Chapter 1

Samantha Edwards rushed from her car to the administrative building as the rain poured from the sky. She held her briefcase over her head with one hand in a useless attempt to keep her hair dry, as she struggled to hold books and papers in the other. It was another damp, cold, and dreary day in the northeast. The kind of day you would expect in mid-November in this section of the world. However, Samantha was a southern girl, used to sunny skies and warmer climates.

The click of her high heels on the tile floor echoed up and down the long hallway as she hurried to the administration offices. She was late already. Today was the last day to get mid-term grades submitted and she didn't want to hear all the grief she would take if she missed the deadline. Hopefully it would only take a couple of minutes and she could still make her 9 o'clock English class on time.

Samantha sighed as she passed the ladies room and then stopped. It was going to make her later but she had to fix her hair. It was a mess after being doused with the cold rain. If she could have remembered where she had left her umbrella it wouldn't have been so bad. Unfortunately it seemed that she was always misplacing something these days. The unwanted vision of the movie "The Absent Minded Professor" crossed her mind as she rushed into the teacher's lounge, almost knocking over a fellow teacher in her haste.

A little moan escaped her lips when she looked into the mirror. All her work had been for nothing. Her shoulder length sandy blond hair was hanging in wet, curly strands now, dripping water down her cheeks. And her hair had looked so good when she left home a few minutes ago. A sigh of frustration escaped her lips as she tried her best to fluff it up. It was useless. Finally, she gave up and leaned toward the mirror to fix her makeup.

The woman in the mirror staring back at Samantha was pretty and just over the dreaded 30^th birthday. She had gray/green eyes that could dazzle men and women alike. People often said that she looked a lot like Nicole Kiddman, with her curly hair and creamy white complexion. Yet Sam was one of those women that didn't realize how pretty she is. She thought she was too tall at 5' 8", too heavy at 125, and that her facial features were too angular to be pretty. Besides, she didn't have a lot of time to worry about her appearance these days.

Another sigh escaped the harried woman as she fumbled in her purse, searching for her lipstick.

She never had enough time for herself anymore and her life seemed to be out of control. Suddenly, she stopped and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She wondered how her life had become so hectic. It seemed that there was a constant succession of classes, dinner parties, social obligations, and studying to keep up with her profession. Maybe it was just the pressure of being a newly appointed assistant professor, she thought. She knew that it took a lot of work in the beginning to get oneself established in a new school.

The academic world wasn't new to her though--she had taught at her alma mater for several years and had been raised in a family of teachers. Her mother was an elementary school teacher and her father a high school principal. Even one of her older brothers was a teacher. It was only natural that she followed the same path.

Samantha was a southern girl and grew up with her two brothers in a very traditional and solidly middle class family. Her parents were very conservative and strict. In fact, Samantha had not been allowed to wear makeup until she was almost 16. As for dating, well that was a battle of wills. She was only allowed to date in groups until she was 17. However, like all teenagers, she found ways around the arbitrary rules.