---- with Scarlett." Every word struck my ears with perfect clarity. So this was all planned. Dennis had made his calculations three years ago. And I had believed him-every single word. The conditions abroad were so harsh, but I didn't feel the pain. I kept going because I believed: if I made it through, we'd be together. The group walked on, offering blessings to Dennis. Someone suddenly joked, ''Dennis, after all those years Anna's been in love with you, don't you feel bad leaving her out there, working in such tough conditions?" Dennis didn't even blink. He just kept staring at Eugene. "She's the one who liked me. I never liked her. If it weren't for my father adopting her-and him. being so fond of her-I would've cut her off long ---- ago. You all know she's seven years younger than me. There's no way I'd like someone like that. All these years, it's always been her chasing after me." I was sixteen when the McMillan family took me in -just starting high school. Dennis was twenty- three, already a college graduate. He had a good family, good looks, and girls constantly orbiting him. Every time I saw him with someone else, I'd get jealous. I'd find him and say, "Dennis, can you stop getting so close to other girls?" He'd laugh, ruffle my cheek, and say, "I'll do whatever you say, Anna."