Gates of Paradise (Casteel 4)

and made a desperate confession. "She's really my

granddaughter, not my step-granddaughter. It's part of

why your mother ran from here," he said, directing

himself to rue, "when she found out . . ."

"Found out what, Tony?" I turned my chair

around to face him.

"Found out that Leigh and I . . her mother and I

. . . Heaven was my daughter, not Luke's."

"Good Gawd," Aunt Fanny said, stepping back. "It's true. I'm ashamed of what I did, but not

ashamed to have you as my real granddaughter,

Annie. And you are. Don't you see? You belong here

with me, with your real grandfather," he pleaded. I stared up at him. Now what had happened last

night made sense. No wonder he had called me Leigh

when he came to my bed. He was reliving his affair

with her, an affair he had in this house while she was

only a girl!

"And so what happened last night really

happened before," I concluded aloud.

"What happened last night?" Aunt Fanny asked,

coming forward.

"I'm sorry for what happened last night, Annie.

I got confused."

"Confused?" All the times that he had kissed

me, touched me, yesterday when he bathed me and I

saw him behind me, his lips nearly on my neck . . . all

of it came back, and suddenly all of it was ugly, lustful. I felt nauseated. I could barely think, I felt so defiled, so humiliated. My mind was an echo chamber of screams and shouts. "You're disgusting," I screamed. "No wonder Mommy ran from this house and wanted nothing more to do with you." Then a horrible realization occurred to me. He seemed to anticipate what I was about to say. I could see it in his eyes, in the way he widened them and stepped back. "Did you get confused with my mother, too?

Was that

the real reason she left you and Farthy?"

"No, I . . it wasn't my fault." He looked to Luke

arid Fanny in hope that they would somehow come to