Chapter 14: Going Solo

Naturally, it was too good to last. Elspeth could see the signs as they came, meaning when Dr. Richards arrived. It started right after the election. Dr. Richards was a bit manic preparing for her first City Council meeting. Two weeks later, for the second meeting, it was worse. At the end of March, Dr. Richards collected Elspeth and headed to Boston for some team building. By itself, that was a story worth telling.

Dr. Richards had spent a day in Concord reorganizing things just before the second Council meeting. After two weeks in Boston, she drove up to Nashua and spent half a day buying things like an old SUV and a boat with a trailer. That she never went to see Cloudrest was telling. Instead, she took Elspeth to meet the available members of FDC’s Boston branch at Fenway Park. Elspeth had been there once or twice, probably twice, so it was not a new experience. Not quite.

The Irish style bar was old hat. Dr. Richards and Elspeth had conducted business in half a dozen of them during the South Boston negotiations. In this bar, Elspeth spent the time sipping white wine and watching Dr. Richards watch her people. After years of practice, Elspeth could almost read what was going on in Dr. Richards’ head. It was a shock when Elspeth realized that the person Dr. Richards wanted to talk with was not present. That could only mean Veronica.

Sure enough, the next day Dr. Richards contacted Vivian and Veronica for another meeting. This one proved to be newsworthy―literally. The meeting was at the Union St. Oyster Bar, near the Capital. Before 1960, The Kennedy brothers had a regular booth, so politics was in the air. Politics attracts political reporters and this was no exception. Elspeth soon realized that she was one of the ones the reporters were homing on. This was a new and unwelcome experience.

A tray of oysters on half-shell had just arrived when the first pair of reporters approached. Vivian was surprised, but neither Dr. Richards nor Veronica even twitched. Instead, Dr. Richards finished an oyster, set the shell in the discard pile, and turned to handle the Press. The sight of Dr. Richards’ casual assumption of her authority made something deep within Elspeth clench a little.

Dr. Richards told the reporters to go play pool while her group ate dinner. Afterward, she would play one―only one―of them for the right to a quick interview. For Elspeth, the tension ruined the taste of food but heightened other hungers. Politics is about power and Dr. Richards personified power for Elspeth.

Half an hour later, Dr. Richards played a game of 9-ball with a reporter named Brighton Bartkowski. She was good, but he was a bit better, at least with a cue. The interview was strictly softballs. B Bart did not even mention the wedding until the interview was over and the camera put away. Elspeth lingered just long enough to tell him that this should have been his lead question.

When they returned to the office, Dr. Richards announced a meeting at ten o’clock the next morning. In addition to Vivian, Veronica, and Harold Johnson from Boston, Elspeth would attend, as would Doris Miller and Howard Cockerham from Concord. The gist of the meeting took only seconds to unfold―Dr. Richards was creating a limited partnership, with the six of them serving as officers.

From that simple beginning, structure emerged. Concord would have two branches, legal and lobbying, with a third in Manchester, civil consulting. Boston would have a new lobbying division, a different sort of legal, statistical consulting, and security. Finally, Nashua would have a small division for Dr. Richards’ personal projects. Hammering out the rough details took several hours, barely stopping for pizza at one o’clock.

It would have gone on past six, except Dr. Richards called a halt. She claimed that they had a good start and details would take time. She wished them all luck in setting things up. As she said this, Dr. Richards started passing out envelopes. They contained rough by-laws to discuss in the first biannual meeting in May.

Alarms were going off in Elspeth’s head. Sure enough, when she checked the list of officers and found they each held five percent of the company. Elspeth looked up and saw Dr. Richards watching. A simple shake of the head answered all of Elspeth’s questions. Instead, they went to Dr. Richards’ waiting car.

The rest of the evening was intensely physical. Now that Dr. Richards had a driver, she and Elspeth could sit together in the back seat. As soon as the doors closed, Elspeth handed over her panties. Smiling Dr. Richards put them in her purse but did not touch Elspeth at all. Instead, she had Elspeth sit correctly―feet on the floor, back straight, knees together, hands in lap, eyes forward―all the way home.

Dr. Richards was behind her driver, so he could not see anything, but Elspeth could just see something in the corner of her eye. Dr. Richards used her tablet with the right hand, but the left was under her skirt. The drive only took an hour, but Elspeth’s goose was thoroughly cooked by the time the car pulled in front of the apartment building.

Johnson Lee gave Elspeth a wink as he helped her from the car. Dr. Richards told him that he could stay out because she intended to sleep in. Elspeth’s knees were so weak she had trouble following Dr. Richards into the building, one space to Dr. Richards’ left and two paces behind. In the elevator, Elspeth kept her heels together, hands clasped behind her back, shoulders back and eyes down.

In the apartment, Dr. Richards indicated a place on the living room floor. There, Elspeth waited, maintaining the same posture, while Dr. Richards changed clothes and visited the restroom. When she returned, Dr. Richards stood so close in front, that Elspeth could make out a bit of musk. Reaching around, Dr. Richards tapped Elspeth’s elbow. Understanding, Elspeth brought her hands up to grasp opposite elbows. She did nothing else, though her breath rate increased. This posture was not one of an obedient schoolgirl, but that of a submissive.

Turning, Dr. Richards beckoned Elspeth to follow. As they moved to the restroom, Elspeth flushed as she realized that she would not be allowed to unclasp her hands for the necessary functions. Sure enough, Dr. Richards raised Elspeth’s skirt so that she could sit. Patiently, Dr. Richards watched while Elspeth did her business, all her business.

Once finished Dr. Richards had Elspeth stand and bend over. Patting the urine dry was a little thing, but several handfuls of tissue were needed to clean the bowel movement. Next came a series of wet-wipes. While thoroughly cleaning Elspeth’s backside, Dr. Richard’s hands lingered at Elspeth’s anus, then pressed a damp tissue into the pucker far enough for Elspeth to feel the chill. It was only a moment, but Elspeth’s face felt like it was on fire, which amplified the shock of cold lotion.