And then John's year of mourning." You're still at the height of your beauty, mistress. Eighteen isn't old. Just hold still while I finish your hair ..... Now, look at that! And, while I never wished Massa Evans any harm, you're not marrying the heir to Twin Oaks; you're marrying the master of Twin Oaks. You'll be mistress of the finest plantation in the county tomorrow." Belle," Mother spoke sharply from the doorway."Mistress?" You may leave us." Yes, ma'am." And Belle did."Now," Mother said, "a. This was so unlike Sierra! This Southern stereotype was everything she wasn't: easy to trust, naive, bubbly, easily excited. Certainly not the kind of person I would usually fall for, but I could handle it for a while. Once I'd gotten my breath back I went to work on the shower. It took some time, I'm not particularly handy, but I fixed the problem and stood back a bit to admire my handiwork. Shutting the water off, I went to go let Sierra know I was finished. Just as I had left the. It's no secret. I spent the night in Stanley Copely's bed but what that has to do with poor Roger's death, I don't know." We think it may have, Miss Stavely. What time did the you and he finally get to sleep?" I guess it must have been about three-thirty." Three-thirty in the morning? Very late, Miss Stavely. So you both overslept?" Well Stan woke me a bit after eight but we thought we had time for a quickie and then we fell asleep again. Next time I saw the clock it said 9:51. I woke Stan and. "I had a K-6, and Samantha saw my blind without raising, so we went to the flop. Q-2-10 came up. I still had a chance at a royal flush since the Q-10 of diamonds went with my king. I figured the chance of seeing that was worth seeing Samantha's bet of 5. A five of diamonds came up. I figured that she had me beat unless the river produced the a fifth diamond for me, but I again matched her bet of 5. She bet another 5 after turning over the jack of clubs, and I folded. All I had was a king high..