Fallen Hearts (Casteel 3)

"You'll have to work it out between the both of you," he said in a tired and defeated voice. "She has just as much right as you do," he added, turning his back on me and walking back to the living room doorway.

"That's right, Heaven. I do. I have more right. Pa loved me more n' he loved ya and he'd a wanted me ta be a motha ta Drake, not you. Ya hated him and Drake knows that now."

"What?"

"I told him all about it," she said, her hands on her hips. "All 'bout how ya went ta the circus that day, dressed as yer motha, just so yer could punish him and how yer caused that accident that killed poor Tom and nearly killed Luke. Drake knows what ya are. He knows it." She smiled again. "He thinks ya made his motha and father go ta Heaven."

"Where is he?" I demanded again, more panic in my voice. "You can't keep me from him!" I started into the house, but Fanny blocked my way.

"This is ma home, Heaven Leigh, and I don't want ya here, understand?"

"You can't keep Drake from me," I said. "I've called the police and I'll have them up here in moments. You can't stop me from getting him."

"No? Well, I been ta a lawya, Wendell Burton, and he says I have just as much right ta be a motha ta poor Drake as ya do. Especially," she added, turning toward Randall, "since Randall and I are gettin' married and we kin give Drake a home."

"What?" This time when I looked at Randall, he returned my gaze, and I understood that he was so infatuated with Fanny, he would do anything she wanted him to do. Fanny looked very sure about him.

"She's right, Heaven. You had no right to just assume you could take Drake into your home. Fanny has rights, too. She's family, too."

I stared at him a moment and then looked at Fanny, who had gathered herself together again and was looking more confident and satisfied than a wildcat with a fish between its paws.

"You can't just do this . . . kidnap Drake and fill his head with stories to turn him against me. You can't."

"I kin too. I got rights. Ya heard Randall and we spoke ta a lawya," she repeated, making it sound more like a chant.

"Fanny, you don't want to do this," I said, trying to take on a softer, more reasonable tone. "You don't want to take this into a court where everything about us will be exposed like naked mannequins in a storefront for all to see and laugh at. How would you like that?"

"How would you? Yer the one who hasta look high and mighty here. How would yer new family of Stonewalls like it? Think Logan's ma would like it?" she said, turning her shoulder at me. "Think Logan will like stuff brought out in public?"

"You're trying to blackmail me into giving you Drake," I said. I looked at Randall, but his expression was unchanged. "Well, I won't let you. I'll fight you and you'll be the sorry one. I swear it."

She simply smiled.

"Damn you," I said. Her smile faded quickly and was replaced with a face filled with flames. Her eyes burned at me.

"Get outta ma house," she ordered. "Drake doesn't even wanna see ya since I told him the truth."

"My God, what have you done to him?"

"I just brought him home ta his own people," she said proudly. "And that's where he'll stay."

I looked at Randall again. My body was trembling now. Fanny would have never been able to stand so firm and tall against me if Randall hadn't been there, I thought. She was performing for him as much as she was for me now. It had become a matter of her ego and pride, and when ego and pride are at stake, cowards and beggars could become heroes and kings.

"I'm terribly disappointed in you, Randall," I said softly, hoping to appeal to his kind and better nature. "You seemed to me to be a sensitive and intelligent young man. You don't know what you're getting involved in here."

"Oh, yes, he does. He's a college student, ya know. Ya ain't the only one with brains, Heaven."

I felt my throat tighten, my eyes water, but I knew I must not show any signs of weakness here. I bit down on my lower lip and glared at Randall. Then I turned to Fanny and, drawing deeply from the well of my Tatterton ancestry to bring up the grit and strength that turned them into ruthless and successful businessmen, I spat my words at her in the most threatening, frightening voice I could muster.

"I'll come after you now," I said. "With all the power and fury my money can buy, and when this is over, you will truly understand the meaning of vengeance."

She couldn't hold my gaze; she had to turn away. I glared once more at Randall and then I opened the door and stepped out of the house, slamming the door behind me and starting up those annoying watchdogs. This time I practically didn't hear their barking as I walked back to my car.

I don't remember driving away from the house. I don't remember making turns and stopping for traffic lights. I don't remember how I brought myself back to the factory, but suddenly I was there.

Logan, who heard me pull up, came out of the factory quickly.

"Well?" he asked. I just sat there behind the steering wheel staring ahead. "Heaven?"