"Andrews, V C - The Casteels 03 - Fallen Hearts" - читать интересную книгу автора (Andrews V.C)

far more than merely another marriage of a Winnerow man and a woman.
Even though I had remained in the hills, living in Grandpa's cabin, I
still drove an expensive automobile, wore fine clothing, and carried
myself as a cultured and sophisticated woman. I may have put aside a
wealthy existence as the heir to the Tatterton Toy empire, but the,
townspeople still saw me as a scum-of-the-hills Casteel. They might have
approved of the way I was teaching their children, but they still didn't
like me sitting in the front pews of their church.

When Logan and I attended church together, that Sunday, after our
engagement picture had adorned the brides" section of The Winnerow
Reporter, all eyes followed us as we made our way to the very front pew
- Logan's family's place in church - a place where I had never dared sit
before. "Welcome, Heaven," Mrs. Stonewall said, a little nervously, as
she handed me the missal. Logan's father simply nodded his head, but
when we rose to sing, I sang out proud and strong until my voice, a
voice of the hills despite its patina of culture, reverberated
throughout the church. And when the service was over, after I had
greeted the Reverend Wise with a smile that told him I would prove
all-his prophecies wrong, Logan's mother said to me, "Why, Heaven, I
never knew you had such a dignified singing voice. I hope you'll join
our ladies" choir." I knew then and there that Loretta Stonewall had
finally decided to accept me. I also knew then and there that I would
make all the others do the same, that I would make them open their eyes
and look at all the hill folk and see us for the honest, struggling
human beings we were.

That was why I planned the kind of wedding I did. Logan tried his best
to understand my motivations, and even stood up to his parents"
objections. I was ever so grateful. He was even pleased and amused by
the way I planned to force the people of Winnerow to commingle with the
hill people. I was determined to have the finest affair Winnerow had
ever seen and when I walked down that aisle, the townspeople wouldn't
see poor white trash that had come into money, but someone just as good
and as refined as they thought they were. I remembered when I had come
back to Winnerow years ago and walked down that church looking like a
fashion plate, bedecked with rich jewels. Despite my fine raiment, the
townspeople had looked down their noses at me. The hill people were
supposed to take the back benches and those deemed worthiest of God were
in the first rows.

My wedding would be different. I invited a number of hill families. I
invited all the children in my class. I wanted my sister Fanny to be my
maid of honor. I hadn't seen Fanny much in the two years since I'd
returned to Winnerow, because Fanny did not seem able to put away her
jealousy and resentment of me, even though I tried, as I always had, to
help her in every way I could. Logan kept me up to date on Fanny's
affairs and activities. Apparently, she was often the subject of
conversation among the young men and women of Winnerow, and often he
would overhear some of this conversation in his drugstore. Since her