AVAILABLE FILE FORMATS: HTML for the standard computer, PDF for Adobe Reader, MS Reader for the PC and Pocket PC, Mobipocket for Palm Pilot

Chapter One

"Shush," Amber whispered, as she and her sister, Raven, hid behind the couch. The doorbell announced the arrival of unwanted visitors.

"They might come in," Raven whined. "I'm afraid of strangers. Summer says we should always be afraid of strangers, 'cause if you don't know them, they're not your friends...and people, who aren't your friends, do bad things to you, because they're strangers. You remember..."

"Shush...shush! They'll go away, like they always do, as long as they think nobody's here." Amber comforted her sister by patting her on the back. "Just a bit longer, Raven."

She tried her best to sound convincing and she gently squeezed her sister's hand.

"Well, I guess she's gone, again," they heard a man say. "One of these days we're going to catch her and get that car. She shouldn't have borrowed the money if she couldn't pay it back."

"That's right," his companion agreed. The men moved away, and his voice grew faint.

"We'll catch her later, even if it means getting the cops to help us."

"Did you hear what those men said about coming back and maybe bringing the cops? I think the cops are scary. Do you remember how the cops..." Raven's voice rose with each syllable.

Amber covered her sister's mouth with her hand. "Let them get in the elevator first."

There was silence. Both girls waited, and then Amber stood up.

"We have to go," she said.

"Go where?" Raven asked as she put her thumb in her mouth. "Oh, where shall we go? Where has my little dog, Blue, gone? Where has Blue gone?"

Amber quickly removed the thumb from Raven's mouth. "Seven-year-olds don't do that."

"Summer is not here," retorted Raven. "She's at work, where she usually is. I'm my own boss now."

"Well, I'm taking her place," Amber spoke with all the worldliness of an eleven-year-old. "Anyway, we're going to see her. We've got to tell her what they said, and we have to get out of here. If they come in, the landlord will come in, too. Then we'll really be in trouble. First of all, this apartment is only for one person, and there's three of us, and second of all, we don't even have the money to pay for one person."

Amber looked around their East Point studio apartment. It wasn't much at all. Everything they owned was in the one room. The three of them slept on a full-sized mattress that leaned back against the center wall. Worn sheets and an old quilt covered the mattress, which partially blocked the entrance to a closet. The landlord called the closet a 'bathroom', but there was no shower or tub inside. That luxury was located in the common hallway and shared by the other five tenants on the floor.

There was a sink with a leaky faucet, though. On that sink were three toothbrushes and a tube of Crest for Kids, a comb, and a hairbrush. Amber tossed these items into a backpack.

"We're moving again?" Raven perked up.

"Yeah." Amber came out of the bathroom and closed the door. As she did, a large cockroach slid across one of her brown tennis shoes. She watched it scuttle away quickly. It had to be more afraid of her than she was of it, for they had invaded its home.

"Good! I hate it here," said Raven. "Maybe we'll move into the big castle now, you know, the one I always dream about. We'll have all the food we want and a television and a VCR so I can watch my movie...a big television, with a remote control. And there'll be toys and new dolls and maybe even some video games. Maybe even a CD player for you, with tons of..."

"Find your dolls and your book and stop talking so much." Amber cut her sister off, as she tossed the few pieces of clothing they all had into the small suitcase under the bed. Raven would find the dolls and the books, but to ask her not to talk was akin to asking her to stop breathing.

Raven was one of those babies whom the doctors did not have to slap when she was born, because she came out with an open mouth. Raven always talked; it was the one complaint her teachers at school had about her. Amber guessed she couldn't help it. It was probably flashbacks from when their mother hit them if they even looked like they wanted to talk.

She figured Raven was afraid she wouldn't get to say everything, which was why she talked so often and so fast.

"Got 'em." Raven clutched the worn Ken and Barbie dolls she had received for Christmas a few years ago. Barbie's head was attached with duct tape and one of Ken's arms was missing, but Raven didn't seem to mind. The book was a paperback copy of Cinderella, also held together with duct tape. Raven always said it was her favorite story, in the entire world.

Unfortunately, Raven also believed that dreams came true.

"Barbie is Cinderella, and Ken is the Prince," Raven continued, as she separated Ken and Barbie, placing one in each hand.

"Now, Ken is coming to get Barbie to take her to his castle."

She allowed the two dolls to meet as she brought her hands back together.

"Deck it all to heck!" Amber yelled. The bottom dresser drawer had fallen on her foot.

"Are you okay, Amber?" Raven began to brush Barbie's hair with her hand.

"Yeah, sure," Amber lied. She blocked out the tears and continued to pack.

There was not much. There were her jeans, shirts, one dress, and a tattered nightgown of three years, Raven's clothes, and Summer's things. She inwardly cringed as she pulled out Summer's worn underwear, one pair of jeans, and three shirts.

Summer could have done so much better without them. She should have given them up, for she would have had a better life without them. Their mother had given them up, and gone off to look for a better life.

The year Summer had just turned nineteen, she was about to start her second year at Emory Law School, when she found the note on the table that ended any chance for starting school again.

"Dear Summer," it had read, "when you leave and eventually you will, I'll go mad by myself. Do something with the girls. I can't deal with it anymore. You can handle it, my darling, genius girl. You have always been smarter than I. I'm sure you will succeed in life."

In the letter, their mother had stated that Summer was her 'darling genius girl'. She was referring to Summer's early graduation from high school--by the age of just thirteen, as well as her honors graduation from Emory University by eighteen. Emory Law School had awarded her a full scholarship

Amber had been only six, and Raven only two at the time, but Amber had understood the note as Summer read it aloud and turned pale. Their mother had left...She had grown tired of their life of bill-after-bill. She had grown tired of her work, as a waitress to support them all, when she never got anything back.

Even more so, she had grown tired of them. Since there were no other known relatives, the three sisters formed a triangle, and became best friends.

"I'll grab the radio," Raven said as she reached for the little black AM/FM radio on the floor.

It was their only luxury. A television had been out of the question. They had one once, but after awhile, they couldn't afford the cable and had pawned it. The radio had been purchased at the same pawnshop, just down the road, for seven dollars. The money would have been better spent on food but music seemed to brighten all their spirits.

"We're gonna win those tickets." Raven confidently stated.

"Sure we will." Amber replied.

Amber picked up her posters from the bottom of the drawer. They were of her favorite musical groups and were her only possessions, besides her few clothes. She hadn't bothered to hang them, because they were always on the go.

"Got everything?" She asked.

"We are gonna win. We're gonna be up close and personal in the front row with Brian, Kevin, Nick, AJ, and Howie. Wait and see. B98.5 will not let us down. Up close and personal, that's where we will be. Up close, you and me. Up close," Raven sang gleefully.

"Do you have everything?" asked Amber again, a bit harsher. Raven really needs to grow up, she thought. It's like she lives in Fairyville.

"Sure," Raven sadly responded. "I got everything."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything. I'm just a little hungry, I guess."

"Summer will give us something to eat," said Raven.

"Yeah, she will," Amber agreed. She affectionately rubbed her sister's head.

She won't eat, but she will feed us, she thought.

To her sister she said, "Let's go, brat."

* * *

Alex Kennedy McAllister had definitely had a bad day.

He pushed a blonde lock of hair away from his pale blue eyes and looked at the map on top of his steering wheel. He reached for his cell phone, and then tossed it back on the passenger seat.

It was too late to tell them he would be late. It didn't matter anyway. He was sure he didn't want to buy any property down here. East Point was definitely not the place to build a luxury hotel, no matter how close the property was to Hartsfield Airport.

He hated this area. It was dirty, and dammit, he was lost. Too many people looked at him and his BMW. He clicked the automatic door lock at the red light, when two disreputable-looking men crossed the street in front of him.

They glared at him in the process.

On second thought, he grabbed the cell phone and held it tightly in his right hand. You never know when you might need to call the police.

And this...all this, he could blame on his grandmother, Virginia Elaine McAllister. It was her idea for him to consider property in South Atlanta.

He had never before driven down here. He might have had a driver come through here to take him to catch a plane, but he had definitely never driven here himself. The air even smelled different to him. This was, yet another way his grandmother tried to control him. She was the most manipulative person he knew and, in his opinion, could most likely be the most manipulative person in the world.

He was sure she had already arrived, and was amiably talking to the seller, explaining how Alex was never on time for anything. He wasn't always late, but she was never late.

Well, it was good she claimed to know him so well, because today, he would be late. She would wait. He would never hear the end of it, though. He never did. His grandmother never forgot anything.

Despite being in her late seventies, Virginia McAllister was more focused than most women in their twenties. She was mentally and physically fit and ran McAllister Enterprises as though she was an Atlanta Falcon, plowing through the Georgia Dome, on the way to the end zone. She hadn't always been so aggressive but the deaths of her husband, her son, and his wife--when Alex was only three--had forced her to become stronger.

Not only had she become an instant mother, but she also had become the CEO of one of the largest hotel chains in the world. She had to fight every step of the way to prove herself to the 'good ole boys', but she had proved herself capable.

When she had taken over, in the absence of her husband and son, the luxurious McAllister Arms hotels had only been located in twelve states; since that time, twenty-seven years ago, she had placed hotels in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

International expansion allowed guests to stay in McAllister Arms properties in fifty countries. McAllister Enterprises had also branched out into fine chocolates, gourmet delis, and greeting cards. The company was now a Fortune 100 company.

Alex, a graduate of Harvard Business school, had come on as Executive Vice-President two years ago. However, this was only after his grandmother had made him start in the mailroom, despite his summa cum laude MBA. She believed in first hand experience.

He saw McAllister Enterprises going in a few new directions, but right now, his grandmother wouldn't have it. She controlled fifty-two percent of the McAllister stock, while he only controlled forty-eight.

While they often battled over ideas, at the end of each day, they always met for dinner. It was a tradition with them. No matter how angry they were with each other, they always dined together. For that sense of stability and family, he had always been grateful to her, even when he wanted to wring her neck.

When he had answered the door twenty-seven years ago, he had hoped to see his mom, dad, and Papa, with presents for him from New York, but even at the tender age of three, he had known something was wrong.

The policeman didn't smile, and policemen always smiled at him. He had immediately started to cry, and didn't stop until four days later. Everyday as he cried, his grandmother would bring a tray to his room and sit and eat with him.

For two days, he didn't touch a morsel, but when he finally did, they ate together. Thus began the ritual that together, the two of them dined.

The woman, of whom he had previously been afraid, had become his best friend. Tragedy had brought them closer.

* * *

Amber dropped two tokens in the slot. The driver barely acknowledged her and Raven as they took their seats on the Marta bus. They rode the bus every day to the elementary school down the road. This time, it was a Saturday, and they had a suitcase. Still, no one said anything to them. Raven made up for the lack of conversation.

"One day, we won't be riding this bus. One day, the prince will come, and we're gonna always ride in our horse driven carriage. It's gonna take us everywhere we want to go..."

"Shush," Amber attempted to restrain her, as a couple of people around them laughed.

"And when we get back, the driver will take us to the castle. If I'm not too tired, I might help the hands with the horses, but I'll probably be too tired to do that. I won't be too tired for ice cream though, a big bowl with lots of cherries and banana slices and...."

Their stop was East Point Market square, and Amber was glad to see it. She could see their old, beat-up station wagon when they exited the bus. It was parked at the back of Lee's Hometown Grocery's parking lot. They hurried to it. Amber dragged the suitcase, and Raven dragged the backpack.

She used the extra key, just for such emergencies, and unlocked the car. Before she climbed in the backseat with Raven, she stowed the luggage in the trunk of the car.

Her watch read 12:45.

"Summer will be here soon," she told Raven, as she kicked off her shoes. Those shoes were two years old and miserably hurt her feet.

Summer always took her lunch break around one o'clock, and she always took it in the car.

"Scoot down a bit. We don't want the cops to see us again."

The last time they had waited in the car for Summer, a police officer had seen them and gave Summer a warning not to leave children in the car alone.

Still, there was no choice. They certainly couldn't afford a babysitter, if they couldn't even afford their rent. It wasn't as though Amber needed a babysitter anyway. She took care of Raven, and Summer took care of them both.

Raven scooted down in the seat. "I hope one o'clock comes quickly. I'm really hungry. What kind of food do you think we're going to have in the castle, besides ice cream?"

"I don't know," Amber responded dryly, and tried not to think of food. Thoughts just made her hungrier. Her stomach gave harsh kicks when she gave it false hopes.

Raven rubbed her tummy. "We're gonna have endless hot dogs and hamburgers and pizza and chicken wings. And candy apples, lots of candy apples, the ones made with red apples and not green apples. Why do they make some candy apples out of green apples? All candy apples should be made out of red apples. Red ones taste the best."

"I can't wait," Amber played along as she closed her eyes. She wondered how Summer was going to feed them all, on one bologna sandwich, and find them a place to live. Once Summer got a better job, she would really enjoy eating, too. It was hard to enjoy food when you wondered if your sisters had enough to eat. Amber didn't care about living in a castle, but she did hope, one day, to be able to eat as much as she wanted, with no worries.

* * *

Virginia leaned on the side of her Mercedes Benz limousine. For all intents and purposes, she looked calm and peaceful.

Inside, she fumed. Once again, Alex had thrown a wrench in her plans. Just because he didn't like the area, didn't mean that it wasn't good for the business, nor did it give him any reason to be rude to the seller to not call with his whereabouts.

The seller had left fifteen minutes ago, angry that Virginia wasn't prepared to make a decision.

Sure the land is a little run down, she thought as she looked around the graffiti stricken area, but there is always room for improvement.

Hartsfield grew more every day, and even if they didn't decide to build on the land, they could have sold it for double its price, soon enough.

She kicked the car with one of her Gucci high-heeled shoes. James, her driver of twelve years, sat in the car patiently, trying to prepare for the war of words between his employer and her grandson. He laughed as he heard her foot hit against the car.

Ten minutes later, the hunter-green BMW pulled up beside the limousine. Alex lazily emerged from the car. He couldn't quite decide how he wanted to deal with this impending hurricane.

However he dealt with it, he was going to get it. He just had to decide in which direction he would get blown. Will I land on my feet or my ass?

As he reached his grandmother's car, he knocked on the driver's window. "Hiya, James."

James tilted his captain's hat a bit over his dark head, "Alex."

Alex heard a sharp intake of breath.

"Mama," he said sweetly as he raised one of her hands to his lips.

"Stop it Alex." She grabbed her hand back hastily but not before a brief smile crossed her face. "You'll get me dirty, and I just went to the spa."

"You? Dirty? Never!" He pretended to look aghast at the sheer thought. "That could never happen."

He leaned back against the car with a small boyish grin.

Virginia arched her eyebrows. "You're not charming your way out of this one. You messed up an important deal this afternoon."

"I got lost." he shrugged.

"It's easy to get lost when you don't want to be somewhere in the first place," she retorted. "It's time you take life a little more seriously, young man."

"Saying that I don't take life seriously, Mama, because I have a different view of it than you, is unfair." Alex eyed her warily.

She stood before him like a tigress with her back up into a corner. She wasn't in a playful mood today. She looked every part the businesswoman in her gray Donna Karan suit, with her hair pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head. Her light blue eyes stonily stared into his.

It was time to try a different strategy. He smiled, the smile that had always melted her heart, the one that said, 'yes, I'm a devil, and I know it, but I'm a handsome devil who just happens to be your only grandchild, and you adore me'.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't work this time.

Today, Virginia did not see her handsome, intelligent grandson, but rather she saw a man who, too often, took life for granted and didn't appreciate all of its wonders.

She had begun to wonder, a couple of years ago, if he had ever told anyone, besides her, that he loved them. She knew he had women friends, too many, if the rumors were true, but he had never brought one home, despite her many hints at the need for great-grandchildren. He worked and he worked. Every blue moon or so, he would go out with a friend, but mostly, he worked.

After she saw the doctor earlier that day, she knew it was time his life changed. Now was as good a time as any. She wanted to see him truly happy.

"I'm really sorry, Mama." Alex struggled to look repentant.

It was time for a new strategy. "If you're really interested in this property, I'm sure I can talk Mr. Johannsen or whatever his name is, into selling it."

"Forget the property, Alex!" Virginia exclaimed as she opened her car door. "Get in! We're going for a ride. I will bring you back for your car."

Alex got in, slowly, behind her. Something was wrong here, definitely wrong.

"So what's going on?"

"Absolutely nothing," she said as she opened the bar beside her and pulled out a bottle of champagne and two flutes.

"You put me through all that, and you got the property anyway? You sly minx, you." Alex smiled as he reached for the bottle of champagne.

"No, I didn't get the property, Alex. Congratulations are definitely in order, though."

"To whom, and for what?" He poured champagne in the glasses she held and accepted one from her.

"To you," Virginia responded, without hesitation.

Alex lifted his glass in a toast to himself and drank from it. "That sounds good to me."

"To you," Virginia joined him, "and...your wife."

As Alex began to cough hysterically, the champagne left his mouth and flew onto his Versace suit.

Virginia held back her laugh and calmly took a sip from her glass. She watched him as he struggled to regain his composure. "Take a deep breath and relax. Marrying your grandfather was the best thing I ever did, and your father was not truly happy, until he married your mother."

Alex stared at her incredulously. She was serious. There was not a line of laughter on her face. Not only was she serious, she was also seriously insane! He figured the pressure of being CEO had finally gone to her head.

"No, I'm not insane," she read his thoughts.

Finally, the coughing stopped and he attempted to speak, but failed, as a croak emerged from this throat, instead of words.

He took a deep breath and found his voice. "I don't find this amusing, Mama. I am not getting married. First of all, I don't want to get married. Second of all, I don't even have anyone on my list of possible merges, even if I did want to get married."

"A merger? Is that what you think marriage is about, Alex?" his grandmother snapped.

He was worse than she had imagined.

"Do you think your father married your mother because of some business deal? Is everything about business to you?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That's not what I meant, Mama. Basically, I have no intention of getting married."

Virginia knew exactly what he meant. Her grandson didn't believe in love, only business. She wondered why. Was it because God had let his parents die?

She believed that was why he had stopped going to church years ago. Have I somehow failed to let him know how wonderful love is?

Whatever the answers, she had done what was required to make up for all that. She opened the small desk built into the floorboard, pulled out a portfolio, reached inside, and handed him a document.

Alex took the paper from his grandmother and slowly began to read it.

Virginia watched him and searched his face while he read.

"Bullshit," he muttered, as he finally comprehended the intent of the document. "Complete and total bullshit! I will not allow this. You go too far, Grandmother!"

"You don't have a choice, Alex," she definitively replied.

She was careful to make note of the fact that he'd called her 'Grandmother'. Throughout his entire life, it had always been 'Mama'...until now. Things had already begun to change.

"I could take you to court," Alex warned, and felt anger toward her, for the first time. "You can't use a billion-dollar company as a pawn to get your way in a personal matter. It's completely unethical."

She refilled her glass. "Sweetheart, I can sell my company stock whenever, and to whomever, I choose."

"You would sell our company to an outsider?" Alex dared her.

"Would you like to see the list of companies who have already made me an offer...the Ritz Martin, Hyatt, Omni...? I have their offers in writing."

"This is blackmail, Grandmother!" Alex shouted.

"Call it what you will, Alex. You have one month to marry. If you marry out of true love and stay married for one year, I will give you all of my company stock. If you fail, I sell my company stock to an outsider. It's that simple."

Alex lifted the champagne bottle to his mouth and tried to wake up from the dream he knew this must be.

It's a dream, he silently wished. I'm going to wake up. It's only a dream.

"No, Alex, it's not a dream," his grandmother burst his bubble when she'd read his thoughts, once again. "We're back at your car now, dear."

"Don't call me 'dear'! You're not treating me like someone you love."

"Everything I'm doing, I'm doing out of love for you, Alex," Virginia spoke passionately. "You may not see it now, but in a year or two, you will. I promise you, it's all for the best. Don't be so difficult, Alex. There have been many girls in your life. Haven't you loved even one of them?"

Alex abruptly opened the door and stepped out of the car. He slammed the door roughly behind him.

His grandmother exhaled loudly and waited for his return.

After a moment, Alex opened the door and glared into the car.

"Don't think for one minute, that this is over! It does not end here! That, I promise you!"

"I never imagined it would."

He slammed the door again.

Virginia raised her glass to her lips. "Well, that went a lot better than I thought it would."

Chapter Two

"Hi. How are you?" Summer spoke to the customer, as he began to place his groceries on the conveyor belt. "Did you find everything you need?"

He responded coldly, "Yes, I did."

Well at least, he spoke, Summer thought to herself.

Most people just ignored her. She glanced at her watch. Her stomach growled, but then again, it always growled. She couldn't wait to bite into her bologna sandwich.

She began to scan his items. Everything was going smoothly, until she came upon a box of condoms. After two tries, it still wouldn't scan and the computer would not accept her manual input.

"Price check," she called into her microphone.

The customer glared at her, obviously angered.

"The price was $11.95, I think." He snarled.

"I believe you, sir, but I have to get another one, with a barcode for me to scan. I apologize for the wait. I will continue to scan your other items."

Still, even after she had scanned the rest of the items, no one had come to assist her with the price check.

This time, she yelled into the microphone. "Price check needed, now, on register four!"

"Just forget the damned things!" The man attracted the attention of the store manager.

"I'm sorry," Summer stuttered.

"What's going on here?" Lee asked. He came up and stood, a little too closely, behind her.

Summer groaned.

"I just wanted to get this item," the man replied, "and this person here was arguing about the price with me. There's certainly not much good customer service here."

"What's the problem, Summer?" Lee placed his arm around her.

Suddenly, Summer felt nauseous. "This item didn't have a price code and I requested one, but nobody ever came," she said. "I was just following your policy, sir."

She threw the last bit in for good measure.

"The customer is, of course, always right." He turned to the man. "I apologize, sir. You can have the item for free, with our compliments. Just total up the rest of the items, Summer, and let the man be on his way. Then I want to see you in my office."

"Yes, sir," she responded with what little dignity she had left.

What an asshole Lee was. He always berated her in front of customers, even though she did what he told her to do. And he always talked to her breasts, not to her face. If she didn't need this job, she would have shoved it up his ass a long time ago.

Unfortunately, despite her educational background, it was about all she could find in Atlanta, since she did not know any of the 'right people'. Then again, she guessed she should have considered herself lucky, because there were many without work.

Today's economy was a joke. Even if one had all the skills, it still didn't mean people could get a job. Employees were laid off every day--people with much more skill and experience than she. Yep, she was pretty lucky.

Sadly, she did not feel that lucky.

The customer laughed in her face while he paid for his groceries. She thought she heard him mutter, "dumb bitch," under his breath as he left, but she was beyond caring.

She would go to the restroom, and then go see what Lee wanted. After that, she could quietly enjoy her thirty-minute lunch.

Even though Lee could make any situation awful, she seriously doubted he could bring her down any more than she already was. She already hated her job, and today she didn't have enough money to pay her rent or to feed her sisters.

Life could not get much worse.

She washed her hands and glanced in the mirror. Hazel brown eyes stared back at her. She looked so pale, even to herself, but there wasn't enough food as it was. What little there was to eat went to Raven and Amber. She survived on the occasional sandwich and what few grapes she could pinch when Lee was not around.

At least she fit the American picture of beauty, she thought, as she tucked her shirt into her pants, and looked upon her own thinness. But even she thought she was too skinny. Poverty was definitely a great 'diet'.

Because some tendrils of hair had come undone, she remade her blonde hair into a single ponytail. The tail bounced against her waist when she tossed it back. She wondered if she could sell her hair, if anybody would buy it, so she could get some food. No, she thought better of it; Raven and Amber brushed her hair every night. It was their routine. Then again, eating should be a routine, too. She would deal with the issue of food later.

One of her coworkers, Justine, a plump black woman, came into the restroom, while she stared into the mirror.

"You are beautiful, child; such beautiful, endless eyes and a nice figure, even though you are too skinny. How are the girls?"

"They are fine." It was true to a point. They had a place to live. That was half the battle.

"We're having a cookout this afternoon at my house if you want to come," Justine offered. "You don't have to bring anything."

Summer felt the tears of relief come to her eyes and she squeezed Justine's hand.

Justine was as good a friend as she'd ever had. She always tried to give her money and food, but Summer had her pride. She had taken the children over to eat, on occasion, but she didn't like to do it too often. Justine's husband had left her and she had four young children of her own.

"We'll see," Summer said quietly. "Thank you."

"Don't let him get to you, girl. He's such a jerk. Just let it roll by. He'll get his one day."

"I won't. Thanks again." Summer left the bathroom before she started to cry. Lee would jump on any sign of weakness.

She collected herself mentally. She had a cold, detached look on her face when she entered his office.

"Lock the door behind you," he said, as she entered. "I don't want us to be disturbed."

"I don't think that's appropriate." She made it a point not to close the door but it had a will of its own, and closed despite her wishes. She stood in front of his desk, and faced him.

"Summer." He walked over to the couch behind her and sat down, and then patted the space next to him.

She ignored him.

He continued anyway. "If we want to keep customers, then we have to make them feel appreciated."

He leaned back against the couch and eyed her; from her shoes, to her brown khakis, to her red tee-shirt emblazoned with the Lee's logo. His eyes lingered on her breasts.

"I was only following your policy, Mr. Montel," she told him nervously. He gave her the creeps.

"Yes. Yes." He spoke to her chest. "You have better breasts than any chicken I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of chickens."

"Pardon me?" Summer responded quickly, though she was definitely shocked.

Instinctively, she covered her breasts with her arms by crossing them over her chest. She had known he looked at them, but to actually mention them to her was another thing.

"Oh, excuse me," he said politely, as though he had said nothing at all. He behaved as though he had done nothing but step on her foot by accident.

"Speaking of being nice, you should also be nicer to your coworkers and that includes me." He moved off the couch.

"I get along well with my coworkers." She stepped back, closer to the desk, as he approached. "You're giving me grounds for sexual harassment charges."

He came so close to her that she could smell his breath. He smelled of beer and bratwurst. His huge size echoed his frequency of intake of those items. His stomach reached her, long before the rest of his body.

He ran a finger up her right arm. "As if you could afford the lawyer...not that anyone would believe you in the first place. You're nothing, girl. You should feel lucky to be working here. Many people would love to have your job.

"Why don't you show Daddy how much you like working here, Summer? I'm sure a raise would go a long way to helping you feed your sisters. It might also help me overlook the fruit that goes missing here and there.

"I want your sisters to stay healthy. They're such cute girls, especially little Amber. There's nothing cuter than a little girl about to blossom into womanhood."

She had taken enough. The comment about Amber had completely done it. He was a sick bastard.

She didn't even think about anything until her knee made contact with his groin and she heard him drop onto the floor. She opened her eyes as he screamed loudly.

Now her only thought, at that moment, was that she no longer had a job.

* * *

Justine caught her as she neared her car, and stuffed a wad of bills in her hand.

"I collected this from all the girls. It will help you, until you find something else. We all owe you. One of us should have kicked him a long time ago. You're not the only person he's mistreated. You were just a lot braver than us."

"I can't." Summer attempted to give the money back, even though she desperately needed it.

Justine refused to take it.

Instead she said, "No, and the barbecue is still on this afternoon. Bring the girls."

She gave Summer a big hug.

"We'll see." Summer returned the hug, and then said, "Please thank the girls for us. He said if I ever came back, he would call the cops."

"I will. Take care."

Summer stepped inside the car just as the tears began to fall. She couldn't hold them back any longer. She had just lost everything they had. Why is it that even when you've won, you've lost?

If she ever returned to law school, she would spend her life 'getting' people like Lee. Nobody deserved to be treated so badly. Money couldn't make liars honest, and in turn, it shouldn't turn creeps into saints.

It wasn't until Raven spoke to ask Summer if she was okay, that she realized she wasn't alone.

Just as quickly as she let the floodgates start, Summer stopped them. She never wanted her sisters to see her cry. They had enough to deal with. They were too young to have to know, or deal with, any more hardships; they had already seen their fair share, and then some.

"Ah...yeah," she lied and wiped her face with her hands, and then twisted around in the seat to look back at her sisters.

"My sinuses are just bothering me again."

"Sure they are," Amber interjected. "I have problems with my sinuses, but mine aren't bothering me, in the least."

Summer gave her sister a warning glance.

Amber had always been able to read her like a book.

Life had already made her too smart. Amber was eleven, all right, but she didn't look it. She had a very small body, was rather short for her age, and was extremely thin.

Actually, she could probably pass for a seven-year-old. In fact, she had done so, many times before, to get a free meal at a restaurant. However, her face bore no resemblance to her youthful body. It lacked the smile and vigor of innocence. Instead, it was one of seriousness and shadows.

Summer hardly ever saw her sister smile, unless she played by herself or with Raven. Occasionally, she would catch her smile when they were window-shopping. She would glimpse her sister as she happily gazed and looked through the windows, but then Amber would feel Summer's eyes upon her and a mask of indifference would replace the look of longing.

That was Amber; she always pretended she longed for nothing, but Summer knew better, because she, too, longed for more than they had.

"Hey!" It finally hit Summer. If the girls were in the car, then they couldn't be in the apartment.

"What happened?" she asked.

Raven sat up on her knees. "The people from the finance company came looking for us. They were talking about the cops, and you know they would have put us all in jail, behind deep bars with no lights, and one of those toilets where people can watch you pee and...."

Not having a television has really not limited your imagination, young lady, Summer decided to herself, as she looked at her youngest sister.

"I see," was all she said.

"It wasn't that dramatic." Amber frowned at Raven. "Just the usual thing. The bill collectors come, and we hide. The bill collectors go; we flee. You know, the usual."

Summer could hear the pain in her words. She often wondered what they told other children when asked what they did on the weekends. She wondered if they told the kids that they often ran from place-to-place to elude bill collectors and dark jail cells.

There had to be more. She had to do something.

Maybe she should have taken Lee up on his offer. Maybe he would have given her some extra money, maybe even put her up in a place.

She had read books about stuff like that.

What kind of mistress would she make though? She wasn't experienced; she had never even had a boyfriend. She had been kissed once in her life, and that had been an awful experience.

She had gone to a party her sophomore year in high school, and the other kids were drinking beer. She hated the taste of the stuff. One of the football players had cornered her and kissed her. She had kicked him in the groin and ran away. She was never invited to another party.

"You got any bologna and bread?" Raven asked, and Summer was forced to redirect her thoughts. "Amber and I are hungry."

"Not that hungry," Amber replied, nonchalantly, though she felt her stomach punch her back, in anger.

Summer looked at the brown bag on the floor of the car and then glanced at the wad of money in her hands. She counted it quickly and began to fight the tears again. The girls had put together over two hundred dollars. Sometimes, there were blessings. Life wasn't always bad. It was just a rough five-year period.

"Well, I have bologna, but I thought we might splurge today on Burger King."

"Burger King?" Amber echoed suspiciously. "We can't afford Burger King. We can't even afford Krystal's."

Summer insisted, "We can too."

"We can't. Any money we do have needs to go to find us a place to live. I've got the feeling it's gonna be another 'car' night."

"I hate to sleep in the car," Raven whined. "There's not enough room to stretch out and it's so noisy."

"Maybe the street would suit you better," Amber said, before Summer could stop her.

"Hush, both of you!" Summer yelled. "We are eating at Burger King, and we're not sleeping in the car. End of discussion. Put your seatbelts on. We're gonna go through the drive-thru, and then we're going to check into a hotel for tonight. We'll have a new place to live by tomorrow I promise, and it's gonna be a lot better than what we used to have."

Raven was jubilant.

"A hotel...a hotel. I hope it has color television and Disney. Gail, the girl who sits beside me at school, always talks about watching the Disney Channel. Now, I'm gonna get to watch it, too, and then I can brag. I tell her I watch it, too, but since I don't know what shows are which, she doesn't believe me, anyway. And Burger King! It's like my birthday. I'm gonna get a kid's meal with a toy, or maybe a big kid's meal since I'm so hungry, or maybe chicken fingers and a cheeseburger."

Amber was silent, but Summer could feel her stare through the seat, into her back.

It would be a very long night.

* * *

Alex watched the limousine pull off. He was too angry to drive right now. He wanted to call her a bitch and every other foul name he could think of, but after all, she was his grandmother.

Screw it...

"Bitch!"

It didn't make him feel any better though. He had to get married; he knew it. He would do it. It would only be for a year, after all. He could deal with that arrangement. Marriage would at least allow him some nighttime companionship. There was no way he would see his family's company in the hands of outsiders.

But whom would he marry?

There were a couple of single women his grandmother would probably find appropriate. There was Debrah Crickton, the Delectable Redhead, as he often called her. They had shared a few moments and she was one of The Shrimp Cricktons. She had eyed him for three or four years now. Their marriage would make the society papers and he figured his Mama would be pretty excited.

Then there was Amy Marshall. She didn't come from quite the same background but she was a brilliant woman, with a promising law career as an assistant to Georgia's Attorney General. They hadn't shared any private moments, but she was quick to allude to her willingness.

Still, he had no illusions that either of them actually cared for him. He was a millionaire, with a bluestocking name, and it was to that which they would pledge their allegiance.

He could fit most women into one of two categories. Either they were intelligent, cold fishes, who sought his name and/or his money, or they were goofy bimbos.

He had believed in one woman, in college--Christy Bower--but she had taught him that, in the end, it was all about the money.

They had met when they were both at Harvard. He was still going through his shy, nerdy phase, with the glasses still intact. She was the most beautiful girl on campus and with the brains to match. She was Cindy Crawford, with Greenspan's brain. Heads turned everywhere she walked. He fell for her hard, and was amazed each day by her beauty and the sheer fact that she wanted him, out of all the guys on campus.

They went together for three years, and during that time, she brought him out of his shyness. He got contact lenses and started to work out every day. He learned about fashion and the good things in life. None of that had ever mattered to him before.

She showed him what money could buy. Sure, he had money, but he had never really thought about it. They had traveled to Paris, Rome, Zurich, and the Bahamas. She never offered to help with the bills, and he never asked.

He never thought much about it, until he happened upon her and his roommate one night.

He had walked into the two-bedroom flat he shared with his roommate, and heard noises from Tom's room. It was supposed to have been Alex's weekend home with Virginia, but she'd had to leave abruptly, because of an important business meeting.

In his haste to see Christy again, Alex had flown back as quickly as possible. He had quietly gone to bed that night, as his plane had arrived very late. His plans were to visit Christy early in the morning. He had an engagement ring for her that he had purchased from Tiffany's.

The next morning, as he was about to enter the kitchen, he heard those unmistakable sounds again. He peeked through the door and saw Tom and Christy, naked, on top of the breakfast counter. They momentarily paused in their endeavors as he fell back against the door and clutched his chest.

"I think he's going to propose to me." He heard Christy laugh. "That ring will finally be mine. Just think of all the fun we can have when I get all that money, baby."

"You'll divorce him, get your half and no more sneaking around, right, babe?" Tom asked her.

"You know it. I could never be with him, honey. He's not half the man you are."

Upon hearing those words, Alex angrily walked into the kitchen. Christy immediately jumped off the counter.

"Oh, Alex," she screamed and instantly began to cry as she ran over to him and tossed her arms around his neck. "Thank God you're here. Tom attacked me!"

"You whore!" Tom swore in disbelief.

Alex stared at them. They were, supposedly, his two best friends in the world.

There was no truth and no love, except for Virginia. That was all he would ever need, or want, again.

He pushed Christy away from him, and dragged her by her arms, next to Tom.

"Save it, both of you. I heard everything. I can't believe I didn't put it together before now. You two always got along so well together. I guess I know why now."

"Please, Alex," Christy cried, now in earnest. She no doubt had realized she had lost her chance at the gold ring.

"It isn't what you think."

Alex blinked his eyes. They would not see him cry. He would never cry over a woman. He reached into his pocket and took out the small velvet blue box, with the prized insignia on top.

"See, two-carat, diamond ring?" He held the box open, and toward Christy. Her mouth hung wide open at the sight of the ring.

"See how it shines?" he continued, and waved the box around, in front of her. "Think of it often, Christy, because this is the closest you'll ever get to it."

He closed the lid and placed the ring back in his pocket. He smiled bitterly at the pair for a moment, before he turned and walked toward the door that lead back to the living room.

It was no problem to ignore Christy's pleas for him to listen. At one point, she had actually wrapped herself around his legs and begged him to give her another chance. But he would not be fooled, again.

"Oh and one more thing," he had said, before he actually left the room. "Tom, my Grandmother does own this building, so you might want to consider moving out--today.

"You can also take your whore with you. You did call her that; I didn't."

* * *

That was a long time ago, but the memories still remained. Love caused pain and he wasn't interested. He wouldn't be hurt again. He would marry because he had to marry, and nothing more. However, he decided it wouldn't go his grandmother's way. If his grandmother wanted to play a game, then he was going to make the rules.

She was so confident she had him, and for a moment, he had even thought so. Then he remembered...he could play hardball, too. He would marry, but he was sure his dear Mama would beg him to have it annulled within forty-eight hours.

Instead of marrying a society princess, he was going to marry the most disreputable woman he could find; the worse she was, the better. He loved his own plan. His grandmother would die of embarrassment and forget this entire episode.

She couldn't say he hadn't warned her.

He smiled as he turned the ignition.

"Now where, exactly, do disreputable women hang out?" he wondered out loud, as he turned onto the highway. Distracted by his own thoughts, he didn't see the brown station wagon until it was too late.

* * *

Summer saw the hunter green BMW as it prepared to enter oncoming traffic, but she assumed it would wait until she passed.

She was wrong.

Though she tried to accelerate the car out of the range of the BMW, she couldn't move fast enough. The car collided into Raven's door. All Summer remembered, before hitting the dashboard, was that she called out the names of her sisters.

Summer could feel the sand between her toes. The water of the ocean was so blue and endless. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her entire life.

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" a strong, yet gentle voice, called out to her.

"Summer! Summer!" the girls screamed out to her. "Are you okay?"

"You're not dead, are you, Summer?" asked Raven.

Amber snapped. "She's not dead, you numbskull. Her eyes are open."

"Sometimes people die with their eyes open."

"Her chest is moving; she's breathing," he consoled them.

He didn't think it was too serious. She was just out of it for a minute. He hadn't driven too fast and neither had she. Now that he was closer to her vehicle, he didn't think it could be driven very fast. It looked like the station wagon right out of the Brady Bunch, except the one on the Brady Bunch had been cared for. The brown paint had long since peeled off this car, and had left various shades of gray for a tint.

Finally, Summer blinked and realized she wasn't on the beach.

Instead, she simply stared into the eyes of the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Those blue eyes were indeed the color of a Bahaman ocean. His blonde hair was cut short, but it framed his face handsomely.

Before she could voice her opinion on the matter, her eyes, of their own accord, floated down to the rest of him. He was quite muscular; Summer decided he must work out, every single day. He stood about six-one and exuded an aura of pure charisma and wealth. The stylish dark suit he wore tightly clung to him. She was sure that suit cost so much that it probably was worth a year's salary at her old job.

He was, without a doubt, a devil. She had died and gone to Hell, she was certain. Angels certainly didn't look so damn tempting.

She touched her forehead as she felt something running down it--blood. She was still alive.

Summer attempted to scream but the names came out softly, "Raven, Amber." The pain and dizziness made her unable to move from the car, and she weakly fell back against the seat.

Amber jumped from the backseat and into the passenger seat. "We're here and okay."

"Me too, me too." Raven followed her sister to the front of the car. "We thought you might be dead, gone with the angels."

Summer turned away from the devil-man and reached out towards her sisters. "Are you both okay?"

"Yes," they responded in unison as each took one of her slender arms.

"Here..." Alex offered her a blue silk handkerchief from his suit pocket. "You're getting blood on your shirt."

She released Amber's hand only long enough to accept the handkerchief without even a look at its loaner. All at once, the two young girls began to cry and attempted to crawl into her arms.

"Hey! Get off of her," Alex said harshly. He knew they were probably traumatized, but she probably had, at the least, a concussion or something. For his efforts to limit further damage, all he got were hostile stares from all three.

"They're fine," she whispered, "they're fine."

She went from the top of one forehead to the other and gently kissed each one. "We're all fine."

"Maybe I should call an ambulance," Alex suggested, "just to be safe. I can also give a call to the police so they can get a report together for our insurance companies."

"No!" Summer abruptly pushed her sisters away.

The scream was less from the pain than from the thought of medical bills she couldn't pay, or the time in jail and the huge fine she would pay if the police found out she didn't have any car insurance.

She didn't even want to think about the additional fees for the late vehicle registration. Just when she had thought that her life couldn't possibly get any worse, it had exceeded her imagination.

Alex stared into her frightened brown eyes. Something was wrong here. He also looked at the two young girls beside her. They were just as pale as she was. All three were afraid of something. He didn't have to wait long to find out.

"We don't need no ambulance or no police," the youngest blurted out as she brushed a dark strand out of her eyes and stuck her chin out forcibly. "We're not going to jail."

"Hush Raven," Summer and Amber both admonished.

Alex assumed she was confused. "No, no the police will help you."

"No," Raven said, refusing to be silenced. "We ain't got no money and no insurance and the bill collectors are after us too, that's why the cops are..."

"Shut your mouth!" Amber yelled.

Summer began to feel faint and her head throbbed immensely now. "Both of you get in the back seat, now!"

Raven immediately did as she was told. Amber glared at Summer--challengingly--before she did the same.

"Could you step back?" Summer asked Alex after the girls returned to the car.

Alex stepped back, as Summer got out of the car. "I'm not sure that being on your feet is such a good idea."

She ignored him and slowly made her way to the BMW. "I'm fine."

He frowned as a drop of blood fell onto the bumper. "I really like my car."

She wiped the blood off with the handkerchief and gave him a feeble grin. "Raven doesn't always know what she's talking about," she attempted to lie. "We have insurance, and we have money of course, but I would really hate to see my premium go up and all that. I can pay.

"Well, I really don't need to pay, do I? It was your fault, after all. I'll just get an estimate. Or even better, since the car is still running, you can just send me a check for what you think the car is worth.

"As for medical attention, I'll be fine." She stopped when she realized she had been rambling on for a while.

Alex raised his eyebrows and stared into those piercing brown eyes of hers. He dealt with his grandmother and presidents of huge corporations every day. Their tales didn't fool him, and he certainly would not be taken in by hers.

Her face turned a deeper shade of red with every word she spoke. He glanced away from her and looked again towards the car. It was in worse condition than he had previously assumed. The front bumper valiantly hung on for dear life, and he could see the muffler hanging from the bottom of the car.

The girls were glued to the front seats, basically right on the windshield, and stared at them. He wasn't sure of their ages, but they looked a tad tiny, as though they had missed a meal, or two.

He quickly looked back at the waif beside him. She was dressed in a Lee's tee-shirt with her nametag attached to it, so he assumed she worked somewhere.

He didn't recall he had ever gone to that store, so it obviously was not a place 'in' with 'his crowd'.

He guessed she was in her early twenties; worry lines already tormented her face.

"Where is your husband?" he asked her after a moment.

Summer responded distractedly. "Husband?"

"Yeah, husband," Alex repeated. "Where is he?"

Is he still looking for someone to call? she wondered. "I'm not married. You don't need to call anyone. I can fix everything." She crossed her arms over her chest, and held on to her shoulders, as she felt her body begin to tremble.

"We really don't need to call anyone."

* * *

"Summer looks like she's going to cry," Amber said as she looked through the windshield. "It's his fault. We gotta go help her. I'll kick and you bite."

The two girls jumped from the car and were on Alex in a second.

"Ouch! Ouch!" Alex screamed as he attempted to move away from the two and not hurt them.

"Raven! Amber!" Summer yelled, "Stop it at once! He's not hurting me. We're just talking."

"Down, down," Alex continued. He wondered if dog biscuits would be of any assistance.

"I'll spank you both so hard, you won't be able to sit down for a week, if you don't stop," Summer warned them.

Both girls left their victim and stood, protectively, next to their sister.

Summer angrily pointed to the car.

"But, Summer," said Amber, "we were just helping."

"Apologize, and then go," Summer barked and sighed with relief when her two sisters walked off, after they delivered two completely unrepentant apologies.

Alex accepted the apologies with just as much warmth.

He gingerly touched his right knee through his pants. He knew it bled. The young one had some very sharp teeth. He wondered if he needed a rabies shot.

"They really are sorry," Summer lied again. "They just have a hard time expressing themselves."

Alex eyed the two young girls warily as they got in the car, and he noted the lifted finger that the oldest one gave him before she closed the car door. She would, undoubtedly, make license plates for a stipend one day.

"No one benefits from lying." He glanced at his watch. "The truth can save us a lot of time."

"I'm sorry, alright?" Summer struggled to keep the tears at bay. "We don't have any money or any insurance so you're wasting your time if you're trying to humiliate a poor person. I'm not getting any more money either at this point. We're virtually homeless, but I do have over two hundred dollars," she said, reaching into the pockets of her slacks.

"I'll give it to you and promise to get you three hundred more if you just let it be and don't call the cops."

She figured she could probably sell the car. It might bring in three hundred, at least for the parts. "There's not too much damage, especially to your car. I'm sure your insurance company will gladly pay to fix it. I think I'm being pretty kind, actually, considering this whole thing is your fault."

She tried to force the money into his right hand.

He pushed it back towards her.

"Please, take it. I can't let the girls see me cry, again, today. Just take the money. I'll do whatever you want." She stepped closer to him.

"I'm not interested in your money," he said honestly.

"Well maybe we can meet later," she forced herself to say as she stuck her chest out towards him the way she had seen Mae West do it. "I'm sure we can work something out."

She decided that if she had to give herself to someone, it might as well be to a man who looked like a movie star.

Alex couldn't help but laugh. She was unquestionably not his type. He didn't go for waif-like, innocent, needy women, of any form, and certainly not those with two children and no husband. Now here she was offering herself to him for something as simple as not reporting her name to the police and the insurance company.

Summer began to cry because he laughed at her. She was sick and tired of being mistreated. Just because she was down, it didn't mean he could laugh at her. Did he think he was better than she was?

"Now stop that." Alex bit his lip. "Your children are looking. I want to keep my shins intact," he said with the first sign of a grin she had seen since she had awakened. "You don't need to give me that, or your money. I'm completely interested in something else."

Even the slightest grin on his face was magnificent. It brought life to his face. For an instant, she wondered what it would be like if he opened his entire face up to joy. But then, to her, in the scheme of all things, it didn't matter if he ever smiled. He had a nice home to go to tonight; she didn't.

"What exactly do you want?" She had nothing else to give.

Alex looked deep into her eyes. "It's really quite simple. I want you to marry me."

"What?" Summer stuttered. It had sounded like he wanted her to marry him, but it couldn't be.

"I will assume that the accident has affected your hearing. I want you to marry me."

Summer shook her head in confusion because she had finally recognized him. "You're Alex McAllister. I've seen your picture in magazines, on television, and in the Wall Street Journal. You don't want to marry me. You're Alex McAllister."

"I know who I am," said Alex, "and I do want to marry you."

Summer threw her hands up in the air. "That's why you hit my car. You're drunk."

"I am not drunk."

"Then insane, I take it."

Alex frowned. "I am not insane."

One would have thought a marriage proposal from him would have been appreciated a bit more.

"Then why me?"

"For now, let's just say...you suit my needs."

Summer couldn't help but shake her head. This had to be the weirdest thing to ever happen to her, in her entire life.

It was a dream. Yes, she was asleep. She had just never awakened this morning. This was just too weird.

"Well we can't just stand here on the side of the road. Have you and your daughters had lunch yet?"

"But they're not my daughters; they're my sist..." Summer tried to say, as she realized his assumptions.

"Whatever." Alex cut her off bitterly. He was tired of her lies. "Hear me once and hear me forever. I do not tolerate lies--of any sort. If you can't tell me the truth, then be quiet. It's a free lunch I offer you. You don't have to say, 'yes', or 'no', to my proposal now, but let's get something to eat. We can discuss my proposal over lunch and if you're interested, we'll take it from there. If you're not, you can just forget you ever met me. How's that?"

Summer grew angry. Who exactly did he think he was? He didn't know her. She thought for a moment and said, "Oh I see. Is this find a common person day and pick on them? Where's the camera?"

"You have a listening disorder or something?" Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his checkbook. He removed a pen and began to write. "Your first name is Summer," he said glancing at the nametag. "What is your last name?"

"Why? What are you doing?"

"Your last name?"

She glanced at the pen in his hand. "Barton."

He finished writing and tore off a check.

Summer stared at it incredulously; it was a check for ten thousand dollars. They could get the car fixed and a real apartment with this.

She looked up at him. "What is this for?"

"Just a retainer of sorts. No matter what happens, you keep the check. It's lunch in a public place with your daughters. Nothing more. Either way, you get something out of it. Like you said earlier, I do owe you for the car."

Speechless, Summer continued to stare at him.

"Listen now." He was beginning to get quite angry.

She needed the money. What was the issue? She was a woman. What woman didn't want money?

"I'll be waiting in the car. If you're interested, you and the girls can join me. We can come back for your car later, if you wish. Either way, you keep the check."

He hoped she would come. She would be the perfect wife for his little scheme, and it was all so easy to find her.

Summer looked down at the check, and then again at her sisters in the car. He thinks I'm cheap.

He assumed too much, but she did need the money. So she made her plans. If nothing else, they would at least eat well today. Perhaps they would even have enough left over for dinner.

She walked to his car window and tossed in the check.

"How much cash do you have on you, Mr. McAllister?"

"What?" he asked.

"Looks like you might have a hearing problem yourself," she replied, with a slight grin. "How much cash do you have?"

Alex reached for his money clip. "About eight hundred."

"I'll take the cash. You keep the check. We'll follow you."

Chapter Three

Summer grimaced. The station wagon groaned its weariness as she pulled up behind Alex, at the Downtown Ritz Martin. The valet, who opened their car door, eyed Summer and the girls with disapproval.

I disapprove of myself, she thought as she eyed her too-large khaki pants and her Lee's tee-shirt. She was quite the opposite of the well-dressed woman who practically brushed her aside while she hurried towards the entrance.

The slender red-haired woman dressed warmly in a floor length fur coat, ignored her, but gave Alex an inviting stare. Alex returned the stare in kind with a slight uplifting of his lips. Summer did not find this surprising. He was the kind of man whom women would find attractive.

Even Amber was silent as the doorman held the door open for them. She hadn't been silent in the car. She didn't like Alex or his fancy foreign car. She didn't trust him a bit; he looked suspicious to her. She didn't know why he wanted to buy them lunch either.

Summer had been quick to argue for a free lunch and also for the money he had given them. It could help them a lot. She hadn't even mentioned his outrageous proposal. They didn't have to know everything.

Raven was the complete opposite. As always, she was excited about eating and filled the car with imaginations of a feast.

She entered the hotel with her mouth gaped open, obviously amazed by the huge chandelier in the foyer.

"Wow. Look, Cinderella and Prince." She held up her two dolls.

Amber looked up too. It was beautiful, but she couldn't say that aloud. She didn't want to draw attention to herself.

A tall, distinguished gentleman walked up to Alex before they could get ten steps into the building.

"Mr. McAllister," he drooled, and extended his hand.

Alex grasped the man's hand in response. "Charles."

"Your usual suite, sir?" He offered a key. "It is, of course, always ready for you."

He spoke of the luxurious three bedroom Jefferson Suite. That suite always was ready and available, at least for those worth at least ten million dollars.

"Of course. Thank you." Alex walked towards the elevator, expecting Summer and the girls to follow.

Summer stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Excuse me."

"Excuse me, madame," Charles said. He touched Summer's free arm.

The children paused behind her.

"The elevator is for guests only. If you would like directions to another hotel, the valet can help you."

Summer could almost see the workings of Charles's mind. He figured they were not guests. The woman was definitely of the working class and unable to afford the rates, and the two children wore clothes which had seen better years. The youngest one even had dirt smudges on her face.

"Excuse ME!" Raven yelled. "Keep your hands off of her, mister. We're with him." She pointed to Alex. Just to make sure Charles understood her meaning, she kicked him in the shins.

"Ouch," Charles screeched. "Security!"

"Shit," Alex mumbled. "They are with me, Charles!"

"Oh, sir, I apologize...madame." Charles bowed apologetically while he rubbed his wound. "I had no idea."

Alex held open the elevator door. "Of course not."

Summer hesitantly stood outside of the elevator.

"Well," Alex sighed, "I never eat in the restaurant here; I always eat in my suite. Still, if you prefer to draw more attention to yourself or your dignified little group, we can always arrange a meal in one of the dining rooms. I must say, there is no Burger King on the premises here."

He let the words linger in the air as he glanced at the two young ones next to her. The oldest one was busy shooting cyanide darts at him with her eyes and the youngest one was playing with the Ritz Martin symbol in the ashtray.

Summer stepped inside the elevator. The last thing she wanted was to be considered a vagrant again. Amber and Raven followed.

"May I ask you a question?" She watched as he pushed the button for the 25th floor.

Alex closed his eyes for a moment. "If you must."

"If you own McAllister Arms, then why do you maintain a suite at the Ritz Martin?"

"Because ears don't just hear; they talk as well. I get privacy here."

"I see."

The elevator stopped, and the door opened into a foyer even grander than the one at the entrance to the hotel. The foyer led to a huge living room completely encased in windows.

"What's the room number and which way should we go?" Amber snapped. Her stomach was getting more hostile by the moment.

Alex looked at her before walking ahead. She was a spirited little thing. "We have the entire floor. This is the living room."

Raven ran over to one of the windows trimmed with brown silk valances. "Oh my God Summer," she yelled, "we can see the whole city from here...look...look!"

Summer walked over and touched Raven's head gently. It was the most beautiful view of the city she had ever seen. You could see everything, from the hustle and bustle of I-85 and I-75, to the Marta train heading towards the airport.

"Do I need to take my shoes off?" Amber asked as she looked down at the plush carpet.

"Of course not," Alex replied immediately.

"It's fine." Summer walked to Amber. "Come on in."

She tugged Amber's hand gently. Amber was remembering what she had tried so hard to forget: the bruising belts, the burning cigarettes, and the meals taken from them when they had forgotten to take off their shoes and had stained their mother's carpet. There were always memories, even when you convinced yourself that nothing so horrible could ever happen.

Amber followed hesitantly.

"We can finish the tour later, and you girls can look at the view all you like," Alex interrupted before they could make it back to the window. "Let's get some food first."

He was a bit hungry himself.

To the left of the living room stood a grand dining room enhanced by another brilliant chandelier. A beautiful cherry-mahogany dining table, for ten, acted as the centerpiece of the room, and its matching furnishings included a china cabinet and a small bar with four stools in the right corner of the room.

They walked through this room and into the kitchen.

Summer looked around the kitchen in amazement. It was bigger than any apartment they had ever had, including the one with the separate bedroom. Two gray marble islands stood in the middle of the room. On them were a variety of fruits, breads, and cheeses. There were two stools at each island.

"We can nibble on some of these snacks until we decide what to order," Alex said as he walked over to one of the islands and began to remove small plates from a drawer.

Gazing about the room, Summer followed at a leisurely pace. There was so much counter and cabinet space. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling in various spots around the room. Next to the stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator, which looked like it could feed the entire city of Atlanta, there was a smaller clear-glassed refrigerator, stocked to the hilt with wine and beer.

"Are they hungry?" Alex finished arranging the plates, napkins, and glasses and looked over at Amber and Raven.

Summer looked behind her. Her sisters hadn't moved. They were afraid of doing something wrong and of something being wrong. Raven had even stopped talking after looking out of the window. Perhaps they were even afraid they would wake up hungry and find this all a dream. She wanted to cry again because of how she had let them down, but she didn't. Instead, she waved them over.

"I promise not to bite," Alex said gently and he extended empty plates to them.

He knew he didn't have any real interest in them, but it wasn't right for them to be so afraid. Children should never have to be afraid.

Summer smiled feebly at Alex. She hadn't expected the thoughtful words from him. Raven came over first. She stood before Alex and gawked as he extended the plate. She did not accept it.

"And you're Raven," he said with a small smile. "How are you?"

She said nothing.

"Good, good." He realized an answer might not be a possibility.

"Manners, young lady," Summer reminded.

Raven bowed before Alex. She wasn't afraid. She just couldn't believe she was there with him.

"You're a prince," she whispered. "A real prince."

Alex couldn't control his laughter.

"Oh, no." Amber hastily grabbed the plate from Alex's hand and rolled her eyes. "Here's the prince thing again."

"He is a prince, too, ain't you?"

"Raven." Summer pulled on her sister's Pokemon tee-shirt.

"No, I'm not a prince," Alex good-naturedly replied.

"But we are at a castle, aren't we?" Raven asked as she looked about the kitchen. "Castles are big and you can see from everywhere in them."

Amber moved over to the other table laden with the fruit trays. "Can I have whatever I want?" She nervously eyed all the goodies.

There was a huge basket with Idaho Reds and Golden Delicious apples; green and yellow pears; red, green, and dark grapes; bananas plums, and a gigantic mixed fruit basket carved out of a beautiful ripe watermelon.

"Help yourself." Alex looked curiously at Raven as he dropped a cube of Brie on a wheat cracker. "Now what's this about a prince and a castle?"

"Raven's a baby." Amber reacted to Alex's question as she loaded up her plate with mixed fruit salad.

They didn't get fresh fruit often. It was expensive, and when they could afford it, they had to settle for cheaper fruits--like bananas. "Just ignore her. She still believes in fairy tales and happy endings."

Raven winced as she accepted a plate with cheddar cheese and white bread from Summer. "Am not a baby."

Summer comforted her. "You're not a baby. Amber will give you fruit if you want it."

"Only fools believe in fairy tales," Amber spoke between swallows.

"They're cute," Alex said after a moment. He watched Amber give Raven a plum.

"They're not cute," Summer contested, "they're beautiful."

Alex offered her a plate.

"Thank you."

"What shall we have to drink?" Alex asked.

"The girls will have water," Summer responded immediately.

"Water sucks," grumbled Raven.

Amber made a suggestion. "How about a Sprite compromise?"

"Yeah, Sprite," agreed Raven.

"One glass," conceded Summer, "is all you get." One glass wouldn't have them bouncing off the walls, too much.

Alex walked to the refrigerator and removed two small bottles. He poured the contents into two glasses. "Ladies," he said as he placed the drinks next to the girls' plates.

"Thank you," they said in unison, with their mouths mostly full of food.

"Summer, what about you? Wine?"

"Water is fine for me," Summer responded.

While she nibbled on some St. Paulin cheese, she watched the girls. They were enjoying their meal. And it was a meal to them, a feast of sorts. She wondered if this was what the hotel always had out for him, just in case he came by. If only they knew what they could do with all this food...the people who could use it. "Do they always give you so much food?"

"Usually it's a little more." He placed a glass of Chardonnay in front of her. "There's usually some shrimp and lobster, but I guess they didn't have any fresh."

Summer frowned at him. "And what if you don't show up? What happens to all this food? And that's not water, either," she spoke up, noticing that he was handing her a glass of wine.

"The wine will relax you and I don't know what happens to the food. To be honest, I don't really care. Maybe somebody else checks into this suite and they eat it, or they give the food to some charity...perhaps they even throw it away. It's not important. I pay for the food to be here when I arrive. That's all I care about."

"So you don't care about wasting food?" she challenged.

Great, a do-gooder, Alex thought. Part of our arrangement will be that she preach less.

"Don't eat too much girls," he told the other two. "We still need to order our main course."

He wiped his hands on the napkin in his lap.

"Now what exactly should we order?" He decided that to not respond to Summer's question would be better than any response. He wasn't trying to save the world here, only his company.

"Order? You gonna order with a magic wand? You ask for something and it magically appears? We can order anything?" Raven didn't leave a second between questions for a response.

"No, silly goose," said Amber, "he means like he orders it from room service."

"What's a 'room service'? Is it like the fairy godmother in another room?"

"Yeah, whatever," Amber replied, giving up hope. Sometimes, it was easier that way.

"Well, I'll have hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and pizza, and ice cream," Raven decided. "And a steak, too. I've never had one, but I've heard they're really good. That is if they have them. Does the room service fairy godmother have steaks?"

"She sure does," Alex confirmed while he walked over to the telephone.

"A cheeseburger will be fine for them," Summer interjected, "and fries. Also, Raven just likes cheese and meat, no bread and Amber likes anything she can get on hers, the messier the better."

"Lots of mayo," Amber added, "and tomatoes." Her mouth was watering.

* * *

"You shouldn't have ordered the girls steak; they didn't need it. Raven barely touched hers," Summer complained to Alex an hour later.

The two of them sat on the Regency sofa in the living room. Alex sipped on a glass of cognac while Summer sat back on the couch and tried not to fall asleep.

She hadn't eaten that much, or that well, in forever, it seemed. She had enjoyed a gigantic club sandwich with fantastic steak fries. The sandwich was huge, and she still had some of it on the dining room table. It would be great for later.

The overfed girls were in the pink floral bedroom, happily playing video games. Raven's eyes had been much bigger than her stomach and she had only managed to eat a small cheeseburger, fries, and a hot fudge sundae.

Amber had been like a bottomless pit and had devoured a double cheeseburger, a six-ounce filet mignon, a large plate of fries, and a slice of apple pie.

After dinner, which had been delivered by two men who were elegantly dressed in black tuxedoes, Alex had given them a tour of the rest of the suite. It contained three bedrooms. One of them was the pink floral one in which the girls were playing. It was obviously designed for a woman, with a white canopy bed in the center.

Another bedroom was blue and tastefully decorated in light creams, with a rustic pine décor. The master suite had been done in cherry wood, with a four-poster, king-sized bed.

Each room had its own bath suite consisting of a glass-encased shower, a marble garden tub, and dual sinks. The master bath also had its own sauna. The highlight of the master suite was the French doors, which led to a small heated swimming pool, encased by a glass dome, next to the master bath.

Summer had basically had to pin the girls down because they both had wanted to jump in the pear-shaped pool, despite the fact neither possessed a swimming suit nor knew how to swim. Alex had promised to teach them later, and Summer had scowled at his attempt to make future plans with them.

Alex leaned comfortably back into the cushions. "They're okay."

"Who?"

Summer had momentarily forgotten everything but the comfort of the cushions and the beauty of her surroundings and closed her eyes. She wondered if it was wrong for her to just enjoy this one moment, and forget about tomorrow.

"Your daughters," Alex replied. He looked at her slyly from the corner of his eye.

She had sat with him on the couch, but she had chosen to sit as far away from him as possible, in the end corner.

Momentarily relaxed, she sat back upon the cushions like he did, but with her eyes closed. She looked more like a teenager in her rested state.

Some golden strands had fallen free from her ponytail and now hung carelessly over her eyelids. He considered moving them, but he didn't want to interfere with the fragile truce they had established. She had somehow decided to quit viewing him as a menacing predator and give him a chance.

He had been wrong in his first observance of her. Yes, she was skinny, but she also had some nice curves which the male in him had begun to notice. In her arched-back position, her breasts took front-and-center in the red shirt. Her khakis, now pinched under her by the pressure of her body, revealed tight, firm thighs. He was sure her skin would feel as soft as velvet.

He immediately jerked himself to an upright position. He had just met her. It was imperative that he always remember that this was a business proposition and nothing more.

She took note of the detached aura now surrounding him. For a moment, he had begun to seem human.

He had laughed with the girls over the late lunch. He even defrosted Amber, a bit, with his renditions of Backstreet Boys songs. He had informed her that he knew those songs only because B98.5 had refused to burn all their records like he asked.

He had even seemed interested in Raven's ramblings about anything and everything, which included her ideas about him being a prince, and taking them to a castle, where they would live happily ever after.

He put his drink down and rubbed his hands on the knees of his pants.

"How old are you?" He had the feeling she looked younger than her age, and wanted to be sure.

"I'm twenty-four." She watched him astutely. He looked nervous, and quite uncomfortable about the fact that he had probably never been nervous before.

"Super. Now that we have all the little stuff out of the way, let me see how to bring this about." He spoke to millionaires and corporate sharks every day, but this was the first time he had ever been at a loss for words.

"I usually just tell Raven to start at the beginning," Summer said as she scooted a little closer to him, out of habit when she supported Amber and Raven, when they were struggling to tell her something.

It didn't help his nervousness that now her arresting hazel-brown eyes were staring into his.

"Okay." He hesitated for a moment. "I don't mean to offend, first of all. None of this implies anything about you, but I need to prove a point to someone."

"Go on."

Alex reminded himself to start at the beginning. "Well, my grandmother has pressured me to get married for some time now. She's even fixed me up with women, but now she's taken it to an extreme.

"She's saying if I don't get married within a month, she'll sell her portion of our company stock to outsiders. It would be the first time ever in the history of our company that it would not be completely owned by the McAllisters. It would be the end of my family's tradition. Everything my father and grandfather worked so hard to get, would be gone.

"I can't allow that to happen." He spoke passionately while looking at her intently.

"I see," she replied matter-of-factly.

Like Raven, she had always hoped and believed in fairytales, even in the possibility that one day a prince would appear out of nowhere, and sweep her off her feet with words of love and a marriage proposal on bended knee. This was her marriage proposal, and though he looked like a prince, he certainly wasn't hers.

"Well why don't you just marry one of your 'society' girls? I'm sure there are many who would kill to be Mrs. Alex McAllister."

"Yes there are, but none of them would anger my grandmother."

"Anger your grandmother?" She repeated his last words. She did not understand now, at all.

"Yes, yes, you see?" Alex walked around to the front of the glass table and looked at her from a distance. "My parents and grandfather died when I was young," he said brusquely.

Summer caught a glimpse of sorrow on his face, before he was able to conceal it.

"And my grandmother has raised me ever since. She has always been good at it, except for one thing; she's a control freak. She has to control everything...and that includes me."

He began to pace around the room. "She always has to win. Normally I'd let her win because, to be honest with you, she's usually right about things."

"A-hah," Summer said, looking at him as he walked about the room.

"But this time, I can't let her win, because she's wrong. I don't need to get married, nor do I want to get married."

"Well, it's simple," proposed Summer, "just tell her that you're going to wait until you find the right girl to fall in love with. I'm sure that if you're persuasive she'll understand."

"It's gone beyond talk," Alex told her forcefully as he sat back down next to her. "She's had papers drawn up and there are offers on the table from other companies. I've even talked to my attorneys. Her plan is eccentric, but completely legal."

"I'm sorry, but I really don't see what this has to do with me."

"To marry you would anger my grandmother," Alex repeated.

"And why would it do that?" Summer asked, even though she knew the answer. To him, she was nothing but a lower-class woman, with two children, and no husband.

Alex tried to think of a nice way to phrase it. It had all seemed so simple before he met her. "Well," he said after a short pause, "because you two don't exactly move in the same social circles, I would say she would be a bit peeved."

Summer phrased it for him. "More like hurricane furious."

"Exactly," Alex admitted, and couldn't stop himself from smiling brightly at the thought. His smile ended abruptly when Summer's right hand made hard contact with his face.

"You bastard." Furious, she stood up abruptly.

"Damn it," Alex said softly despite the stinging pain. "Why did you do that?"

To order or learn more!