doorway, and wait. And when I advanced, she'd begin
to shiver and quake. Sometimes tears would streak her
face. When I touched her she'd fight and scream, but
she knew no one could hear her screams, and in the
end she'd succumb to my lovemaking like the
promiscuous child she was beneath all that angelic
sweetness."
The flat of my palm found his face this time! The sting of my slap left a red stain there. I
curled my fingers and tried to scratch his eyes from
his face!
"Stop it!" he commanded, thrusting me away so
I staggered backward. "I won't have it! I meant never
to tell you."
Again I threw myself at him, striking at his
face. He held me firmly by my shoulders and shook
me until my hair flew wild. "Until I heard your birth
date I didn't count the months. Now I have. Leigh ran
from this house on the eighteenth day of June. And
you were born on the twenty-second of February.
That's eight months. She had lain with me at least two
months off and on, and so, I have to presume there is
a strong possibility that you are my daughter." I stopped flailing my arms in useless efforts to
inflict some further harm to him. My blood drained
from my face. A tingling started behind my ears, and
my knees went weak. "I don't believe you," I said
brokenly. I felt bruised, beaten. "It can't be true. I'm
not Troy's niece, I can't be!"
"I'm sorry, Heaven, so sorry. For you would
have been perfect, the very one to save him from
himself. But I have sat here this evening and heard your story of how Leigh met Luke Casteel, and heard the day of their marriage, and there is no way you can be Luke Casteel's daughter, unless you were born prematurely. Did your granny ever hint that you came