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A New Beginning Pt. 01

By: va_girl92



Introduction: John Riley had been married for nearly 10 years when his wife filed for divorce. She had claimed that the lack of romance was to blame, but John suspected there was something else going on. John had hired a private investigator to follow around his soon to be ex-wife and find out if she was with another man. After following his wife for only a few hours, the P.I. found her in bed with another man. This tore a gaping hole into John's heart. He swore that he would never let this happen again.

Chapter I

After the divorce was finalized and several months of blind dates set up by friends later, John felt that he would never find love again. He knew he would never find another woman that he loved the same way he had loved his wife, but thought that someone out there had to be a woman who he could share the rest of his life with.

John signed up for several internet dating sites after the failed attempts of his friends to find him a woman. Still, months went by with only empty promises left by one night stands. John was about to give up on love when he received a message from a young girl named Charlotte. Being a 45 year-old, nearly overweight man, John didn't think he'd have a chance with this beautiful blonde 18 year-old college student. From her profile picture, he could see that she was athletic with curly blonde hair that fell halfway down her back. Her modest clothing didn't reveal much about her body, other than she was a beautiful tanned blonde.

John, being of average height and slightly overweight, didn't think that she would be interested in going out on a date with him, but she had sent him a message so he decided to go for it. He responded to the general 'hello' message and told her a short version of his life story. Charlotte seemed nervous, but John figured she would be, since she was barely of legal age. They began chatting about casual things, but soon things started escalating to a more intimate conversation. The two would share pictures of themselves naked and even started having phone sex. John was enjoying every second of the attention, but began to think that things were too good to be true.

Several times John had tried to arrange for Charlotte to come see him. He offered her the spare bedroom to ease her nerves about being intimate with someone she had never met. She would agree, but then at the last minute she would cancel without a reason. John was beginning to accept that she may not be who she said she was and that they may never meet.

Things all changed about 6 months into their online relationship. Charlotte expressed to John that the reason she had canceled all of the meeting arrangements was because she was embarrassed that she was so young. She told him that she didn't want to feel like a little kid with her father. John reassured her that he thought of her as a grown woman and would never think of her as a child, especially not his own!

Charlotte felt a little more comfortable and agreed to meet for dinner one night, but nothing more. John happily agreed and they set up to meet for a movie and then dinner for two at an upscale restaurant.

The days crept by as the date approached. John prepared himself by getting a haircut and trimming up his untidy "lumberjack" beard. He decided it was time for some new clothes to really complete the look, so he went out and bought a nice pair of dress pants and button up shirt for dinner the following night.

To ease her nerves a bit, John and Charlotte had decided it would be best to meet up at the theater instead of giving their addresses. John knew Charlotte was nervous and didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was. As John pulled up to the theater, Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. John thought that maybe she had bailed on him again. With less than a minute until the movie was scheduled to start, John saw Charlotte for the first time.

Chapter II

The petite blonde figure was walking his way. John was trying to conceal his nerves as the beautiful woman approached. Her pictures hadn't done her justice. He could see right away that her breasts were not the meager B-cup she proclaimed, but were almost a D! Her short flowered skirt showed just enough leg to be respectable yet sexy at the same time. Her thin white blouse showcased her upper body amazingly. With her curly blonde hair down her back, she looked like a real movie star.

John walked up to her and introduced himself to the stunning young lady. She nervously looked him over and gave a shy smile and apologized for being late. John suggested they go catch the movie quick before the previews ended.

Throughout the movie, John caught himself staring at Charlotte. Planet of the Apes was a background to the show John was enjoying. Every giggle and exclamation Charlotte expressed gave John the most genuine smile he'd ever given. Everything about her was perfect in his mind. He caught her glancing at him every few minutes and quickly turn away when she realized he was watching her.

When the movie concluded, John offered Charlotte his hand and asked her if she was ready for dinner. She took his hand and agreed that she was starving. As they climbed into John's car, John noticed Charlotte adjusting her makeup in the mirror. He had never appreciated how beautiful a woman could be. He could never remember a time when he just watched his wife as he was watching Charlotte now. He began to feel guilty that he had never given his wife the attention a woman deserves.

The short drive to the restaurant opened a quick conversation about the movie. John embarrassingly hadn't been paying much attention to the movie and was glad when they arrived at the restaurant. After finding their reservations, the couple sat down in a booth in a secluded corner of the restaurant. The waitress came and took their orders. Charlotte was looking down at the table. John asked her if she was nervous and she quickly shook her head 'yes'. After their food and drinks had arrived, Charlotte started opening up a bit more. John noticed they were making eye contact and even held hands across the table briefly. John had just started to give the punch line to the joke he had just told when Charlotte interrupted him by saying that she wanted to go home with him that night.

John was shocked. He thought the date was going pretty well, but never imagined she would be up for spending the night already. He quietly told her that if that's what she wanted, then he'd be happy to oblige. She shook her head and said that the only way to get over her fears were to face them head-on. John was excited and nervous at the same time. He hadn't planned on Charlotte staying the night and was quickly taking inventory in his head of all of the things he didn't clean around the house.

John told Charlotte that the spare room was clean, but there was quite a mess in the living room from his at-home business. She waved her hand at him and told him that she'd just like to sleep in his bed if he didn't mind. Of course John didn't mind, he just wasn't looking forward to sleeping on the couch the whole night.

After some more small talk, Charlotte suggested that they head to his apartment before it got too late. John paid the bill and helped Charlotte up as they headed for the door. John had seen a dramatic change in Charlotte in the past hour. She was much more cheerful and talkative. She even told him that she had played with herself all morning thinking about him. John was starting to get turned on as she described her morning to him.

When they arrived at John's apartment, Charlotte reminded John of all of the sexual fantasies John had described to her online. She told him that she had been thinking about them all week and that she wanted him to make her a woman by taking her virginity that night.

John helped her out of the car and up the stairs to his apartment. Outside the door, he turned to Charlotte and asked if she was sure she wanted to do this. She responded by pulling his lips to her's and kissing him passionately on the lips. John was startled, but had never been more aroused in his life.

Chapter III

She sat on the edge of the bed, nervous about what was about to happen. All of the promises John had made came flooding into her head at once. She felt her breathing flutter for a moment as she realized she was about to get the pounding of a lifetime.

John quickly, but meaningfully, grasped the bottom hem of Charlotte's blouse and gently pulled it up over her head. Her arms lingered above her for a moment as John took in the view of her beautiful bra-clad chest. He got down on his knees between her thighs and reached around for her bra clasp as she lowered her hands to his shoulders.

After fidgeting with the clasp for a moment, her milky white breasts came bouncing loose as the support finally gave way. John slowly pulled her bra off of her arms and gently tossed it to the side. He instructed Charlotte to raise her hands as they had been before so he could admire them in their fullness. Charlotte exhaled as she raised her arms above her head, flattening her lightly toned stomach.

John leaned forward and kissed her stomach right below her breasts as he lightly caressed her engorged nipples in his hands. After a moment of fondling, John slowly started leaning Charlotte back onto the bed. Grabbing her hips, he gently pulled her to the edge of the bed. John slid his finger into the waistband of her flower-print skirt and slowly pulled them down her legs as she raised her beautiful tight ass off of the bed.

John tossed the skirt to the side to join her blouse and began kissing her knees, working his way up her thighs. He could already smell her musky scent as he was halfway to his target. John could feel the heat radiating from her still panty-clad pussy. He wanted to take her right then, but used all the self control he possessed to hold himself back. He was going to make her beg for it.

Charlotte's mind was completely empty. As she lay back, she let all of her thoughts fade away as she just allowed herself to feel the sensations John's body was giving her. She could feel herself getting wetter by the very touch of his lips to her thighs. She took her breasts into her hands and slowly started massaging her nipples, lightly rolling them between her manicured fingers.

As John was inches from her lips, he leaned back onto the backs of his feet and reached to her sides to slide her panties down her long tanned legs. After tossing her panties, John separated her knees and stared into her glistening wet pussy. Again he started at her knees and began working his way up her thighs, planting a kiss every other inch of the way.

Charlotte was burning up inside with the desire to pull John as deep into her as she possibly could. The closer John got to her pussy, the harder she found herself pinching her nipples. The need was getting stronger and stronger with every advancement he made. Finally she felt John reach his destination and plant a kiss right above her clit. This was too much for Charlotte to contain any longer and she let out a long moan, encouraging John to continue.

Using his tongue, John softly parted her slippery lips and gently flicked his tongue over her engorged clit. He felt her shutter under him. John took a long suck on her clit as he primed his finger for entry. Slowly, John inserted his middle finger deep into Charlotte's pussy. Pulling out his finger, he offered it to Charlotte to taste.

"Do you like the taste of your pussy?" he asked her as he inserted his finger into her mouth. Charlotte moaned in approval as she started sucking her juices off of his finger. John knew that she was a virgin and didn't want to overwhelm her body. He pulled his finger back and started gently pumping his finger into her pussy as he lapped at her clit. John could hear Charlotte's breathing quicken and felt her getting even wetter than before. John inserted another finger into her already full snatch.

Charlotte gave another moan of approval as John started quickening his pace. Soon he had both fingers deep in her pussy, feeling her hymen stretching around his knuckles. When Charlotte's moans started becoming more pronounced, he withdrew his fingers and pulled away from her soaking pussy. He instructed her to sit up. As she was raising herself up into a sitting position, John pulled off his shirt. Charlotte smiled and began to unbutton his dress pants. 

As she unzipped his pants and began pulling them down, John's 9 and a half inch cock nearly hit her in the face as it sprang to life, now free from its constraints. Charlotte giggled a bit as she watched it spring from his pants. John quickly kicked his pants and boxers off and stood between Charlotte's thighs.

Charlotte reached up and grasped his engorged cock in both hands. She could feel its warmth as it pulsated in her fingers. She heard John groan as she started sliding her hands up and down his shaft. She slowly made her way towards his bulging head with her lips. As she pressed her mouth against his head, she felt him run his fingers through her hair. This slight encouragement gave Charlotte the confidence she needed to take his member into her warm mouth.

John felt her tongue exploring the head of his penis as he stroked her hair. He knew he wouldn't last long with this beautiful woman sucking his cock. He gently started thrusting into her mouth, silently begging for her to go deeper. Feeling his desire, Charlotte took one breath of air before taking 7 inches of his beautiful cock into her mouth.

John didn't want to finish just yet, so he gently pulled her off of himself and asked her to lay back onto the bed. Charlotte did as she was asked and prepared herself to be deflowered by this throbbing piece of meat.

Chapter IV

To be continued...

A New Beginning Pt. 02



'A New Beginning' is another of my literary experiments, this time a parallel story in two parts. Part 1 was the story as told by Patrick. The second part is the same story told by Rachel, ending with a convergence of both parts that lead into the conclusion. The conversations between Rachel and Patrick remain the same, highlighting what was going on in the lives of each of them at the time. This, Part 2 is Rachel's story.

*****

I had been standing here for at least an hour, looking out over the beauty of this scene that I had enjoyed for as long as I could remember, hoping that it would take my mind off my problems. But it just wasn't happening for me, not this morning, but why? I couldn't have asked for a better morning, the sun was shining, warming my face as it rose up from the horizon, there was a slight breeze, blowing softly in my face, that was just enough to take the edge off the sun's heat. I was about to give up and wallow once more in self pity, when this guy, that I'd noticed out of the corner of my eye as he approached, said "Good morning, as he passed.

"Is it?" It might have been for him, he probably didn't have a care in the world, although there was no smile in his voice when he said it.

"Why would you say that?" He had stopped and was looking closely at me. "It is a beautiful morning, just enough sun that it doesn't burn, just enough breeze that it keeps you cool, not enough people around to bother you, how could you not think that this is a beautiful morning?"

We looked at each other, I don't know what he was thinking, but he didn't look the type that went around hitting on strange women, so I felt reasonably safe talking to him.

He got in first. "There's a seat down here a bit, why don't we sit down and you can tell me all about your problems." I was just about to say something less than encouraging, but again he got in first. "No strings attached."

"Okay, but why are you doing this?" I still wasn't sure about him.

"Because I don't like to see someone like you unhappy. You would look much better with a smile on your face." I gave him my best cheesy grin. "Not that kind of smile."

"I have nothing to smile about." At least I didn't think that I had.

"Then tell me what you have that's not to smile about, and I'll see if I can help you."

Fat chance of that happening. "No-one can." I said quietly.

"Try me."

Did I dare tell him my sad tale of woe? What can I lose by telling him? Nothing, I have nothing more to lose. " I have just been told . . . , that I will not be given a passing grade unless I go to bed with my Professor. The more often I go to bed with him, the higher the grade." 

This shocked him. "I thought that sort of thing didn't happen any more."

"It does, believe me. What he initially thought was that I was some dumb bimbo who would go to bed with anyone." I remembered thinking that he obviously hadn't looked at my academic record to date, otherwise he would have realised that to be not the case. "When he read my first assignment he realised that I wasn't dumb, so he began to mark me down, to give me lower grades than the assignment merited. When I questioned this was when he hit me with his suggestion that I should go to bed with him, go to his office couch with him. He is married, so his bed was out of the question."

"Can't you complain to the University authorities, the Vice Chancellor for instance?"

"I doubt that that would do any good, the rumours around the campus is that he's one of the worst offenders, or at least he used to be before he was promoted."

"I wish that there was some way that I could help you." 

He seemed to genuinely want to help me. But at what price, would he expect me to go to bed with him? "May be we can help each other."

He probably doubted it, but I had piqued his interest. "What do you mean?"

"I noticed you as you walked towards me, the body was walking towards me but the mind was way off there somewhere else. You were so deep in thought that I was surprised when you spoke to me. I didn't think that you had noticed me."

"It would be hard not to, you'd stand out in a crowd."

"Thank you. Now getting back to you, what is your problem? Is it your wife?"

He looked sharply at me, I had struck a nerve. "Why would you ask that?"

"I noticed the wedding ring, that usually means that a man's problems are with his wife. My immediate thoughts were that you were separated, and divorce is a distinct possibility." That had been my experience a couple of times in the past. I had learned not to believe that one.

"I no longer have a wife." He said it so softly that I barely heard him. He was really hurt by this.

"She left you and you have been unable to let go, is that it?" A reasonable enough assumption, straight out of Psych 101.

"She died a year ago, she was murdered."

"How sad for you." That was a reactionary response. Not as bad as 'I know where you're coming from', probably the most cringe-worthy of all of the programmed responses, but it possibly didn't help. Then he looked very familiar. I had seen him on TV about a year ago, tears in his eyes as he pleaded for his wife's return. "Wait a minute, you're that man that was charged with murdering his wife, but when it came to your trial the judge threw it out. He called it a travesty, a miscarriage of justice and recommended that the police in charge of the investigation be suspended." I had wondered after the trial what happened to him, he just seemed to slip under the radar.

"That's the one."

"Patrick O'Laughlin, that's your name isn't it? I saw it on TV, your wife was missing from home and you were pleading for help in finding her. The speculation was that you had done it, and those were crocodile tears that you were shedding."

"That's what the police thought. Because many such cases are usually committed by a spouse or close family member, they assumed, wrongly in my case, that this was yet another of these. They spent more time searching for a motive as to why I should have killed her, than actually finding the real murderer."

"I never believed that you did it for one minute. I just couldn't see you doing it."

"Thank you. Even now there are still some out there who think that I did it."

"But why would they think that? You were never convicted. There was no evidence to suggest that to be the case."

"Because the real killer has not been caught. To these people, with the lack of a viable alternative, there is still some doubt as to my innocence."

"So what have you done about this?"

"Nothing. What can I do? The police are reluctant to help. I had made them look bad, at least that was how they looked at it. I did nothing to even hint that they were incompetent. I kept my feelings hidden inside, I couldn't afford to let them out in case they took it as me trying to divert attention from my guilt."

"So, you're not doing anything about it?"

"I didn't say that. I have not been thinking straight this past year, what with being slammed in gaol, and now having to try and get back into work while still thinking about the kids having to go to their grandmother's house every day after school. I just haven't had time to get my head around all of this until now."

"So, what are you doing about it now?"

"I have been going through in my mind everything that happened in the lead up to her murder to see if I can find a reason, or if there is any evidence of someone either stalking her or who had some other motive for killing her."

"Any luck yet?"

"This is pretty much a cold case. My lawyer has applied for access to all of the police evidence to see if there is anything in among all of that that can give us a lead. I'm just on my way to see him now."

"Can I tag along, just for a little while, I feel less alone now thanks to you stopping to chat."

"Sure thing. Do you realise that you are the first woman, apart from Mother and Rosie's mother, and the Psychologist that I was advised to go and see, and probably supermarket checkout operators, although they hardly constitute a meaningful conversation, that I have spoken to in the past year?"

"It's no wonder that you feel down on the world, you haven't had the scintillating conversation with a woman to brighten up your day." I smiled at him, it was my best smile, he had no real alternative but to respond. 

"For once in a long time, I actually felt like I was a human and not some zombie stumbling through life." He said.

We arrived outside his Lawyer's office. "Look, I don't think it would look good me coming in with you. He might not take this the right way, you swanning around the countryside with someone young enough to be your daughter."

"I'm not that old." Wow, that hit a nerve. 

"See, before you stopped to talk to me you would have shut up and not said anything. I've had some impact on you. There's a cafe a couple of doors down, I'll wait for you there. If you haven't arrived in half an hour I'll take it that you've stood me up and slink off back into my hole and die."

"I can't have that now, can I? Do you have a phone on you?" He looked at me and realised the stupidity of that question, there was nowhere on my person where I could carry a phone.

"Yeah, sure, it's in my bra propping up my left tit." I smiled to let him know that I was not worried by his faux pas, and was relaxed in his company.

"I tell you what, I'll give you mine, and if I'm going to be held up a little longer than expected, I'll borrow a phone and call you. You can read out the menu for me and you can order for me. I'll pay, so you see there is no way that I'm not going to come to you. There is one little request."

"What is that?"

"No peeking at my SMS or MMS messages, okay?"

"As if I'd be interested in what you or your friends had to say to each other." 

What was I doing? This is the recurring question that I have yet to find an answer to. Here I was, sitting down in a cafe, having told the hovering waitress that I was waiting for someone, I had his phone on the table where I could see it, but why? Why didn't I just hand him his phone back and leave him to whatever it was that he was doing? My only answer was that I found him attractive, and vulnerable. My experience, before I learned to avoid them, with vulnerable men is that they either drag you down to their level, or they start blubbering when you try to get close enough to them for intimacy to take place. In other words, their memories impair performance and they are less than useless in bed. What was I thinking of? Would he be any different from those others? I don't know why I decided to give him a chance, but I did.

I was exploring available fall back plans when I saw him come through the door. I stood as soon as I saw him enter the cafe. "I was beginning to worry." I said as he arrived at the table. "I kept looking at the phone and wishing it to ring, just to let me know that you were not a figment of my imagination who somehow lent me his phone." I handed it back to him. "I think that you should give me your phone number, just in case I need someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on."

"I will if you will." I held my hand out for his phone. Within seconds I handed it back to him. He glanced at the screen. "Thank you Rachel Becket, I'll treasure this. Now what looks interesting?" He looked at the menu card that was standing in this holder thing, along with those long skinny tubes of sugar and condiments.

"I'm starving, I've just realised that I left home without breakfast. I'll have the spicy chicken foccacia with salad, a slice of the disgustingly fattening double chocolate cheesecake and a Latte, thank you." He chose a club sandwich and a flat white coffee. I had worked for a while as a Barista, and I learned that there's no difference in the amounts of milk and coffee in both the latte and flat white. For the latte, the coffee is poured through the frothed milk, while the flat white the milk is poured over the coffee. He didn't want the dessert.

"I was thinking," he said, "while I was waiting for Guthrie, he's my Lawyer, to find time for me."

"Oh, oh." I said.

"Hear me out. Why don't you start up one of those 'name and shame' Web sites and encourage others to name Professors who obtain sexual favours in response to giving higher grades. I'm sure that you're not alone among the female student population that has been hit on like this."

"I know that I'm not. Let me think about this. I need to speak to some of the others to see if they'll back me up on this before I go ahead with it."

"If you don't use your real names there'll be no come back, at least I hope not."

Our food arrived and we exchanged bits and pieces of conversation between mouthfuls. "When you hand your assignment in, are you in a group, like a tutorial group, or is it in person?" He asked.

"In a tute group, and they're handed back in the group as well." 

"When you questioned his grading, was that in his office or within the group?"

"In his office. He does not like to be questioned in public. He has made that very clear."

"Okay, what are you like as an actress?"

"I can get by most of the time, what do you have in mind?"

"Have you seen the last film of the Millennium Trilogy, 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest'?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember Lisbeth Salander's trial, how she was dressed?"

"Yes. If you're suggesting that I get a million piercings and a punk hair style you can forget it."

"You don't think that Noomi Rapace looks like that in real life, do you?"

"No, but I bet she spent hours in make-up to achieve that look."

"A lot of that was to make her face look as if she gone ten rounds with a threshing machine. I'm sure that a competent make-up artist could achieve something like that in a short period of time. I think a punk wig would cover your real hair, so there'll be no need to cut it, although, if you wanted to, you could revert back to your real colour and have it cut in a punk style." He was waiting for my reaction, was I going to deny that my hair colour was fake?

"I could do that. I'd feel strange, it has been this colour for years."

"You do realise that being a brunette would add another ten percentage points to your IQ, don't you?" I've lost count of the number of times that I've heard that one before, hundreds of times, but I laughed just the same.

"What do you intend that I do with this get-out?"

"When you go to your next lecture with him dressed as a punk, you approach him after the lecture and tell him that you're ready to have sex with him. See what he says, chances are that he'll bail. If he doesn't, in amongst your lecture notes and stuff in the bag that you'll have over your shoulder will be a miniature cam-corder, I can provide that if you can't get hold of one, but they're freely available from most electronics stores. You shouldn't have sex with him, just fight him off, kick him in the balls if you feel that way inclined. You now have a record of his attempt to coerce you into sex for grades. Put that out on the Web and see what happens."

"All right, I'll think about it. I won't make any promises mind you. Now, I don't know what you have planned for the rest of the day, but I have an assignment to complete. I'll have to love you and leave you. I'm sure that you have enough to keep you occupied." We both stood to leave.

"Yes, I do. I have taken this morning off work to see my Lawyer, but I need to get back to work. I have some catching up to do, and now that I give the appearance of having shaken off the crap that I've gone through this past year, I can't expect them to carry me any longer. If you need me, call, okay?"

"I was just about the say the same thing. Good-bye then." I kissed him on the cheek, my hand that had rested on his shoulder moved up and caressed his cheek. I could feel him watching me as I walked away from him.

"Hey Chelsea." Chelsea was my best friend at Uni, we were both studying in the Geography department, she was studying Climate Science while I was doing Demographics. She stopped and waited for me to catch up to her. "I met this guy this morning, and he came up with a great idea. He suggested that we set up a 'Name & Shame' Web page, linked to Facebook and Twitter, that names predatory Professors, and to encourage others to do the same. What do you think?"

"Are you crazy? They'll track down who set it up and you'll never get your degree."

"Not if we play our cards right. We can convince someone in IT to set it up in such a way that the source can't be tracked, at least not easily. That way they can't punish us."

"You keep saying us, what makes you think that I want any part of this crazy scheme?"

"Because you're always complaining that you get hit on all the time. Now's the time to say no in such a way that it won't happen again."

"I guess that you're right, I need to do something. I need to forget that these old guys are all offering to make sure that I graduate, what young guy can offer that?"

"A young guy that can help you study."

"And where am I going to find one of those? All they're interested in is getting me into bed."

"And these old guys aren't? What's going to happen when you get your assisted graduation? Is it going to help you do the job that you were studying for? No. You will be on your own and un-prepared for the world out there. Will they help you then? No, they'll be shagging some new and gullible girl."

"All right, count me in. What can I do?"

"You can start by talking to other girls and get a feel to the extent of this problem at this Uni. If it's as bad as I think it is, then we get the Web page out there, and make sure that other Universities pick up on it. Today Australia, tomorrow the world."

We spent the rest of the day speaking to as many groups of girls as we could. The response was overwhelming. Those girls that hadn't actually been approached, wanted to support us anyway. We had close to a hundred percent who will support us. Tomorrow we would contact other Universities. Wait until Patrick hears what his suggestion has started. 

The word had got around and girls were coming up to us and volunteering information. They were told to upload details onto the Web site when it was up and running, in the next day or two, and to also get it out on any social media site that they were on.

I was working on my computer, trying to design a Web page for my campaign. I had a list of the things that I wanted included, and ideas on how I wanted it set up. I was using a Web-page design programme that I had downloaded off the Net, and was just about to give up on it, when I rang him. "This is Patrick, speak to me." This wonderful voice said.

"Hi, it's Rachel. I tried ringing earlier but you must have been out." 

"Yeah, the kids and I had dinner with my parents."

"I thought that might have been the case. I got your answering machine, I love your message by the way. I didn't bother to leave a message." 

"I'm glad that you called. Have you given any thought to what we spoke about this morning?"

"Yes. I spoke to some of the other girls and we are going to put together a Web-page to get this problem out there and see what sort of reaction we get. How about you?"

"I rang one of Rosie's old work mates, she's not old, just that she used to work . . . . I think I'll shut up and tell you what happened. She told me that Rosie did have something bothering her in the weeks just before she was killed, and that the police weren't interested in that. I'm having lunch with her tomorrow and she has promised to tell me all."

"I don't know that I'm happy with that."

"Why, it's perfectly straight forward. Don't tell me that you're jealous?"

"All right I won't, but I am. I did a lot of thinking after I left you, and I came to the realisation that you were the first man, that I have had a private conversation with, who not only didn't try to get into my pants, but actually helped me. This was a new experience for me and I liked it. I like you, and don't give me that bullshit about our age difference, you're not that much older than me."




A New Beginning Pt. 02



"How old are you? No, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I'm 22, and in my final year of Uni. This isn't the first time that I have had a prof hit on me, but this is the first that has been so blatant and persistent. The others took 'fuck off' as my final word and left it at that."

"As for me not wanting to get into your pants, that's not entirely true, I want to, but only if you want the same thing. I haven't yet worked out the logistics of this, but I will try to entice you into my boudoir at some time in the future."

"Can you give me a time-line on this future? How long is my freedom going to last?"

"Only as long or short as you want it to."

"Just make sure that you stay right away from the clutches of that other bitch."

"You have no worries there, she gave me the creeps." 

"I promise never to creep you out. As for the other thing, it has been a long time since I have felt this way about a man. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against sex as such, but I want so much for it to mean something other than having my primal urges met." 

"It has been a year between drinks for me. I have come to realise that a family really needs to have more than one parent, and that the two parents should at all times be a good example of love, so that the kids can grow up knowing the difference between love and sex."

"So there's no pressure on me then? You and I can have sex as long as it's with love."

"That's how I feel, no love, no sex."

"Well then, we had better hurry up and get to know and love each other."

"Is this the same girl I met this morning who was so weighed down with the cares of the world that she could hardly speak?"

"Yes it is, and I have you to thank for my transformation. I think that I might take up another of your ideas, punk sounds good." 

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"I know, let me think about it some more. When am I going to see you again?"

"I have a bit of time in the morning, after I've dropped the kids off at school and before I have to be at work. I could meet you where we met this morning. You do remember where that was, don't you?"

"If you're going to be insulting forget it. I'll see you then. 'Bye."

Here I am, just about to launch a campaign targeting randy old Professors who prey on young women, the kind of situation that would turn a girl right off men, and I'm falling for a man. Who'd a thunk it?"

"Hi." I reached up and kissed him. 

"Hi to you. Have you been waiting long? I got caught up in the school drop-off log jam."

"No, I only just got here myself. Would you like a coffee, my treat?"

"Sure, I'd love it." There was a cafe across the road, so we headed for that. We ordered and found a seat at the back where we could have a little privacy.

"What time do you have to be at work?"

"My time is pretty flexible, but I should be there by 9:30, we have a meeting at 10:00 that I have to be at, so that gives us a little time together. How is the Web site going?"

"I've been working on a Web-page, but we've also got some of the IT students designing a page for us with links to Facebook, Twitter and we're planning something for You Tube. We want to cover as many bases as we can."

"Sounds like you're really getting in to this thing. Please, don't let this campaign distract you from your studies."

"Don't worry, I won't." I was about to say something else but was interrupted by the arrival of our coffees. "I want you to be proud of me, proud enough to want to keep meeting me."

"Don't you think that you're rushing this a little? After all, we've known each other for all of a day."

"I know. Don't worry, I'm not going to get all possessive and ring you all the time and stuff like that. I just want to keep myself in the loop."

"I don't see that as a problem. Look Rachel, I like you, a lot. But you have to remember that I've been out of circulation for a year now, and I'm afraid that if we rush this we might end up making a mess of things and split up. I don't want that to happen. I want to give this the best shot at succeeding."

I reached across the table and grabbed his hand. "You want what I want, that to me is a good starting point. Don't worry, I'm not going to pressure you into doing something that you'll regret."

"Thank you for that, and for this, all of this. Now I'm going to have to make a move." I stood to leave and Patrick stood. It seemed so natural when we kissed that we held it for longer than we had intended. "I'll call you tonight, 'bye." His arm was around me and he gave my body a squeeze in parting. My smile said more than any words.

I spent most of the day in lectures, and the rest of it in hastily called and informal meetings with girls who had heard of our campaign and wanted to join us. This campaign was building up a full head of steam and was threatening to blow.

My last meeting was with one of the IT guys. His name was Thoreau, I didn't ask if it was his surname or Christian name because he seemed to be very intense, and I didn't want to upset him in any way. "We have set this up in such a way that not even Bill Gates' team would be able to trace it. We launched it through several different servers in several different countries. Once it was out there we closed down this server and opened another that is linked back into the loop. What will confuse anyone trying to trace the original source is that at each stage there is a cut-out with a loop around it."

"That's way too technical for me to understand. Give it to me in words of one syllable or less, and leave out the jargon."

"You have nothing to worry about, nothing can be traced back to you."

"Thank you for that."

"I don't know why you wanted it set up this way, you do realise that this would have made you so famous that those that are named would never be able to touch you."

"Don't you believe that. Look what happened to Julian Assange, he thought that he was untouchable."

"These guys don't have the same clout as the US Military."

"But they have friends in high places. Gotta go. Thanks for this."

"No wuckin' furries." 

I was working on an assignment when my phone rang. It was Patrick. "Hi, I wondered when you would call, I was just going to bed. I was thinking about what it would be like going to bed with you. Am I being too forward, if I am I didn't mean to be, just telling you what I was thinking without the expectation of it ever happening."

"Hi, before you ask, apart from this morning, I've had a shit of a day."

"Your lunch didn't go well then?"

"That was just a part of what turned out to be something of a disaster. Do you remember me telling you that she creeped me out, well nothing has changed in that area. She started off by getting angry with me for seeing you this morning. That creeped me out let me tell you. Then she told me a whole lot of stuff that I didn't know that Rosie was going through leading up to her death, and now she has virtually accused this guy that was stalking her of murdering her. But the more that I thought about this, the less plausible I found it. There is something not quite right about it, but I can't place my finger on it. What I need to do is to track this guy down and get his side of the story. My big problem is that I won't be able to take any time off work for the next week or so. I wouldn't mind so much if it was something that I liked doing, but believe me, this is one part of my job that I can do without."

"Maybe I can help you, I have a bit of spare time over the next week or two, so if there is anything that I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask."

"There is. Can you come to my office at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, By then I should have the contents of the safety deposit box and had a chance to look at what is in there. If there is something that you can follow up on, then I can give you the information and you can get on it."

"I'll be there, wherever that is." He gave me the address and told me to speak to the receptionist who'll tell me where his office is.

"How is your campaign going?"

"The girls have already started to send their stuff out and the response is frightening, this is bigger than I thought. I'll fill you in tomorrow morning, shall I?"

"Of course, I'm so bushed that I forgot about our morning meetings. Same time as this morning?"

"Same time, same place? Or shall we make it a different place?"

"Probably a good idea. I'll drop the kids off as usual and then drive to the train station. I'll catch the train to the domestic terminal and meet you at the top of the stairs on the concourse. We can find a cafe somewhere and grab a coffee. How does that sound to you."

"She's got you ducking for cover, hasn't she?"

"It's not me that I'm worried about, I'd hate to think of what she would do to you if she put her mind to it. I'm going to talk to Guthrie tomorrow once I get a peak at what's in the box. If Rosie mentions this guy by name he can probably track him down quicker than we can."

"Thank you for caring. I can take care of myself I'll have you know."

"Against a normal person maybe, but I've got a horrible feeling that she's seriously unhinged. Look, I'd better go, I've just heard Rhianna heading for the bathroom, and she'll come down here to get me to tuck her back into bed. If I'm talking to someone she'll want to know who it is, and I don't want to lie to her, and it's way to soon to spring you on them. 'Bye Love."

"I like that. See you in the morning Darling." I shouldn't have said that, it just slipped out. I'm going to have to be careful, I wouldn't want to scare him off.

I suppose he had a good reason for meeting me somewhere different, so here I was, waiting as the morning commuter rush rushed past me on their way either to somewhere else, or from somewhere else. I saw him coming up the escalator. "Hi, how are you this morning?" I kissed him.

"Fine, really good. We won't have to worry about being seen by you know who."

"Good, I want to tell you what has happened with our campaign. It has gone viral! It is bigger than I anticipated, we are getting feeds from all over the world, especially America where it seems to be the done thing. But the big news is that I'm not the only girl that my particular Prof has been hitting on. With the number of girls claiming to have not only been hit on by him, but have actually had sex with him, I'm surprised that he ever gets any work done. He has a veritable harem happening. It's only a matter of time before the Uni Admin gets wind of this and they'll be forced to take some sort of action."

"It's also a matter of time before the media takes up the campaign. This is the sort of story that they feed on. My concern is that the professors that are named will not take this laying down. They will probably fight back and fight dirty. I don't want you to get hurt by this."

"I don't think that's likely to happen." I wasn't sure of that, the bottom feeders from the media have a reputation of using all methods in there arsenal to get to the bottom of a story. "This has been set up in such a way that it is almost impossible to trace the source. The original post was routed through literally hundreds of servers before it surfaced. And as soon as it was out there the original server was shut down."

"I wish that I knew my way around a computer like you do. We have to use them in HR, doing wages and stuff like that, and keeping track of the hours that staff work, and I can handle that reasonably well, but get me to do something that I'm not used to, and I'd flounder big time."

"Well then, you'd have to call on my expertise, wouldn't you?"

"As if I'd need an excuse to call on you. Getting on to the subject of this afternoon, I don't know what I'll find in the box, so we'll have to play it by ear until we make some sense of it. I won't be able to spend too much time on it, I have my job to do. And it's something that I can't delegate, the decisions are mine to make, and mine alone. If it's okay with you, and it needs immediate attention, I'll leave you in my office to work on it, Judy, she's my Assistant, will look after you if you need anything, coffee, whatever, feel free to ask."

"I will. It will be great to see where you work and what you do, and what people think of you, not that this will affect the way I feel about you." I smiled at him. "You know, I could quite easily be falling in love with you."

"That's good, I feel the same way about you, but we have a lot of hurdles to jump before we can take this anywhere. I have to tell you, I will not be rushed. Any decision that I, we, make will impact on the rest of our lives. I am a cautious man."

"Good. You had better get to work. I'll see you this afternoon." We stood, we kissed, and he walked back down to the train platform to catch a train into the CBD and work.

I had a couple of lectures this morning and a tutorial, so I was pretty busy. I caught up with Chelsea around lunch time, and she was a mixture of excited and scared. Excited because we had started something big, really big, and scared because she was beginning to think that it might get too big and we'd lose control.

"Look Chelsea, I'm happy to hand over control of this. Call me a coward, but I haven't posted my complaint on any site, I don't have to because several other girls have already done that. If you can do the same thing, then we can sit back and watch the skin and fur fly, and feel safe that we are not actually involved."

"What's your next project going to be, 'Cowards Anonymous' for those gutless wonders who won't publicly stand up for their rights?"

"That's not a bad idea. No, I don't see myself as a coward, if I was, do you think that I would have even started this thing in the first place? I know that the loops and cut-outs in the Web-page will protect us, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I am entering into a good place and don't want to put that at risk."

"Oh, I see. Does this good place have anything to do with the guy that you met yesterday, and who is responsible for this whole fiasco?"

"Now that you mention it, yes."

"Rachel, what are you doing? Is this the same girl that has virtually sworn off men because she's sick and tired of wandering hands?"

"I am sick and tired of gormless young men who think that they are doing me a favour by even talking to me, let alone giving me the benefit of their extensive sexual prowess. I want to experience something, someone who cares as much about me as I do about him. Patrick just might be that man."

"I wish you luck then, I promise to not tell you that I told you so when this whole romance goes pear shaped and you are left a blubbering fool yet again."

It was 2:00 and I walked into the front of his office. "I'm here for a meeting with Mr O'Laughlin, can you point me to his office." 

She thrust a finger towards a corridor. "Last office on the left."

I found it without any problems. There was a woman seated in a sort of reception area. She looked up as I entered. "I have an appointment with Mr O'Laughlin."

"That's odd, he doesn't have an appointment with anyone in the book."

"Check with him."

She got up and went into the office. I heard her announce, "There's a young lady wanting to see you, she doesn't seem to have an appointment." 

Then Patrick's wonderful voice. "Send her in. Her name is Rachel by the way."

"She's a very nice young lady, this Rachel of yours."

"What do you mean by that remark?"

"She's not just any young lady, she's someone special. Don't look at me like that, mother knows." She said tapping the side of her nose.

"Don't be silly, and send her in."

"It's about time." She said as a parting shot at him. They seemed to have a good relationship going between them. Should I be worried?

A second or two later she indicated that I was allowed in.

I breezed in. "That lady out there looked at me funny."

"Yeah, she's of the opinion that we are an item."

"Are we?"

"You could say that."

"I also say that we should confirm it." I didn't give him any chance to differ, launching herself at him I kissed him, just as Judith walked in with a huge smile on her face.

"You should never argue with mother, she is always right."

"You were spying."

"Of course. What do you expect, a very attractive young lady arrives unannounced and without an appointment, I just had to find out more. It's about time I say. It takes the pressure off me after all of those nasty things that dumb cop said about us at your trial, he had some people convinced that you and I were having some sort of torrid, sordid affair. As if. Now I can spread the word that our Patrick has found himself a girl. He has found himself one, hasn't he?"

"Will you be quiet, we have work to do. Go file your talons and use them on someone else." He told her.

"No I will not. If you two have work to do I can only assume that it is something to do with Rosie's disappearance and I want to help."

"But you and I have work type work to do.'

"That can wait another half a day, this sounds like more fun."

"You could be right there, I wasn't looking forward to it. Okay, let's look at what's in this lot of papers, shall we?"

We each took several pages and began to read through them.

"Brendan Carlisle, who is he and where does he fit into this picture?" I looked up from the page that I was reading.

"He was the bloke that was harassing Rosie. I think that he was being treated for some mental illness."

"It says here that he was admitted to a Mental Health facility and is still there, still protesting that he never did any of the things that he was accused of. The prognosis is that until he acknowledges his guilt, he will never be able to move on from this. It looks as if he could be in for the duration." 

"I'm beginning to suspect that he could just be right. If he was madly in love with Rosie, as had been suggested, why would he kill her? I should have been the target."

"Maybe someone who wanted Rosie out of the way so that she could get her fangs into you, wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Get rid of her clinging boyfriend and the wife of the man that she fancied, and to make it look as if it was a deranged man who killed her because he couldn't have her." I said.

"That lady that was ringing you up, what was her name?" Judy asked.

"Georgia. She has shown herself to be insanely jealous of Rachel, even though we aren't even lovers."

"And why is that? Judy asked.

"Judy! How could you say such a thing?" He asked. I smiled and said anything. "We have only just met and I want to get to know her and be very sure of my feelings toward her, and probably even introduce her to the kids before I make any commitment along those lines."

"Chicken." I said. "Actually I agree with you. I do not want you to feel pressured into making a hasty decision. I want you to be comfortable in yourself before we consummate our relationship, however long that takes." I smiled at him and reached for his hand. "But it had better not take too long. Now where were we?"

"I think that Georgia is emerging as a likely candidate. She may not have done it herself, but I wouldn't put it past her to hire someone. I think that I'll give Guthrie a ring and run this past him to see what he says."

He made the call. "Guthrie, it's Patrick." He put the phone onto speaker.

"Patrick, are you psychic or what? I was just about to call you. We have gone over the police evidence and we have a likely suspect, and you'll never guess who it is."

"Georgia." 

"Wow, you should take your psychic act on stage, you'd make a fortune. How did you come to that conclusion?"

"A couple of things have surfaced, not the least of which is that she has shown, in the way that she has been stalking me and making weird phone calls, that she can be insanely jealous, border-line psychotic, and capable of doing just about anything. Then there was the fact that Rosie was being harassed by, we were supposed to believe, Brendan Carlisle, a co-worker, and supposed lover of Georgia. He denied any of this, but lost the plot and was committed to a psychiatric facility, where he still resides, still protesting his innocence. We are inclined to believe that he might be innocent. The fact that the harassment continued after he was committed led us to believe that here was another person involved, a person whose vested interest was in getting rid of Rosie and having Brendan blamed for it, someone who wanted me. Georgia has made no secret of the fact that she was interested in me when I first contacted her for information about Rosie's behaviour immediately before her death."




A New Beginning Pt. 02



"You keep saying 'we', who is the other part of this first person twosome?"

"A very nice. . . " I mouthed 'very nice' in a questioning manner. He held up his hand to silence me. "young lady who I have taken a fancy to . . " He got the thumbs up gesture from me this time. "Guthrie, say hello to Rachel."

"Hello Rachel. I'm sure that you are a ravishingly beautiful young lady, but because this tight-arse won't lash out and have a video-cam fitted to his phone I have to rely on my imagination."

"Hello Guthrie, I have heard a lot about you, all of it good."

"A lady of great perception Patrick. Now back to the matter at hand. We have been checking up on the police evidence surrounding your car. Two things stand out that were not followed up on. Firstly, it was picked up from the dealership hours before it was delivered to your office. The person picking it up told the dealer's receptionist that you had sent her to pick it up, she even paid for it. The person that delivered it to your office was wearing a jacket that identified her as an employee of the dealership. We showed your receptionist photographs of all of the dealer's female employees, she was not one of them. We then showed her a photo of the woman that we suspected was involved with the dealer uniform jacket photo-shopped onto it. Bingo! We then went back to the dealership with the same photo, this time without the jacket. Bingo again! It was Georgia."

"So she had the opportunity, and I guess her paranoid jealousy would provide the motive, what about means? How can we tie her into that?"

"We are working on that. We have looked at the forensic report on the blood in the boot of your car. The pathologist identified the sample as blood with some brain matter bone fragments and cerebral fluid, a couple of hairs, but, and here is where it gets interesting, the pattern and location, and the fact that there was no evidence of drag marks, was inconsistent with it having come from a body being placed in the boot of your car. It was placed there to look as if the body was transported in your car boot. When the body is found it will confirm that death was caused by blunt force trauma, she was hit over the head with sufficient force to cause a depressed fracture of the skull and fatal brain damage."

"So where do we go from here?"

"We need to convince the police to re-open the case and get a warrant to examine Georgia's car. This could prove difficult."

"You don't think that they'll go for it?"

"No, I think that they'll have no alternative. But she has sold her SUV, and tracking its new owner could prove difficult."

"The police can do that, can't they?"

"Yes. Now, to more immediate matters, when am I going to meet this Rachel person?"

"Soon, I promise. There are a few obstacles that I need to overcome first."

"The kids huh?"

"Yeah, I have some groundwork to do before she meets them."

"It sounds serious, is it?"

"It's getting to be, let's leave it at that."

"Okay. I can't keep chatting to you, I have work to do." He hung up. 'So do I'. Patrick thought out loud.

"I think that we've done about as much as we can here today. Can I drive you home?" He asked me.

"Yes, I'd appreciate that."

We packed up and Patrick and I left. We had only gone a couple of hundred metres when a familiar car pulled onto the road four cars behind us. "My friend has arrived." He said.

"What are you going to do about it?"

He handed me his mobile phone. "Guthrie is on speed-dial 4, call him and get him to arrange for police interception of that vehicle. Tell him that I will drive around in circles for ten minutes or however long it will take for them to set up near Waverley Police Station. I will drive into the car park and when she sees what I have done she will probably leg it. They can stop her and charge her with stalking. She's driving a red Hyundai i30, I can't read the rego number, but they'll know which one it is. Guthrie knows the make and model of my car and the rego number, so when they see it pull into the car park, they'll recognise her."

I relayed the details while he did a couple of figure '8's and returned to the main road. The phone rang, it was Guthrie. "It took some convincing, but they are ready." We headed for the Police Station. 

The phone rang again. "Let it ring out and go to voice mail." He told me.

"What the fuck are you playing at, you bastard. If you think that driving around in circles is going to shake me off, you've got another think coming. And you can tell your bitch that I'll rip her tits off when I catch her." 

"That will make interesting listening to when I replay it for the police." We pulled into the car park and the fun began. 

The policeman that stepped into her path with his hand up suffered severe leg injuries as he tried to jump out of her path. His partner called in 'Officer Down' as he gunned the car and took off after her. The chase was about to be called off because it was getting too dangerous, when she lost control and slammed into a parked car. Airbags and seat belts saved her life but she was pretty badly banged up. She was taken to hospital where she remained under police guard.

Guthrie arrived at the Police Station just as Patrick was replaying the voice message from his phone. He was armed with a thick folder which he placed on the desk. "This is the result of our investigation into the death of Rosie O'Laughlin. There is enough in that to convict Georgia, even without a body."

"We'll look into it. The very least we can charge her with threatening life, and stalking."

Guthrie looked at me. "You must be the fabulous Rachel that I have heard so much about. I'm deeply honoured to know you."

"Down boy, she's spoken for."

"I am, aren't I?" I looked pleased.

"Yes. I do believe that you are." I hugged him.

"You have nothing to worry about, I'm not interested, too sickeningly sweet for me."

"We'd better go, I'll drop you off and pick up the kids. I'll call you tonight. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"I was, but I like the sound of this, so I'm not any more. What did you have in mind?"

"I think a trip to the Zoo or something like that, with the kids."

"Sounds great, we'll discuss it later." I kissed him, he kissed me, who cares, we kissed each other.

It turned out to be the best day that I have had for a long time, and it started as soon as I was introduced to the kids. "Kids, this is the lovely lady I was telling you about, Rachel, this is Rhianna, and Ryan." Patrick said.

"Rhianna and Ryan," I said, smiling at them, "and now Rachel. Three names beginning with 'R'. I think your father's name should begin with 'R' as well. What shall we call him, Robert? Nah too stuffy, Roger? Oooh no."

"What about Raymond?" Rhianna asked.

"Yuk," Ryan said. "I think, Randall, he looks like a Randall."

"No he doesn't. Rory, that's a good one."

"How can you think that Rory's a good name?"

It went on and on, and I threw the odd name into the mix, only to be howled down. What was happening was that the three of us were having the time of our lives at his expense, and in the process, the kids were getting to open up to me, and like me. Every now and then during the day, one of them would come up with some outrageous name beginning with 'R', most of them we'd never heard of and probably didn't even exist, but it kept us amused.

It was a long day that passed quickly. I took tons of photos on my iPhone, including a bunch of selfies. We had a disgusting lunch of hamburgers and ice creams, something that the kids hardly ever have, but they persuaded me that I should pressure him to get them.

His mother had dinner waiting for us when we got back to her place. She looked at him, the question unspoken. "It's fine, better than fine, the kids love her."

"That's a relief for you."

The kids struggled through dinner, barely able to stay awake. There were two single beds in one of the spare rooms, and they went to bed earlier than usual. "You two will stay the night, won't you?"

"Yes, but I'll have to sleep on the couch, there's only one bed in the second bedroom." Patrick said.

"Have you ever noticed that my son is sometimes slow on the uptake?" His mother asked me. That settled it, this was going to be my first night with Patrick, and his first night in bed with a woman since Rosie. 

"What do you do Rachel?" His dad asked me.

"I'm at Uni, doing my PhD in Demographics. I hope to get a job in the Bureau of Stats."

"She's heavily involved in a social media campaign to name and shame preditary Professors, that's how we met. I'm afraid that it was sort of my idea." Patrick said.

"Can we see what you're doing?" His dad asked. He led me to his office and sat me down at his computer. I cranked up the Internet and typed in the name of the site. 

"This is the Web-page, it has links to Facebook, Twitter, and several other social media sites. It has gone viral, and the Professor with the most complaints against him is this guy." I was scrolling down the seemingly endless list to find his name, when Rhianna came into the room. "Daddy, I can't get to sleep." I had stopped at the page that I was looking for. "What's Grand-dad doing on your computer?" 

"He's just someone that I know from University. Would you like me to tuck you in?" I asked her.

"Yes, would you?" We trotted off and I returned a couple of minutes later.

"What was all that drama about?"

"That Professor, is Rosie's father."

"So what's going to happen?"

"We'll just have to let this run its course, we can't stop it now. While I should have some sympathy for him, what he has done negates any sympathy I feel. Let the cards fall where they may." Patrick said.

We slept together. We didn't make love, that was to come later, on Sunday night, in I guess that I can now say, our own bed, with the full knowledge of Rhianna and Ryan that I was to be their new Mummy.

I spent the day with Patrick and the kids, sort of a really getting to know and bond with session that went better than either Patrick or I expected. All thoughts of my problems were pushed back, out of sight in the back of my mind.

After dinner the kids wanted to stay up late with us, but Patrick insisted that they go to bed at the normal time. "Look, we'd love for you to stay up with us, but it's a school day tomorrow, so off you go. We'll be down in a minute to tuck you in, now off with you." Rhianna hugged him and kissed him good-night. 

"Don't I get one?" I asked her as she headed for her room.

She turned and ran to me, throwing her little arms around my neck and kissing me, and trotted off to her room.

"Thank you for today." Patrick said as I went into his arms. "The kids love you, we all love you."

"I love the kids," I kissed him, "And I love you. I never thought that I would ever meet a man who could so thoroughly make me fall for him, and for him to have two of the most gorgeous kids, who also made me fall for them. What more could I ask for?"

"We shall see what we shall see." He said with a wicked smile on his face. "You do realise that I sleep naked, don't you?"

"Oh, and how long have you been doing that?"

"Since tonight."

We went to Rhianna's room, she was almost asleep. "Good night Kitten." Patrick said as he kissed her and tucked her in.

"Good night Daddy, I love you."

"Good night Rhianna. Sleep tight." I bent to kiss her and her arms came out and she hugged my neck.

"Good night Mummy." You could have knocked me over with a feather. Did she really mean this or, was she, in her half asleep state, confusing me with Rosie? 

We slept naked. I came into his arms as we slid under the bedclothes. We kissed, I held his face in my hands and my lips against his. I felt a hand cup a breast and fondle it, I felt myself getting moist down there, then a hand covering my mound and a finger entering my pussy. I lost all concept of time and space as we found ourselves in each other. I have had sex with boyfriends in the past, but this surpassed all of those.

This is a new beginning, and it got better the next day.

I got to Uni to find it abuzz with rumours and accusations. Questions were being asked in an effort to locate the instigators of this campaign. Fortunately, because of the set up of the Web page and the fact that we began the Web campaign with the naming of professors other than those that affected Chelsea or me, the questioning never came to us.

Rumours also spread of resignations and threats of suspensions amongst the faculty staff. At one stage it looked as if almost the entire male faculty was involved. It took weeks for the dust to settle on campus. On a personal level it got a little awkward. The kids mentioned to Rosie's parents that their father had a new woman in his life, and we were invited to their place for dinner. We put it off for as long as possible, telling them that we wanted to be really sure of each other before I was presented to them.

"Grandma's very sad." Rhianna said to Patrick after he had picked them up from their place after school.

"Do you know what she is sad about?" Patrick asked.

"Something to do with Grandpa." Ryan said. "I heard her talking to someone, she was saying that she didn't care what people thought, Grandpa would never do anything like that. He had told her that he was innocent."

The kids had gone to bed and Patrick and I were clearing up the kitchen after dinner. "He's not you know." I said.

"Who's not?"

"Your father. He is most definitely not innocent. He was the man that I told you about on the first morning we met."

"What? He doesn't strike me as the type, and he's always given the impression that he would never step outside the bonds of matrimony."

"He has more than stepped, he has leapt. There must be at least thirty girls who have named him as having wanted sexual favours from them."

"This will kill the mother. She has always held him up to be the most moral man that she has ever known."

Meanwhile the University Faculty Council had a meeting and have acknowledged that a problem existed within the University. The decision was taken that they would stall any official enquiry, in the hope that it will die down. The alternatives will be very costly indeed. They would be expected to suspend or dismiss all offending academics, This however raises a dilemma, where will the replacements come from. The intelligence that they have gathered is that other Universities had similar problems, and unless these professors can find tenured positions with other Universities, and that there were enough suitably qualified academics to replace them, there would not be enough personnel available to fill the gaps left by the departing academics. The cost of importing academic staff from other countries would be far in excess of their budgetary capabilities. Universities all around Australia would be forced to close and this country would become the laughing stock of the academic world. This country would suddenly find itself classified as a third world country, on a par with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. 

Patrick suddenly became very busy with work, so busy that he was unable to accept dinner invitations from Rosie's parents. The situation also put a strain on the relationship between both sets of parents. Patrick's parents were finding it increasingly difficult to relate to them, and I was blamed for coming between Patrick and his parents and Rosie's parents. This needed clarity, but how?

Two months later we were met at the door by Rosie's mother. "Come in, I'm sorry, but Peter can't be here tonight. He has had to fly to the States to investigate an opportunity to take up a six month sabbatical. It couldn't have come at a better time, there have been scurrilous rumours going around the campus about Professors accepting sexual favours in exchange for higher grades. Thank God Peter wasn't one of those. Hopefully, by the time that he gets back it will have blown over." 

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from commenting. I guess that if you're far enough up the food chain, you can wangle something like this.

"What do you do Rachel?" She asked.

"I'm at Uni, studying Demographics."

"That's interesting, that's the faculty that Peter is in, maybe you know him." Shit, what do I do, do I spill my guts and tell her what a sleaze-bag her husband is, or do I, for the sake of family harmony, lie through my teeth. 

A little lie won. "I don't mix with the academic staff, I study hard and keep right away from any extra-curricular associations. I find that I am less distracted that way."

"She's doing well, getting good grades. Our company might be able to find a position for her when she graduates, someone well versed in demographics can be very handy for companies such as ours that are always interested in exploring population composition when we are looking for new markets." 

Thank you my Darling, I thought to myself, for moving the conversational focus away from my present situation with the University, to my future prospects. 

We managed to get through the evening without any further dramas. I even found myself liking her, especially when she told me that she thought that Rosie would have approved of me.

"I was thinking." We were in bed, and a voice whispered in my ear as I stroked his cock. "Will you marry me?"

I just about pulled his cock out by the root in my excitement. "Yes, of course I will." We were lucky that we had the house to ourselves, the kids were staying with Patrick's parents, otherwise they would have been woken by my squeals of joy. That would have taken some explaining, I didn't think that they were quite ready for this just yet.

For some inexplicable reason our love making rose to a whole new level from this night. Actually that's bullshit, we had made a commitment to each other and our new status as a couple meant that any doubts that either of us might have had about the long term viability of us, had disappeared. I now had a future husband, a future family, and a life. The next step was to take him home and parade him like some prize stallion in front of my family. I love my family, but they have this habit of calling a spade a fucking shovel, and it has been known for a boyfriend to disappear, like a chastened cur, following a visit to my family.

"We might have a problem."

He had his cock in me and was just getting into stride. He stopped. "Oh. And what might that be?"

"You have yet to meet my family. If you manage to survive that unscathed, then there will be nothing stopping us having a great life."

"Just how bad can it be?"

"None of my previous boyfriends have ever managed it."

"I'll put that down to your previous lousy choices of boyfriends. Now me, I'm perfect for you, and if they can't see that, then it's their problem, not mine." He resumed where he had left off. We managed to come at the same time, something that was becoming the rule rather than the exception, as opposed to my previous experiences, and life was getting better by the day.

We decided, actually it was Patrick that decided, that it was time for me to bite the bullet and introduce him to my family. We had been engaged now for six weeks, and on my last call to my mother, I mentioned that I had met someone. "He's brilliant Mum, you'll love him."

"We'll see about that. Your last few efforts have been under-whelming to say the least. What does he do for a crust?"

"He's the Human Resource Manager for a very big company."

"So you'll have no problems getting a job when you graduate from that stupid course that you're doing. Why couldn't you have done Law, like your father and brothers?"

"I don't like Law and Lawyers, well there are some good ones, a few, but the rest of them are hardly worth my time. This is something that I'm interested in, and I have an application in to the Bureau of Statistics for a graduate position. I'm confident of getting that. If that fails I have a couple of other irons in the fire."




A New Beginning Pt. 02



"I'll reserve judgement until I meet him. I presume that you intend introducing him to your family before you marry him."

"I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Patrick, Darling." I stopped kissing him.

"Yes," He answered cautiously.

"You know how you wanted to meet my family?"

"Yes," Still cautious.

"I feel that I should warn you that they are all Lawyers. My father and mother are both Lawyers. So too are my two brothers. I'm afraid that I am a complete disappointment to them, and because of this they have had a strong antipathy towards any and all boyfriends that I have introduced to them. I felt that I needed to warn you, because I spoke to Mother today, and she wants to meet you."

"Well then we'd better get it out of the way, hadn't we?"

"I'm afraid, more afraid than I have ever been. What if they don't like you?"

"How could they not like me?"

"Oh if anyone can find a way, they can, believe me."

"Then that's their problem. Regardless of their feelings toward me. I am determined to marry you. They'll just have to wear that."

"Okay, I'll ring Mother again tomorrow and arrange a time."

"Now can we get back to what we were doing before you interrupted it?"

I answered in the best way possible.

And so it was that he parked his humble BMW behind the Aston Martin and Jaguar XKR in the driveway of this palatial mansion in Vaucluse. "There must be the odd dollar or two in the Law business." Patrick commented as he opened the door for me.

"Put a lid on your reverse snobbery for me." I whispered to him as the front door opened and Maria the Housekeeper ushered us inside. "They are waiting for you in the library, miss." She told us as she took our coats. I led Patrick down the hallway to the library and his certain doom.

"Mother, Father, this is my fiancé Patrick O'Laughlin."

"Patrick O'Laughlin, now that name rings a bell. Weren't you the man who was charged with murdering his wife about fifteen months ago?"

"The very same."

"Fortunately for you the prosecution was particularly inept." Father made it sound as if he considered Patrick guilty.

"The fact that I was innocent might have had something to do with it. The person who actually arranged it is currently receiving a thorough Psychiatric evaluation. Her Lawyers are working on the mental illness defence, and from my experience with her, she might just pull it off."

"When you say 'your experience with her', exactly what was your experience?" Mr. Becket asked.

"I contacted her recently to get some context on Rosie's final weeks, and she made it very clear that she was 'interested in me' if you get my drift. That interest quickly became an obsession, and she began stalking me." I took out my phone that had her last message to me and played it. "The 'bitch' she refers to is Rachel."

"I see."

"What would your interest be in this matter?" I asked him.

"We have been approached to act on her behalf. This tape puts a new light on the subject. I may need to call you as a witness."

"Should we be talking about this? Isn't there some law about discussing cases while the legal process is happening?"

"That applies to while the actual trial is in progress. It doesn't apply to the gathering of evidence."

"I see. I will need to contact my Lawyer and get his opinion on this. I'll get back to you if he tells me that it is okay to co-operate with you." Patrick was being cautious.

"Why the caution? Surely you want to see the person responsible for the murder of your wife receive the appropriate punishment."

"I do, believe me. I have made a full statement to the police, which they are acting on. My Lawyer and I have presented them with a large amount of evidence, forensic and other, and if the police allow you access to that, then you will have more than I can tell you."

"You seem all of a sudden very willing to co-operate with the police, why the change of heart?"

"The evidence that we gave them was conclusive, we gave them cause of death, and the fact that she managed to plant evidence in my car in an attempt to implicate me in the murder. Even though we do not yet have a body, we have established the window of opportunity that the killer used to carry out the crime, and that she needed to set the evidence that she hoped would implicate me. It's all there in the file."

Save by the bell. Maria announced that dinner was served.

It was a meal designed to demean Patrick. Silver service with bells on, from the entrée to dessert. The main course a glazed leg of lamb, carved at the table by a white jacketed waiter, with roast jacket potatoes, cut with a cross and garnished with sour cream and chopped fresh chives, crisp green vegetables, served from the platter on a tray-mobile by a waitress in black skirt and crisply ironed white blouse using a fork and spoon. It would have not been out of place in a 4 star Michelin cordon bleu establishment, definitely not the stamping ground of the Middle Class. The Chef, hired for the occasion, was in fact Michelin trained. 

I felt sorry for Patrick, but I needn't have, he handled himself with aplomb. My parents could not fault him in any way, he knew which fork was which, he knew how to place his cutlery when he had finished a course, he knew not to tuck the napkin in his collar, and how to place it beside the plate when the meal was finished. If he burped they wouldn't have noticed, because he hid it behind his napkin. He was able to comment knowledgeably on the wines served with each course. My man was brilliant, and as the meal progressed I could see that, for the first time in my life, my chosen man had met with their approval.

"Rachel tells us that you two are engaged to be married, is this correct?"

"Yes Sir, it is."

"We would have appreciated some prior notice of this. Convention has it that you should have first sought my approval." He was attempting to sound miffed, but his new-found respect for my chosen man prevented that.

"We have not publicly acknowledged our engaged status, just my family and a couple of Rachel's friends. We thought that you should be the ones to make the formal announcements." I love his ability to deflect the not so veiled criticism.

"I understand that you have a couple of children, how have they taken this news?"

"They are happy, very happy. Ryan and Rhianna have both shown that they love Rachel, Rhianna even calls her Mummy."

"That must have been a relief for the both of you."

"It was never a problem. They loved Rachel from the very first time that they met, and we have kept them informed of our plans at all times. Rhianna wants to be the flower girl at our wedding."

The third degree over, the conversation became less formal, Patrick was accepted as suitable husband material. I don't now know why I was afraid of him meeting them.

The evening ended on a positive note. Mother made arrangements for us to get together in a week or two to work out the engagement notices and party, and to make a start on the wedding arrangements. By the look of it she had decided that she would take full control of the arrangements an the wedding will be a high society event, and covered by both the tabloid press and the gossip mags. I'm glad that they are footing the bill, because, I doubted if Patrick and his family could rake up enough cash for it.

Ryan and Rhianna were still awake when we got home. They had managed to convince Mum, Rosie's mother, who was baby-sitting for us, to let them stay up until we got home. 

"Well, how did it go?" She asked.

"My wonderful man knocked them dead. They had set the usual traps for him, but he managed to avoid every one of them. They actually love him and want to bung on a humongous wedding for us."

"Did you ever doubt that he'd win them over?"

"I never doubted his ability, But I was unsure how far they would take this. They went further than previously, but he was equal to the task."

"I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Patrick asked.

"I have found out that Peter was not innocent of the rumours going around that he was exchanging sex for grades. The evidence that has been broadcast on social media is conclusive. I have instructed my Lawyer to file for divorce. I'm probably doing him a favour, because it will give him the opportunity to apply for a tenured position at a US University."

"What will you do?"

"By the time that I have finished with him I will have the house, and an income that will allow me to live quite comfortably. Don't worry about me, at first I was devastated, then I was angry at his betrayal of me and our marriage, then I thought, fuck you mate, I'm going to make the most of this opportunity."

"Good for you." Patrick said.

After she had left to go home, and the kids were in bed, we found ourselves in our nice warm, cosy bed. My nice warm cosy man in my arms, and my pussy, his lips on mine. He whispered something to me that I couldn't make out. "What did you say?" I whispered back at him.

"I love you. And what I was about to say was that I love everything about you, I even love your family. After what has happened to both of us, we can now put all the bad stuff behind us and look forward to our lives together." 

Our old lives have ended, and this is truly a new beginning.