Chapter 1

I am in more trouble than I ever imagined possible. I have always been very goal oriented and very much in charge of my life. Or at least I thought I was. I knew from an early age that I wanted to work with troubled kids in some capacity. I excelled in school and I was on the honor roll from the first grade until I graduated from school. I always took the tough subjects and my grades were perfect so I had no problem getting into the university that I had my heart set on attending. Even if my father had not graduated from there I would have had no problems getting in.

I carried a 4.0 grade average throughout my undergraduate studies and it seemed like I breezed through my post graduate work in my chosen field. It was so easy it scared me. Really! When it was all over and I had my Doctorate I kept thinking, "Is that all there is?" I had a nagging fear for a while that they were going to send me a letter some day and tell me that I forgot to do something to meet some requirement and they had just discovered it.

For years people kept trying to convince me to change my goals, to study medicine or law or to get into computer science and become the next Bill Gates. Everyone who knew me seemed to think that I should go for the money.

I wasn't interested in the money. That may be because I had never really needed money. My father saw to that. He had inherited some money from his father and after a very successful business career he had entered politics and was a well respected and very senior Senator now.

I wouldn't say that I had been spoiled. Well, maybe a little. But I had always had to keep my grades up, which was no problem, and be active in my community and just generally be a good citizen.

The things that my father stressed more than anything else though were having high morals and maintaining a spotless reputation. He was proud of me and what I had achieved academically, but it had always been clear that he was more concerned that I never did anything to attract negative attention.

I suppose that I knew in the back of my mind that the reason for that was more to protect his political career than out of any concern for my moral development. It didn't bother me though. His reputation was extremely important to him and always had been. I understood that and I didn't have a problem with it. I had, after all, been raised to be, and had indeed become a moral person.

All of that makes it so hard to understand how I got into the mess I'm in now. I guess I should tell you a little about myself. I just turned twenty-five. I am 5'2", and weigh one hundred and five pounds after a big meal. I have a slender figure and my breasts are kind of small, just barely a B cup. I have bright red hair and what is often referred to as porcelain skin. My skin is this white for a reason. I have to stay out of the sun or I turn into a freckle factory.

I am very physically fit. I run several miles a day and up until I started working full time last year I used to go to the gym three times a week. I keep intending to start back once I find the time. I never seem to have the time for that anymore though. Still, I keep busy and I watch what I eat. I would have to say that I am in excellent shape.

I am very happily married to Dennis Hall. He is two years older than I. We met when I was in grad school. He was a year ahead of me but we didn't meet at school. We lived in the same apartment building just off campus. We met at the pool and for as long as he lived there we never went out on a date. We would meet at the pool or do laundry together and we invited each other over for lunch or dinner fairly often as we got to know each other better. But it was a platonic friendship and nothing more. Dennis was as devoted to his studies as I was to mine and we didn't have a lot of time or energy to devote to our love lives.

After Dennis got his Doctorate he quickly found a prestigious job. It had an unbelievable high starting salary, it was in his home town, and he just couldn't turn it down. We were both sad when he had to move to the other side of the state. I missed him so much when he left that it surprised me. The funny thing was, we had not thought of our relationship as a romance. Not until he was gone and I realized how much I missed him. As it turns out, he missed me too.

He started calling me in the evening and when he had the time he would drive down to see me and we both thought that it was funny that we didn't have our first real date until he had moved away. When I first realized that he missed me as much as I missed him I can't even describe how happy I was.

Dennis is a very handsome man and we are intellectual equals, which we both think is important. We have a lot in common. We like the same books and movies and music. Our fathers are both prominent. Dennis's father is also very involved in politics and is considering running for Governor in the next election.

The only thing that has ever been a bone of contention between us is that Dennis is much more religious than I am. He thinks that religion is important and insists that we attend church every Sunday. It isn't just that he wants to be seen at church either. He really enjoys going and thinks that it is important.

I have a different perspective. I believe in God, but I don't think much of religion, or at least I don't think much good of religion. I actually believe that the world would be a better place without it.

We have had some heated 'discussions' about that, but to keep peace in the house I let him drag me to church on Sunday. I hardly even complain about it, but he knows how I feel.

Neither of us was a virgin when we married. Who is in this day and age? But we were both pretty inexperienced and when it comes to sex I guess that you could say that we were both pretty naïve.

After I graduated I had dozens of job offers to choose from. My perfect grades, my academic credits and my experiences in community service were, I hope, the determining factors in my selection. I would hate to think that I was selected solely because my father was one of our state's two Senators, though I would be surprised if that wasn't a factor.

When it came to choosing where I wanted to work it wasn't even a contest. I was offered the perfect job in the same town that Dennis was working in. I had a very comfortable starting salary and a modern, well equipped office. I even had an assistant and a secretary!

To be honest, I was surprised that I had been chosen for the job. The man who was in charge of the hiring was a prominent member of the other political party and he and my father had, over the years, had some very bitter disagreements.

I had been interviewed for the job twice and at first I assumed that I had gotten the job despite my father. I was starting to wonder if I had gotten the job because the man that hired me, Superintendant Ross, wanted my father's daughter under his thumb for some sort of future leverage. Fortunately, we didn't see each other often. But when it we did he wasn't very nice to me.

I went out of my way to make it clear to him, and anyone else that I felt it necessary to convince, that I was apolitical and had no intention of being a pawn in state politics. Not in national politics either. I was just well informed enough to vote my conscience. Other than voting I stayed completely out of politics.

My job turned out to be everything I could hope for. I was working with troubled kids and it was just as rewarding as I had imagined it would be. I worked at one of the largest high schools in this corner of the state. They had a pretty good mix of students. There were kids from every socioeconomic level.