I can appreciate the feelings you both have, but I assure you both that I did not feel pressured or censored -- if you actually knew me in real life you'd know that I am a staunch champion of free expression, almost to a fault, and would never even consider bowing to censorship. So you are hereby absolved of guilt in this matter. Only I am to blame for the stuff I do. And I decided the stories aren't worth the potential hurt feelings.
As I indicated, I am reworking both stories, and they are almost finished. I actually decided to meld them and make the former-Hailee story a future new chapter in the former-Vanessa story, which now has an OC main character. After thinking about it I realized that changing the stories to Original Fiction would allow them to go in some different directions, which is creatively freeing.
On balance, I think this whole affair is a step forward. Thanks for your input, BronxWench and JayDee!
PS: In the (highly) unlikely event that I actually do have (heretofor silent) fans, please do not devour JayDee, who only meant well.