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"Austin is no fortune hunter."

"How do you know? You can't possibly know him well enough to make such a conclusion," she concluded herself before I could reply. "You've known him for a rather short period. I'm sorry I have to speak to you like this, but your mother's not here to give you firm guidance.

"Just another thing Megan has left for me to do," she mumbled and surprised me by flopping rather ungracefully into the one and only chair. She let her head fall back, closed her eyes, squeezed her temples with her forefinger and thumb and sighed. "I'm so tired," she said. Then she sat straighter and looked at me.

"Your mother's been committed to a psychiatric institution until the doctors feel she is emotionally and mentally well-balanced enough to be back in society and not attempt to take her life every other day. Grant is very distraught. We finally told Alison, but there was no point in having her return. She can't do anything."

"She could visit her, help her care about herself and her future," I suggested.

Aunt Victoria tilted her head down and looked up at me with a smirk.

"Alison Randolph? Help someone else?"

"Well, why did they spoil her so?"

"Why? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Look at her mother."

"You really hate her, don't you? You hate your own sister." I accused.

"I don't hate her. I should. but I don't." She contemplated me for a moment. "It's easy for you now to pass judginent on me. You come swooping into this house and family, take a nibble here, a taste there and think you've digested our entire history, who we are and what we've all endured.

"Yes, I'm firm and strong and I'm different from Megan, but that's not entirely a fault of my own. She never knew my father as I did. as I had to know him. He made all sorts of demands on me that he never made on her. He expected more from me.

"Don't think I didn't ask myself why a thousand times," she continued before I could even think to ask.

Actually, I was afraid to speak, afraid to utter a sound that would break the spell of this selfrevelation. Her eyes became distant. dark.

"I could see the way he looked at Megan, how his eves just flooded with warmth and love and pride. I never once saw him look at me that way, even when I made great profits for his company. I received a simple pat on the back or a nod while he practically swooned over her every smile and laugh.

"How can a father treat two of his children so differently?" she wondered aloud.

I was tempted to tell her, to give her Jake's secret. Maybe it would be better for her. Maybe she would weigh the disgace of having him as her father against the terrible pain of not winning her stepfather's love and admiration the way she wanted. That understanding might make her a kinder, gentler woman, a woman who could come to terms with herself and live with herself and not be so bitter toward everyone else.

"Oh, I know how pretty Megan is. How could I not know it. right from the start? When your younger sister is so attractive and so popular, it's not easy. Everyone looks at you and wonders why you aren't the same. She was even invited to parties my peers made and failed to invite me to!

"And was Megan ever grateful? Hardly. She took everything for granted, even my father's love, especially my father's love."

Her eves clicked shut and then open. She looked at me hard.

"So don't judge me and accuse me of hating her. I hate what she's become, yes.I'm not ashamed to admit that. I'm proud of that.

"I'm proud," she whispered and stared at the floor for a moment.

I was hardly breathing.

I saw her eyes blink again and then she looked up at me sharply.

"Let's get back to you. I still think it would be wiser for you to have a different therapist, an older, more experienced person, perhaps a woman. For a therapist to be effective, he or she has to remain more aloof. more impersonal. Just like a doctor.'

"I appreciate your concern, but things are fine the way they are," I said.

She stared at me, her lips pursed so hard. it drained the blood from her chin.

"Okay. I see you have to make your own mistakes. You've got your mother in you, all right.. In more ways than one, you remind me of Megan.

"Let's move on." She opened her briefcase and pulled out some papers. "I have some things I need to have you sign. Since my mother in her infinite wisdom gave you so large a piece of our investments, you would have to be involved with each and every transaction on a daily basis. To expedite it all. I need you to sign a power of attorney over to me. You won't be worth any less." she quickly added. "In fact, you'll probably be worth more because I'll be able to act on opportunities before they disappear. This will make it possible for me to carry on and continue to build our net worth."

She handed me the papers. I looked at them. After reading the first few sentences. I thought they might as well have been written in Chinese. Should I just sign them or should I tell her I had to have my attorney study them first?