Gates of Paradise (Casteel 4)

As we pulled away I looked back and caught

sight of Troy Tatterton stepping out of the forest from

where I was certain he had observed my entire

departure. He lifted his hand gently to wave. I waved

back. "Who ya wavin' at, Annie?"

"No one, Aunt Fanny . no one."

Part 3 TWENTY-ONE Homecoming

. I was too excited to sleep on the airplane. Luke and I sat beside each other near a window, and Aunt Fanny sat in front of us. I was so happy to see Luke, I couldn't take my eyes off him, and from the way he was looking at me, I knew he felt the same way.

"Pinch me and tell me this isn't a dream, Luke. Tell me you're really with me again."

"It's no dream," he said, smiling.

"I dreamt it so often and so hard that it still

seems that way to me," I confessed. For the first time that I could remember, when I expressed my need and love for him, I didn't blush, nor did he look away. Our eyes fixed on each other. He put his hand over mine and squeezed it gently. Everything in me cried out for him, urged me to say more. I wanted him to embrace me, to hold me tenderly and kiss me.

"Annie, I worried about you day and night. I couldn't concentrate on anything in college. Everyone was trying to get me to go to parties, to meet people, but my heart was too heavy to appreciate or enjoy anything. I spent a lot of time in my dormitory room composing letters to you."

"Letters I never got!" It filled me with such anger. If only I had received his letters, my dark and desperate days would have been bright and hopeful.

"I know that now, but I couldn't understand why you weren't trying to reach me, weren't calling or sending messages somehow. I thought . . ." He looked down.

"What did you think, Luke? Please, tell me," I begged.

"I thought that once you entered the rich world at Farthy, you had forgotten about me, that Tony had surrounded you with so many distractions, brought so many new people for you to meet, that I wasn't important to you any longer. I'm sorry, Annie; I'm sorry I had those thoughts," he apologized.

My heart swelled to know he felt the same way I did.

"Oh no, Luke. I can understand why you thought them, for I thought them of you as well," I admitted eagerly.

"You did?" I nodded, and he smiled. "Then you cared, really cared?"

"Oh, Luke, you can't imagine how much I missed you, missed hearing your voice. I replayed it over and over in my mind, remembering the nice things you said to me in the past. Just thinking about you and the things you have done in your life despite all obstacles gave me hope and encouragement." I smiled. "I went directly for those tall mountains."

"I'm so happy I was some help to you even though I wasn't there beside you."

"Well, you were, and I dreamt and dreamt of us on the gazebo again."

"Me, too," he said, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. I knew it was harder for him to make these revelations than it was for me. Other men might think him soft, even immature. "While I was alone there in my dormitory room, I would imagine us together again the way we were on our eighteenth birthday. I wished we could be frozen into that day forever and forever. Oh, Annie," he said, his hand more firmly around mine, "I don't know how I am going to ever leave you again."

"I don't want you, too, Luke," I whispered. We were so close now, our lips nearly grazed each other's. Aunt Fanny laughed at something she was reading in a magazine and we sat back again. Luke looked out the window and I let my head fall back against the seat and closed my eyes. Luke didn't let go of my hand, and I felt safe, secure, protected and sheltered once again.

I was excited when the plane finally landed, but after we got into Aunt Fanny's car at the airport in Virginia, I fell asleep and slept most of the way back to Winnerrow. By the time I opened my eyes, we were in the hill country, steadily climbing, winding around and around. There was no fast expressway to take us up into the Willies. Soon the gasoline stations became more widely spaced. The grand new sprawling motels were replaced by little cabins tucked away in shadowy dense woods. Shoddy, unpainted little buildings heralded yet another country town off the beaten track, until those, too, were left behind.

Aunt Fanny had fallen asleep in the rear seat. We had soft music on the radio. Luke had to keep his eyes on the road ahead, but he wore a smile of contentment. He looked so much more mature to me. The tragedy had aged and changed us both, I thought, even in ways we were yet to discover.

Seeing the fami

liar countryside filled me with a warm and secure feeling. I wondered if Mommy had felt the same way when she had fled Farthy with Drake because ofthe things Tony Tatterton had done. The world outside of the Willies and Winnerrow must have looked as hard and as cold and as cruel to her as it now did to me.

"Almost there," Luke announced softly. "We're almost back in our world, Annie."