Fallen Hearts

  But she had struck back at me in the most painful way she could. She seduced my husband and now was trying to take Drake away, not because she wanted him--but to punish me. I had to put aside my guilt feelings and once again harden myself against her. Drake's future depended upon it.

  "I would like to call Logan Stonewall to the stand," Camden said. Logan stood up. There was a loud rustling in the audience, but Judge McKensie's eyes were enough to keep any chatter down. Logan's mother sobbed once behind us, but we both ignored her. I squeezed his hand for a moment and then he went to the stand.

  Logan looked as nervous as a little boy. I saw his hand shake when he placed it on the Bible, and his voice cracked when he said, "I do so swear." He looked toward me again as he took the seat and I smiled to encourage and support him.

  "Mr. Stonewall," Camden Lakewood began, "you've just heard the testimony of Mrs. Wilcox in which she has accused you of fathering the child she now carries. Are you indeed the father of this child?"

  "I don't know. Maybe," Logan said.

  "Then you admit to having had intimate relations with Mrs. Wilcox?"

  "Yes," Logan said.

  Once again the audience broke into an uproar, but the judge's quick gavel ended it.

  "Can you describe the circumstances under which this occurred?"

  "Yes, I can." Logan straightened up in the seat, assuming a take-charge position. His voice deepened and he spoke louder and with more authority. "My sister-in-law often hung around the factory site in Winnerow. She seemed to have nothing else to do and no one else to talk to. Whenever she was there, she brought me things to eat or talked to me about how hard her life was living alone, with no family nearby. I was staying in our cabin in the Willies, and I did start to feel sorry for her. One night she appeared with wine and food. She made me dinner. We drank a great deal of wine and she cried a great deal. Before I knew it, she was undressing herself and clinging to me. We . . . ended up in bed together. I was drunk and I regretted it immediately."

  "Have you seen her intimately since?" "No, never again."

  "Just that one time?"

  "Yes."

  "And then you and your wife were told she was pregnant with your child?"

  "Yes. And I explained everything to my wife," Logan said, looking my way. "She understood and forgave me, and I love her more than ever because of it," he added. Tears sprang to my eyes, but I didn't raise my hand to wipe them away. I would give no one in the courtroom the satisfaction of seeing me brought to tears by Fanny's actions. I sat up even straighter.

  Fanny was staring at me. The slight smile on her face faded and an expression of surprise and awe replaced it. How much she wanted to see me broken, I thought. This whole proceeding, everything she had done, was simply to see that happen. Jealousy lived inside her like a parasite all these years, feeding off her and growing bigger and uglier and stronger until it filled her completely. Would Fanny wake up one day and regret the things she had done? I wondered.

  "So, Mr. Stonewall, you never questioned that you were the father of Fanny's child," Camden continued, "even though you knew she had other boyfriends?"

  "Objection, Y'Honor. Mr. Lakewood is makin' an obvious insinuation here 'bout Mrs. Wilcox's character."

  "I think I will sustain that objection, Mr. Lakewood. It hasn't been established that Mrs. Wilcox had other boyfriends with whom she was intimate at the time."

  "Very well, Your Honor. I'll phrase my question in another way. Mr. Stonewall, did you know for a fact that Mrs. Wilcox was seeing other men at the time she visited you at the factory site?"

  "I knew she had been seeing Mr. Wilcox often."

  "I see. Knowing this, you still began sending her money to cover her doctor bills and provide for the birth of the child?"

  "Yes, we did."

  "And without even being certain as to your responsibility, you did what was best for Fanny Wilcox and the child to be born?"

  "Yes."

  "No further questions, Your Honor."

  "Mr. Burton?"

  "Mr. Stonewall," he began, even before he rose from his seat. "Ya said ya knew for a fact Mrs. Wilcox had been seeing Mr. Wilcox at the time ya made love to her in yer cabin?"

  "Yes."

  "Do ya know for a fact whether or not Mrs. Wilcox slept with Mr. Wilcox at that time?"

  "For a fact."

  "Well, ya didn't go spyin' on Mrs. Wilcox. Or did ya?"

  There was some laughter in the audience. Logan's face turned almost as red as a ripe apple.

  "Of course not."

  "Did Mrs. Wilcox tell ya she slept with Mr. Wilcox?"

  "No."

  "Did Mr. Wilcox tell ya he slept with Mrs. Wilcox at that time?"

  "No."

  "So, ya have no factual information not ta assume the child Mrs. Wilcox is now carryin' is yer child, isn't that correct?"

  "I suppose not," Logan said.

  "And so ya not sendin' Mrs. Wilcox money for the baby out a pure charity or a civic sense of responsibility only, then, are ya, Mr. Stonewall?"

  "Objection, Your Honor," Camden said. "Mr. Stonewall has already testified as to why he and Mrs. Stonewall have sent Mrs. Wilcox money."

  "Ah don't think the full sense of fault was established, Y'Honor," Wendell said.

  "I think we get the point, Mr. Burton," the judge said. "Let's move on with the questioning. Objection sustained."

  "No further questions necessary, Y'Honor," Burton said, smiling widely.

  Logan looked around like someone who had been struck sharply in the head. Then he focused on me and I smiled and nodded. He rose from the seat and walked back to me. I reached up for him and he kissed me on the cheek. I didn't look at Fanny, but I knew she must be burning inside.

  "Your Honor, we would like to call Randall Wilcox to the stand," Camden said quickly.

  Randall looked up sharply, turned toward me, and then rose slowly. Fanny said something to him, but he didn't seem to hear her. He looked troubled and could barely be heard swearing in.

  "Mr. Wilcox," Camden began after he was sworn in, "when did you learn that your wife was pregnant?"

  "A few months ago," Randall said softly. The judge asked him to repeat it and he spoke up.

  "Is that when you asked her to marry you?" Randall did not respond. He looked at Fanny and then he looked down. "Mr. Wilcox?"

  "Please answer the question," the judge commanded.

  "Yes."

  "Not until you were told she was pregnant," Camden emphasized. Randall nodded. "Did you want to marry her then because you believed she was having your child?" Randall looked up sharply. "You felt you had to do the right thing by her, isn't that right, Mr. Wilcox?" Camden demanded, sounding as if he had just then realized it himself.

  "You were lied to, weren't you?" Camden pursued. "And you wouldn't have married her otherwise, isn't that correct? Isn't it?"

  "No. Fanny's been through a great deal of hardship in her life." He looked at her. I could tell by the expression on his face that he meant what he said, that he really did feel sorry for her. "A great deal of what she has done is understandable."

  "But she did tell you you were the father of her child, did she not?"

  "Yes."

  "And now she's saying it's Mr. Stonewall who is the father. Is she lying now or did she lie to you?" Randall didn't reply.

  "I know you can't answer that, Mr. Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox, why didn't you marry her before she told you she was pregnant?"

  "I wasn't ready to get married."

  "And two days ago you were?"

  "Yes."

  "But how have your circumstances changed, Mr. Wilcox?"

  "I dropped out of college and got a job in Winnerow."

  "Working as a short-order cook?"

  "Yes."

  "Your parents are upset, are they not?" "Objection, Y'Honor. Mr. Wilcox is not on trial here. His family relationships are--"

  "Your Honor, I am trying to establish the climate of the Wilcox household, a clim
ate Drake Casteel might be living in."

  "Objection overruled."

  "You left an expensive college education with a promising career on the horizon to get married, isn't that so, Mr. Wilcox?"

  Randall's eyes began to tear. He looked out at the audience in the direction of his parents.

  "Yes."

  "Mr. Wilcox, I ask you, isn't it possible that Fanny Casteel used you, lied to you about her pregnancy, just so she could get you to marry her and come to this hearing a married woman?" Randall simply stared ahead. "Please answer the question, Mr. Wilcox." He shook his head. "Mr. Wilcox?"

  "Maybe," he said and the audience broke out into loud chatter again. The judge rapped his gavel.

  "No further questions, Your Honor," Camden said, and walked toward our table smiling widely.

  "Mr. Burton?" the judge said. Wendell Burton smirked.

  "No questions, Y'Honor," he said.

  Randall got off the stand and started toward Fanny's table and then turned and walked out of the courtroom.

  "We will adjourn this hearing for today," Judge McKensie said, "and resume at nine-thirty tomorrow morning." He rapped his gavel and stood up. The moment he did so, the crowd broke into an uproar. The town gossips had so much news to chatter over telephone lines and at one another's houses. They couldn't believe their good luck.

  "By this time tomorrow Drake will be back in your home," Camden Lakewood said. I looked across the room to see Fanny and Wendell Burton hurry out a side door. When I looked at the crowd, I saw many people smiling our way. Even Loretta Stonewall seemed to have gotten over her crisis and was happily accepting the sympathy of friends.

  "I'll call you later this afternoon and we'll decide on a time to go over the testimony you will give tomorrow," Camden said. "That should really lock it up," he added.

  "You did a wonderful job," Logan told him and they shook hands before we started out.

  The heavy snowfall had lightened considerably while we were in the hearing. Sunlight even peeped through some thin clouds, making the world look dazzling because of the way it reflected off the snow. Logan put his arm around me as we headed for our car.

  "Well," he said, "the worst is over."

  "I hope so," I said. "For Drake's sake more than my own."

  "Looks like you were right to get Mr. Lakewood. Quality and experience shows." We got into the car and started off. As we pulled away, I looked back and saw Fanny talking to Randall. She was gesturing wildly, small puffs of her breath popping out of her mouth like the smoke from the chimney of Old Smokey, our Willies cabin coal stove.

  "Once something evil starts to rollin', it's hard to slow it down," Granny used to say. Evil is like a boulder rolling down a hill, picking up speed and power with every turn. If you don't stop it at the start, you can only stand back and wait until it's run out of steam. Had the evil that tossed the Casteel children all about this world run out of steam? I could only hope that the actions we had taken in the courtroom today would help slow it down.

  That night, when Logan and I went to bed, he took me in his arms and kissed me.

  "I was so worried about you today," he said.

  He stroked my hair softly and kissed me again. "We're going to come through this stronger than ever. You'll see. Nervous about tomorrow?"

  "I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't."

  "I'll be right beside you every minute just the way you were for me. Just look my way if you get upset."

  "Oh, Logan, you do love me just the way you used to love me when we were young in Winnerow, don't you?" The smile left his face and he looked as serious as ever.

  "More, because I've learned just how precious and important you are to me. Then it was just a schoolboy's infatuation. Now it's a man's mature love. I need you, Heaven; I'm no one without you."

  "Oh, Logan," I said. He kissed my first tear the moment it appeared on my cheek and then he hugged and kissed me more passionately until we both wanted each other. Because I was pregnant, our lovemaking was gentle, but nevertheless full of fire. Our sexual ecstasy took us far away from the pain and the torment of the moment. We traveled to a world without tears where we could love each other purely and wholly without fear of the darkness or of the light. His lips ,on my breasts, his mouth against mine, his body pressed to my body drove away the memories of unhappiness. I-rushed to him eagerly, like a desert wanderer longing for an oasis.

  "Heaven, my Heaven," he whispered. "There will be many moments like this. I'll always be here for you, always."

  My tears were now tears of happiness and hope. We were like two schoolchildren discovering each other and discovering just how wonderful love between a man and a woman could become. Afterward, we fell asleep in each other's arms, quietly drifting in the warmth that followed.

  When the phone rang, it jarred me out of sleep. Even so, I was reluctant to awaken as it rang again and again. Finally Logan awoke, too. He reached over for the receiver and brought it to his ear.

  "Hello," he said, his voice cracking with the effort. For a long while he only listened. Then he said, "I understand. Come right over," he added and hung up.

  "What is it? Who was that?" I asked quickly. I saw from the expression on his face that he had heard bad news.

  "It was Mr. Lakewood," he said. "He's coming right over to speak to us. He said he has some information that will--" He swallowed as if the words had choked in his throat.

  "That will what? What, Logan?"

  He turned to me slowly, his face a mask of shock and despair.

  "Will most definitely give Fanny complete custody of Drake," he said.

  EIGHTEEN?

  What Money Can Buy

  .

  OUR BUTLER GERALD ANNOUNCED

  CAMDEN LAKEWOOD. Logan and I had gone to the large living room to await his arrival. Even though the three crystal chandeliers were lit like diamonds dangling in the noonday sun, I felt a gloomy darkness overtake me. The windows on this room opened to the north side, so the room didn't get as much light during the daytime as I would have liked. When I

  redecorated, I introduced as many light colors as I could. Now I sat wrapped in my private darkness, surrounded by the bright hues I hoped would fill our days, waiting for the news that would tear Drake out of my life and leave a void even a rainbow could not fill.

  Mr. Lakewood hovered in the doorway a moment, holding his briefcase. Logan, who had been making himself a gin and tonic at the wet bar, came around to greet him. I remained sitting on the couch, too tense and too frightened to move. "Mr.

  Lakewood," Logan said, "please come in. Would you like a drink?"

  "No, thank you," Camden said and sat on the settee across from me. "Sorry to demand such an immediate meeting after a trying day, but--"

  "Please, Mr. Lakewood." I was unable to contain myself much longer. "Just tell us what you have learned that has caused you to become so pessimistic about the outcome of the custody hearing." I couldn't believe how overwrought my voice sounded.

  Logan came up beside me. I reached up to take his hand and he pressed his fingers around mine reassuringly.

  "Well, this has all been something of a shock to me, Mrs. Stonewall. I must say, this story gets more and more intricate by the day," Camden Lakewood began.

  "Go on, please," I beseeched.

  "I received a phone call from Wendell Burton soon after we left the courtroom today and then, on the basis of the information he gave me, proceeded to make phone calls and do some investigating. As you know, Anthony Tatterton's lawyer, J. Arthur Steine, has some interest in this case and it was he who--"

  "Just tell us what it is, Mr. Lakewood," I interrupted, unable to contain my impatience.

  "Yes, Mrs. Stonewall. I'll get right to it." He took a deep breath and sat back. "It seems Mr. Burton had a meeting with Mrs. Wilcox right after the hearing, mainly to explain to her why he thought she would lose custody of Drake. During the course of this discussion, Mrs. Wilcox revealed, in a manner that illustrated that she didn't unde
rstand the significance of the information, that Luke Casteel was not, in fact, your father. She told him your real father was Anthony Tatterton," Camden Lakewood concluded and shook his head.

  I loosened my grip around Logan's fingers and sat back. Logan sat down on the arm of the couch. I felt the blood rise up my neck and fill my cheeks with heat.

  "What does this mean?" I asked in a voice barely more than a whisper.

  "What this means, Mrs. Stonewall, is you have no blood relationship to Drake Casteel, whereas Mrs. Wilcox does. Obviously, that changes the picture?'

  "We can fight this," Logan bellowed. "It's Fanny's word against--"

  "I'm afraid not, Mr. Stonewall. You see, Mr. Burton has already moved to subpoena Anthony Tatterton. I spoke with Mr. Steine, who immediately spoke to Mr. Tatterton. Needless to say, this creates a great deal of complication," he said, shaking his head. He was already sweating and had to wipe his forehead with his handkerchief. I understood from the look on his face that Mr. Steine had placed certain pressures on him.

  "Then Tony admitted . ." Logan muttered.

  "Yes, he admitted it to Mr. Steine and the implication was clear that if he were put on the stand under oath. . . well, from the way Mr. Steine was speaking, it would appear that Mr. Tatterton is under some emotional strain these days and--"

  "He would admit to it?" Logan said

  incredulously.

  "It's just his way of getting back at me," I said softly, shaking my head. "But what I don't

  understand," I realized, looking up quickly, "is how Fanny found out. I never told her anything about my relationship with Tony and--"

  Camden Lakewood carefully cleared his throat. "She claims to have a letter, written to her by her brother, Tom--"

  "Tom?" I repeated, stunned.

  "Evidently. Luke Casteel had told Tom the truth about your parentage and, in despair at your not being related by blood to him, he confided his sadness to Fanny." His eyes looked at me sadly. "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Stonewall."