At last, Heaven would find the happiness she longed for... free from the scorn and contempt of her past!
In her grandmother's fine, rich Boston house, Heaven Leigh Casteel dreamed of a wonderful new life -- of new friends, the best schools, beautiful clothes and most important, love. The pearls of culture, wisdom and breeding would now be hers. Soon she would make the Casteel name respectable, find her brothers and sisters, and have a family again.
But even in the world of the wealthy, there were strange forebodings, secrets best forgotten. And as Heaven reached out for love, she was slowly ensnared in a sinister web of cruel deceits and hidden passions!
Plot[]
After the events of Heaven (the first book in The Casteel Series), Heaven Casteel finds herself in the care and custody of her grandparents, the wealthy Tony and Jillian Tatterton, who live at Farthinggale Manor. Heaven dreams of a wonderful new life - of new friends, a good school, beautiful clothes and, most importantly, love. She wishes to make her family name respectable, find her brothers and sisters, and have a family once again.
Conflict with her newfound grandparents soon arises, however. Her grandmother Jillian is vain and selfish, while her step-grandfather, Tony, veers from being dignified and generous to being controlling and domineering. The only person Heaven can talk to is Tony's brother, Troy, who suffers from depression. While Heaven is given everything she wants, fine clothes, a fine education and the support to go to college, she is still unhappy due to the stipulation that Tony has made: if Heaven sees her family again, Tony will stop all support to her. Heaven does not try to see Tom and Fanny, but she does continue to write them letters, and continues her efforts to find Jane and Keith.
After a time, Troy and Heaven fall in love, become lovers, and plan to marry. Tony is thrilled, but Jillian is troubled. Heaven decides to see her family and lies to Tony about going to New York. Heaven arrives in Washington D.C. and finds Jane and Keith living happily with their adoptive parents—they are upset to see Heaven and tell her to go away, which breaks Heaven's heart. Fanny is living in a boarding home in Nashville, Tennessee and is poor and may be prostituting herself. Fanny reveals that she was forced to give her baby, named Darcy to Reverend Wayland Wise, the baby's father. To keep her quiet, Wayland and his wife gave her some money to leave town and to never return. Fanny reveals that she longs to have Darcy back and Darcy is all she can think about. Fanny threatens to tell Tony and Jillian that Luke was cruel and unfaithful to Leigh, and that Leigh lived in squalor and poverty with him, unless Heaven gets Darcy back for her. Tom, on the other hand, is living happily with Luke and Luke's young wife, Stacie, and helping at the circus now owned by Luke. Tom tells Heaven that Luke has turned his life around, and he and Stacy have a new baby boy named Drake.
When Heaven arrives in West Virginia, she encounters her first love, Logan. Logan is still angry and hurt over the revelation of her sexual relationship with her adoptive father, Cal (from the previous book), but at the same time he seems to still care about her. Heaven pays a visit to Rev. Wise and attempts to buy Darcy Back for Fanny. Heaven realizes that she a lot more like Luke than she ever admitted. Rev. Wise tells Heaven that she knows that Darcy will be better off if Fanny is not in her life, and Heaven reluctantly agrees, and hurt and heartbroken, returns to the family cabin. A huge storm comes through, and Heaven becomes sick, with Logan nursing her back to health. It is a few weeks before she can return to Boston.
Heaven returns to Boston to learn that that Troy is sick, partly due to thinking Heaven abandoned him. However, shortly after seeing him, she goes to Tony and they have a discussion where he tries to persuade Heaven to break her relationship with Troy (even going so far as to bribe her with money). Heaven refuses to leave Troy, which forces Tony to reveal his shameful past: He believes she is not Luke's daughter but his, as he raped her mother (though Tony says Leigh willingly continued the relationship after that). Heaven had lied to Tony when she first arrived about her age, saying she was a year younger than she actually was (not wanting them to know that Leigh married Luke the day she met him and got pregnant right away). But Tony realizes with the new date of Heaven's birth that Leigh must have been pregnant when she ran away. And if Tony is Heaven's father, then Troy is Heaven's uncle.
Heaven still declares her love for Troy and intends to be with him, but Troy flees the Tatterton estate after Jillian reveals the truth to him. He leaves Heaven a note explaining this, and tells Heaven to confront Jillian about what really happened to Leigh. Once she does, Jillian loses her sanity. Despite the revelation of who her father is and the loss of Troy, Heaven remains with the Tattertons. Heaven attends college and graduates. Tony invites Keith and Jane to her graduation party, and they embrace her. They both explain that the sight of Heaven brought back the memories of their poor, difficult life in the Willes, and they were afraid she was coming to take them back there. Heaven is ecstatic to have them back in her life. After some traveling, when Heaven returns to Boston, she is told by a distraught Tony that Troy died as the result of a horse riding accident at the ocean while she was away.
She moves to Winnerrow and lives in the newly renovated cabin of her youth. She becomes a respected teacher, and bleaches her black hair to resemble the silvery blond of her mother. When she receives an invitation to the circus owned by Luke Casteel, she decides that it is finally time to go see him. Wanting to have him realize his beloved Leigh is alive in her, she dresses in the dress Leigh was wearing when she first met Luke (given to her by her grandmother, Luke's mother, when she was young). But when Luke sees Heaven, she looks so much like her mother that he thinks she really is Leigh. He is completely distracted and a tiger he was guarding gets loose. Tom rushes in to save the animal trainer but Tom is mauled to death, and Luke is badly injured. Heaven is devastated by the death of Tom. She visits Luke in his hospital bed and tells him that she is sorry for everything that went wrong between them but flees before he can reply. Logan is there for her in the dark days after Tom's death and they become close again.
Months after Tom's death, Heaven's grandfather dies. Luke lets Heaven know that she will always be welcome with his family. Heaven and Logan make plans to marry, but first Heaven feels they must go to Boston and see her real father Tony.
