naïve are you? Men have certain needs Heaven. Certain needs that need to be quenched by a real woman. And I'm more than happy to provide the service." She saw how her words effected me, how I kept wincing from it all. She smiled a cold smile and advanced on. "A real woman Heaven. Not some simple bodied who doesn't know anything about sex if it would hit her in the face. Why, I'm more than qualified in that department, more than you ever will. Just ask Logan." And with that, she flaunted up the stairs, her hair trailing behind her.

I stood there in the middle of the living room, hurt by her callousness in her words and how she could be so mean. I sighed. Would Fanny and I get along without killing each other here?

At five minutes to seven, I was running around like a mad woman, trying to get dressed at the last moment. I stopped long enough in front of the mirror, fixing my black simple dress with an A-line and making sure my hair was in place, just as soon as the doorbell was ringing. I had to admit to myself I literally looked like a million bucks, with my jewelry, and my contrasting beauty. Then I ran-or something similar to running in stilettos-to the front door, opening it to find Logan on the other side. "Hi," I said, smiling warmly.

"Hi," he returned. "You look beautiful." I could see in his eyes that he truly meant it, and all our past confrontations flew straight out of the window at that moment. I saw his eyes cloud with desire and I blushed, never seeing that look in Logan's eye, but I was well adept and old enough to recognize that look. I wasn't naïve anymore when it came to sex, and if Logan's eyes were a hint, he wanted me in bed more than a little.

"Umm," I said clumsily, confused at how I felt about him. "Why don't you come wait in the living room while I get my purse and coat?" He followed me obligingly into the living room and I left him there as I darted up the stairs to my room to grab my purse and coat. I passed the dresser mirror and I stopped for a moment, taking in all the glamour that I had gone through this afternoon. Was it too much, I thought, my hand lightly touching the pearls at my neck, the matching studs in my ear. I looked as if I were going on a date instead of dinner between friends.

I felt a pang in my heart, as if I were betraying Troy in some way, as if I were freely giving up my hold on him and allowing another man to come between us. I couldn't just turn off my feelings for Troy, that I knew, for I would forevermore love him. But it was time that I moved on, for it had been three years since I had last seen Troy. And I couldn't let my heart pine away for him, for something that would never be.

With a resolute sigh, I grabbed my purse and coat, forced a smile on my face-which wasn't that hard in fact-and practically skipped down the stairs. And I stopped abruptly at the foot of the stairs, the scene that was being displayed before my eyes. Fanny naked as the day she was born right in front of Logan.

I knew she had just gotten out of the shower, for water glisten off her back and pinned up hair. "Fanny!" I exclaimed angrily. "Have you no shame?" I knew exactly what she was doing, something she tried to pull very long ago. She was trying to entice Logan from me, that I very much knew, and the smirk on her mouth and in her eyes was evidence enough. "Why Heaven, I'm ashamed in you. I just got out the shower and was stunned to find Logan here, nothing else, dear sister." Oh Fanny was a master at manipulation, for she knew exactly what she was doing and how it looked. She in fact knew of my dinner with Logan tonight because, stupid me, I had told her.

What furriated me more was that Logan would not stop staring at her body, then at the mention of my name, he guiltily looked up at me, his cheeks flushing irately. "Fanny, go put on some clothes, you are not only embarrassing yourself, but you are embarrassing Logan," I said firmly. When would Fanny ever grow up? It was like the time when I was 13 and she stripped off her dress and paraded nude in front of Logan. I still never forgotten that, how she could be so cruel as to try to steal my first love away from me, and she had all the guys running behind her at school.

"Oh, I highly doubt that Heaven. I'm pretty sure Logan doesn't object," she said, flashing him a wink. And with that, she sauntered out of the living room up the stairs, going as slowly and tauntingly as possible. Logan's eyes followed her hungrily. Anger flared up in me for being dismissed so quickly. "Oh, why don't you crawl in bed with her Logan, and forget about our dinner," I said haughtily.

That guilty look came again. "I'm sorry Heaven, but she just showed up down here without any clothes on…" he trailed off. "I'm a red blooded male, what do you expect?" He said desperately.

I shook off his pleading. "It doesn't matter Logan. Let's just leave." He helped me to put my coat over my dress-which didn't have sleeves-and I didn't object. He led me to his car and opened the passenger door for me. I got in obligingly.