Chapter 4

Just as she was thinking about him, the door opened and in walked the man himself, with two mugs of coffee. He stood next to the bed looking at her for a second. She sat up so that her back was against the head board. Her long black hair was tousled and hung over her shoulders in sharp contrast to her white gown. She knew he thought she was so naturally and unpretentiously beautiful it took his breath away; it apparently still did.

"Good morning, Wifey-poo, have I told you lately how beautiful you are and how much I love you." he said, handing her a mug.

A shiver ran up Melissa's spine when he said that. She smiled and took the coffee from him.

"I was just lying here thinking about that very thing, Hubby-bear. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I can't imagine a life where I'd be as happy as the one I have and it's all because of you."

Jake sat down on the bed and touched her face. She caught his hand and kissed his palm. It was, for both of them, one of those timeless shared moments that spoke more of love than any poet could pen. Finally, Jake pulled his hand away.

"I've got some calls to make, then I'm going to have that talk with our son. I'll be through about eleven, ok?" Jake said.

"As long as you promise to take me walking on the beach later," she replied.

"Deal," he said.

Jake kissed her and walked to the library that Melissa had added to the house when he retired from baseball. Melissa remodeled or added to the ranch house every couple of years as their requirements changed. Melissa stayed in bed, sipping her coffee and reflecting back on her life.

Melissa Thornton had been born into a life of wealth and privilege. Her paternal grandfather had been a doctor who married a much younger woman when he was in his fifties. His young wife bore him two sons but died of polio before the boys started school. Melissa's father, Russell, and his younger brother Randal were raised by a succession of governesses. Both sons were students at Brown University when Doctor Thornton died of a stroke induced by the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Russell Thornton joined the Army Air Corp as soon as war against the Axis powers was declared. He was sent from his home in Providence to do basic training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts then on to primary flight training in Orangeburg, South Carolina; he learned to fly in a PT-17. After primary flight training he graduated to basic flight training and began flying BT-13 trainers. From South Carolina, he moved to Albany, Georgia for advanced training, flying twin engine AT-10s. After flight training, Russell was assigned as a B-24 Liberator bomber pilot. Russell flew out of North Africa against targets in Italy. When Sicily was liberated, he flew bombing raids against targets in Eastern Europe from an Allied air base in Seracusa, Sicily.

Russell met Anna Francesca Giacinti at the bakery her family owned and operated in Seracusa. Russell and Anna fell in love. They were married in 1946 and Russell brought Anna back to Rhode Island. Anna Thornton was a dark-skinned exotic beauty with a sweet and gentle nature. Her dusky good looks were a reflection of the fortunes of her native Seracusa. The Greeks founded the city of Seracusa in the sixth century BC because of its strategic location in the Mediterranean. Over the next two thousand years, it was captured and occupied in turn by the Romans, Goths, Arabs, and Turks. Each group contributed to the genetic pipeline that disgorged Anna. Anna moved into the Thorntons' stately home in Providence with Russell. Russell went back to Brown to complete the education that the war had interrupted.

Randal Thornton lived at the mansion also when he was in town. However, Randal was not in town that often. Randal took advantage of some connections he made through his college roommate and was speculating on real estate in Cuba. He spent most of his time in Havana. It was during one of his extended visits to Cuba that Randal met his future wife, Maria Valenzuela.

Russell and Anna started their family in 1952 with a son, Russell junior, followed a year later by a daughter, Melissa. Russell junior, who was eventually called Chip, was bright and gregarious while Melissa was very pretty and intelligent, but quiet and introverted. Melissa was reading with comprehension by the age of four, yet she acted as if she were just another toddler. When she started school, she did well but avoided drawing attention to herself. Melissa read extensively and constantly peppered her father with questions. By the time she was ten, she could hold up her end of an adult-level conversation on almost any topic. Melissa spent much time with her father as he conducted the family business, soaking up information as if she were a sponge.

Anna Francesca Thornton contracted and died from the Asian flu in 1965. Her loss staggered the Thornton family. Anna's warm and nurturing nature had been the glue that held their close knit family together. Russell decided that a change of scenery might make things easier on them all so he packed his kids up and moved to Florida. The Thorntons ended up in Palmdale because one of Russell's real estate ventures was a gated golf-course community there. Russell bought the largest of the community's model homes for himself and his children.

Chip adjusted well to his new life but Melissa kept even more to herself after her mother's death. Then, one day after her fourteenth birthday, Melissa hit puberty. Melissa was prepared for her first period; Doctor Janice Pritchett had explained it all to her during her last check up. Melissa transitioned from young girl to young woman overnight, without the teenaged angst. She asked Doctor Jan to prescribe her birth control pills to help regulate her period. As soon as she had her next period after she started the pill, Melissa set about seducing her first man. Analytical Melissa decided that an older man would be more inclined to know what he was doing so she picked one of her father's business associates.

Melissa loved sex from the first time she tried it; in addition, she was curious and open-minded. When one of her lovers asked about his wife joining them, Melissa was all for it. Melissa discovered that she liked being with a woman as much as she did a man. Threesomes became her favorite form of intimate recreation. Melissa dated boys her own age but never considered sleeping with any of them; she did not want the emotional baggage that came with a boyfriend. Everything was fine until her friend Debbie asked her to give Debbie's brother Jake a ride home from football practice. Along with the ride went a kiss -- and the kiss unexpectedly got Melissa's full attention. Melissa eventually asked Jake to escort her to the Country Club Cotillion even though he was two years younger than she was.

At the cotillion, Jake stood up for his sister and ended up in a fight with Melissa's brother Chip. Melissa was surprised that her father did not get upset at Jake for the thrashing Jake gave her brother. In fact, her dad told her that Jake impressed him with his maturity and sense of honor towards his sister. Jake was the first boy Melissa had dated who received a positive opinion from her father. Not that it did her much good; her dad was murdered less than a week later.

When she received the new of her father's death, Melissa instinctively fled to the one place she knew she would find comfort: the Turners' house. The whole Turner family had rallied behind her, but it was Jake's tender sweetness that helped the most. Jake had been so noble and honorable, letting her sleep with him and not trying anything. Melissa smiled when she thought back on how he had resisted her attempts to seduce him; he had been so sincere and cute. She fell in love with him before they ever had sex. After they made love and he stirred her to her core, she knew without a doubt he was the man for the rest of her life.

Jake's solid presence in her life allowed her to focus on running the businesses she inherited from her father. Melissa had incredible trust and faith in her husband and, so far, he had never let her down. He had saved her life more than once, given her futuristic ideas that made them oodles of money, and fathered their children. He listened to her, let her make the business decisions, and was about as romantic as a man could be. The two of them were a formidable team.

Melissa was successful in business mostly because she followed her father's golden rule: "Hire the best people, give them the authority to get the job done, reward them for their efforts, but always, always know what is going on." Jake had a gift for finding talented people and Melissa had a talent for motivating them. As a result, Turner and Thornton Holdings was the largest privately held company in the United States. Melissa Thornton was also one of the wealthiest women in the world. Now it was time to start using her money and talent to get her husband elected President.

Melissa got out of bed after finishing her coffee. After a trip to the bathroom, she padded into her office that adjoined the bedroom. She sat at her desk and fired up her custom made Data-on-Time laptop to check her e-mail. Her laptop booted up into 'Dottie' an icon-based operating system that Chuck Birch's software developers had created in 1981. Dottie was the operating system of choice for most home computers because it was reliable, easy to use, and, best of all, it was free. Dottie had made the computer friendly enough so that the average person could use one. When Melissa questioned why Jake had insisted on giving Dottie away, he replied that he was trying to keep some company called Microsoft from monopolizing the software market for operating systems.

Jake's work with Chuck Birch had shuffled the computer age along only a few years in software and hardware but had advanced the Internet a full decade. When Data-on-Time encouraged individuals and computer user groups to improve Dottie, a group at Cal Tech added a browser program that made web surfing, e-mail, and user group access simple and fast. The hardware manufacturers had responded by coming up with faster modems, while Data-on-Time's mass storage media allowed gigabytes of memory.

Melissa had realized the benefits of the home computer immediately and saw the potential power of the Internet. She was going to use the Internet extensively in Jake's campaign. A crew of talented web site designers were already working on making turner4prez.com the best web site ever created.

After checking her e-mail, Melissa pulled up Dottie Notes and opened a file named 'the prez'. The file contained a list of things to do in an outline form that she thought on and added to daily. Her husband might be the person with the grand vision but she was the one with the organizational skills to get things done. Right now, Melissa was assembling a support team that would lay the ground work for a nation-wide campaign. Part of the team would lease office space and hire workers in every major city in every state. When Jake announced his candidacy, the offices would be fully open for business the following day. A bank of telephone lines had to be ready to hum with the assistance of the volunteers Melissa was sure would appear. A graphics arts section would design campaign posters, brochures, bumper stickers, and flyers to stock the campaign offices.

Another major project that Melissa had commissioned was in its third month at the original research section of Data-on-Time. DOT researchers were pouring raw demographic data into a Cray Supercomputer in a seemingly endless stream. The Cray was collating the data by zip code. The end result would be a comprehensive data base that could be used by market researchers to tailor Jake's basic message to appeal to the target audience in each campaign area.

Melissa made herself a note to schedule a meeting with Sven Johansson, Patricia Wellington, and Kristin Wiggins for early in the week. Kristi Wiggins had managed all three of Jake's congressional campaigns and Sven was Jake's media guru. Trish Wellington kept the team abreast of social trends and developments. Melissa shut down her laptop, satisfied that everything was on track. She headed toward the shower, wondering how Jake's talk was going with JJ. Jake and his son were very close but her hubby was easily flustered when discussing matters of a sexual nature.

Out at the gym, things were going very much the way Melissa imagined as Jake and JJ pumped iron.

"So what did you want to talk about, Dad?"

"Uh, well, I thought we might need to talk about women; I hear you are dating now and I thought you might have questions."

JJ cracked up in laughter at his father's delivery.

"Sorry, Dad; you sounded like Beaver Cleaver's father there for a minute. I can't think of any questions that someone else hasn't answered for me -- but I'll listen to whatever you want to say."

"Er, Erika wouldn't be the one answering these questions for you, would she?"

JJ stopped smiling; uh-oh, this was territory he was not prepared to explore with the old man. Erika had told him that a man never talked about the women he had been with if he ever wanted to be with more.

"Dad, it might have been, but that is between her and me. If you want to know anything else about that, you need to talk to Erika. What made you ask that anyway?"

Jake held up his hand making the stop sign.

"I don't want to know any more and it really isn't any of my business. Your mom figured it out about five minutes after it happened the first time. She told me about it last night and asked me to speak with you. Son, if you haven't figured it out for yourself let me clue you in. Your mother is smarter than you or I will ever be; do not make the mistake of thinking that just because she doesn't say anything, she doesn't know what's going on. Besides, Erika is not what we need to talk about; your mother and I trust her completely to do what's right.

"You and I need to talk about the other girls you are dating. Jacob, you have your mother's looks and brains, that gives you a big boost in the romance arena. But with those advantages, you have certain responsibilities. You need to make sure that you are always protecting yourself, and the young ladies, from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, you need to consider the woman's feelings. That you don't kiss and tell is a good start. Casual sex you can have by yourself; great sex usually takes a deeper relationship."

"Wow, Dad, is that in a book somewhere? 'Cause Erika told me the same thing. I get it; I don't sleep with every girl I date, and I don't stop dating one if she won't sleep with me. Besides, I think that CeeCee and I are going to be an item. I like her a lot."

Jake chuckled, "Cecelia seems like a nice young lady; I guess you are partial to those Nordic types."

JJ laughed also, "Yeah, well, Mom is a tough act for any of the brunettes to follow. It's pretty funny that all the guys love to hang out here because of Mom and all the other pretty women around, while most girls don't like it here for the same reason. I wish I understood women better; maybe you can help me with that."

"Don't hold your breath waiting for me to clue you in, Bud, 'cause I'm as lost as you are. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is a little more delicate. JJ, your Irish heritage is most unusual. Yes, you may know your ancestors were all bigger than life heroic figures, but there is more to it than swashbuckling adventures. Some kind of genetic selection has made it where Buckley-descended males and females are very sexually attracted to each other. I'm not sure how it works, but you need to be aware of that as you interact with our extended family.

"You know that I am currently the O'Buckley by default. In a couple of years, your cousin Patrick Buckley will assume that title and rightfully so. I don't know where that leaves you in all this but I wanted you to be aware of it in case it comes up somehow."

JJ looked at him in amazement then broke into a wide grin. When his son smiled like that, Jake could see Melissa in his face.

"That certainly explains some things, especially about your teasing sister. Next time she kisses me like she does, I'm not going to run off blushing. What a relief; I thought I was just a pervert, because I think even Grandmother Helen is hot.

"I figured Patrick as the next O'Buckley; after all, it would be best if the O'Buckley was actually a native. Besides, he looks just like the picture of your grandfather Elliott; so there can't be any disputing his heritage."

"Good thinking, son, but be especially careful with your Aunt Debbie; she is a lot of woman."

That earned Jake another lopsided grin from his son.

"She sure is, but I was talking about Angie. She made me stop calling her aunt on my birthday and she plants one on my lips every time I see her. I swear no one has ever kissed me that well."

Jake showered in the gym while JJ went to swim some laps. Jake was still getting over his son's revelation about sister Angie. He idly wondered when women would stop surprising him as he walked back to the house. Jake walked to the bedroom and changed into some casual shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and a pair of boat shoes. Dressed for the beach, he wandered out onto the patio to find his wife.

Melissa was reclined in a lounger reading 'The Making of a President', while Mikayla and three of her friends were cavorting in the pool. Jake said hi to his daughter and her friends then bent down and kissed his spouse.

"Lets go to the beach, Muffy," he said.

Melissa closed the book and stood up. She was wearing a red and white sun dress that highlighted her figure and complimented her tawny skin. She slipped on her sandals and took Jake's hand.

"Ok, Baby," she said, "we can drive down the beach and have lunch at Chaz's. We'll take my new Vette; you'll love it, they finally got the convertible model right."

A new Corvette every couple of years was Melissa's biggest splurge for herself. This year's model was the twelfth she had bought since they were married. At Jake's insistence, the others were all sitting in a warehouse in town, lovingly restored to showroom condition. Jake whistled when Melissa keyed open one of the garage doors to reveal the ZR1 convertible. The Vette was Melissa's signature candy-apple red with a tan leather interior. It looked as if it was doing a hundred just sitting there.

Melissa climbed in and fired the engine up. The exhaust note was a steady rumble that did not sound like it came from the showroom that way. Melissa grinned at him as she revved the engine.

"Smiley Warrick souped it up for me; sounds good, doesn't it?"

Before Jake could reply, Melissa jammed the low-slung convertible into gear and zoomed out of the garage. Jake had almost forgotten how scary it was riding with her; he clung to the armrest as she tore up State Road 45. They made it to the beach in what had to be record time; Jake heaved a sigh of relief as Melissa wheeled onto the sand and drove the proscribed ten mile per hour along the waters edge. Melissa parked on the hard packed sand below Chaz's large deck and they walked up to the restaurant holding hands. Jake enjoyed thinking that, to the wait staff, he and Melissa were just two more tourists.

After a cozy, relaxed lunch, Melissa and Jake threw their shoes into the car and strolled along the water's edge. They chatted about this and that as they walked. Jake told her about his talk with JJ. Melissa, of course, had already surmised most of what their son had told him. She filled him in on her campaign preparations. They decided that Jake would announce his candidacy on the Fourth of July. Melissa said that they would throw a big barbeque and fireworks event to draw a crowd. The web site and all the campaign offices would open the following day. Melissa was confident that every thing would be in place in three months.

They walked and talked for an hour, then headed back to the ranch. Jake was again relieved when they made it back in one piece. Mikayla and her friends were back in the pool when the parents arrived home. Anita, Erika, and JJ were also splashing around with them. Jake put on his suit and joined in while Melissa went to make a plan for the Fourth of July gala. Jake made Mikayla's day as he horsed around with her and her friends. He also included Anita, dunking and splashing her along with the younger girls. Nita loved the attention and gave as good as she got. Anita was not a small woman but she was all muscle and surprisingly strong.

Jake abandoned the pool after a couple of hours to shower and change for dinner. Mikayla was going to a sleep over that evening at a friends and JJ had a date with Cecelia so he and Melissa had the evening alone - or so he thought. At ten, Melissa headed to the bedroom, she told Jake to join her in half an hour. Jake strolled into the bedroom at ten-thirty and stopped in his tracks at the door. Melissa was sprawled out on the bed locked in a passionate embrace with Erika. Melissa glanced up and saw him.

"Come join us, Hubby," she said. "This hussy was about to tell me how she wantonly seduced our innocent son."

Erika was wearing a short black nightgown that showed off her beautiful body. The tangy aroma of the big blonde's arousal was already permeating the air. Jake shucked off his clothes and climbed onto the bed. He ended up on one side of Melissa and Erika was on the other.

"Ok, Erika, spill it," Melissa ordered.

Erika blushed but related her story. It turned out to be much more than either Melissa or Jake expected. Erika, it seems, did not unilaterally seduce young JJ. His birthday was when they finally had intercourse but they had been fooling around for at least six months before that. It had started innocently enough with JJ asking her what girls liked and disliked, what made them feel good, and how they liked to be treated. When explanations proved to be inadequate, they moved on to show and tell. By the time she gave him his birthday present, he knew everything that made her feel good and was a thoughtful and attentive lover. For her part, Erika tried to make his first time as good for him as Jake had done for her. To Melissa, it was a sweet, sexy story. She was glad that her oldest and best friend had been her son's first. For his part, Jake thought that Erika had done the women in JJ's future a major service.

Confession out of the way, Erika moved between Melissa's smooth thighs. Erika could tell the story had turned Melissa on by the amount of fluid her friend was oozing.

"Go easy, Erika," Melissa warned, "Hubby made me a little sore down there."

Erika nodded her understanding and gently lapped around Melissa's tasty peach. Not wanting to be left out, Jake eased behind Erika and started caressing her butt. Erika mewed her pleasure and pulled her knees under her to raise her ass higher into the air. Melissa looked down between her breasts and watched her two lovers. God, she was going to hate to give this up for the White House. That thought made her giggle as she wondered if she would be the first bisexual First Lady. That train of thought died out in a hurry when Jake entered Erika and forcefully drove her tighter against Melissa's vagina. Erika was an expert at dragging out Melissa's orgasms. She timed it so that Melissa rose toward climax as Jake drove her to her own precipice. Then it was on them all as first Erika, then Melissa, and finally Jake came.

The three long-time friends and lovers cuddled and talked for a half hour or so after their love-making. Erika's told Jake and Melissa more about her relationship with JJ. She was as proud of their son as they were. JJ's maturity and concern for others reminded Erika of Jake at that age. It was more of the Buckley coming out in him, Melissa asserted. How a family could develop in the astounding manner of the Buckley bloodline was almost mystical to her. Her whole life, it seemed had turned into a fairy tale since she had met Jake.

Erika slipped back to her room at eleven. Melissa hated that for propriety's sake she had to leave in case JJ dropped in on her when he returned home. Melissa still liked to be snuggled between warm bodies as she slept.

The rest of Jake's two weeks of leave flew by much too quickly to suit Melissa. Especially since his return had meant having him and their lovers together in the big bed again. Trish and Faith spent almost every night with them, making equal parts love and strategy.

Melissa drove Jake to the airport on Saturday. She was staying in Palmdale for two more weeks before she went up to join him. When Jake was first elected to the House, they had decided that their kids would remain in Palmdale and attend school. So, Melissa split her time between the ranch and their large apartment at the Watergate. Jake came home on the weekends and holidays during the school year. The arrangement worked out well and allowed Jake to devote the time he needed to his seat. Jake was a conscientious and effective congressman. Melissa was proud that, until the war, he had never missed a floor vote and was always up on the issues and legislation under consideration.

Melissa was going to miss having Jake to wake up to each morning but she had plenty to keep her busy otherwise. Along with putting Jake's campaign apparatus in place, she was arranging for her businesses' future. If she became First Lady, she would not be able to run them from the White House. Melissa did not consider selling TnT as even a remote option; she thought of the people who worked for her as family. Besides, she had hired and groomed such good people that they were perfectly capable of running things without her. What Melissa had decided was that the time was right to grant majority ownership of some of the subsidiaries to the people who ran them. In most cases, that only required transfer of a couple of percentage points but it was still a tough thing for her to do.

Melissa met with Dawn Diamond Steyaert about Maui Jake's. Dawn already owned forty-nine percent of Maui Jake's and exercised complete control over the company. Melissa presented Dawn with documents that upped her ownership to seventy-five percent if she kept the company private for at least ten more years. Dawn readily agreed Melissa's terms; it fit in her plans perfectly. Dawn's husband Terry was ready to retire as CEO of Turner Furniture so they would run Maui Jake's and Diamond Pointe Beach Wear together.

Melissa made the same offer to Carl McClelland concerning McClelland Pharmaceuticals. Carl surprised her by declining it. Carl explained that he was a chemist and did not want to leave the lab to run a business. They worked out a compromise where Carl assumed majority ownership but signed a contract for TnT to provide management services. Dave Larson received the same offer that Dawn had -- minus the ten year stipulation. Jake's fore-knowledge had made Melissa aware that the airline industry would thin out rapidly in the next decade. Allowing Larson to go public would bring in cash that he could use to expand. Air Erika was mostly a charter and freight airline so they would not feel the crunch experienced by the passenger lines.

Data-on-Time presented a different problem because Jake wanted Chuck Birch as part of his administration. The solution that Maria Thornton came up with was for Melissa to turn control of DOT over to Chuck then set up a blind trust to manage it if Chuck accepted a position in Jake's Administration. Data-on-Time Research did not change hands. The research library and masses of stored data were Jake's babies and would remain part of TnT. Unlike the other subsidiaries, DOT Research was housed in the TnT office complex and was the most powerful data base and data retrieval presence on the Internet.

The rest of the TnT holdings Melissa kept. Mitzi Walker Hughes was perfectly capable of running them without Melissa's help. Melissa turned ten percent of TnT over to Mitzi and ten percent went to Erika. Melissa's brother, Chip, would receive her proxy so that he would have full control of Thornton Development during her absence. Melissa knew that no matter what she did, some folks were going to moan about her benefiting from anything Jake did as president. Her dealings would hold up to public scrutiny because her dealings, as always, would be above board.

Melissa occupied a suite of offices at the TnT complex as campaign headquarters and would work from there. TnT's Human Resources Department had already hired her an administrative staff and Data-on-Time had outfitted the suite with state of the art computer equipment. Melissa threw herself into getting things organized and in place for the campaign's launch that was just over ninety days away.

Joe J

Chapter 5