Chapter 1

Late July, 2038


"Wow, Mom! Will you look at this place!" Helene DeWitt practically exclaimed as she and her mother entered the dorm suite that Helene would occupy for the upcoming school year; "Talk about luxurious!  This makes my bedroom at home look like a motel room!"

"It is rather nice at that," said her father. "I wonder that the men's dorms look like."

"You'll have to wait another 16 years for that, Christian!" Kathryn DeWitt said, laughing. "Eric's not going anywhere for a while."

Looking around, she didn't see her two-and-a-half year old son anywhere in the common area. "Eric, where are you?" she asked, calling after him.

Helene found her kid brother bouncing on the bed in one of the bedrooms. "Sissy," Eric asked, "is dis your room?"

"I guess it is now," Helene said; "Thanks for picking it out for me, Eric!"

"Eric Joshua," his father said sternly but gently, "we don't bounce on the beds. We don't do it at home, do we?"

The dark haired toddler looked at his father solemnly and said, "No, Daddy."

"Then don't do it in Sissy's dorm room. She's going to live here while she's in school," Christian said.

That caught the little boy off guard, because he then said, "Helween's not coming on the plane with us?"

Helene knelt down to talk to her brother; "Eric, we talked about this at home, remember? I'm going to go to school here and live here. I won't be going home with you and Mommy and Daddy. Erin and Lili will still be there, though."

"Why?"

"Because Helene's a big girl and gets to do things that you don't get to do yet," Kathryn said to her little boy. He didn't take change very well, which was why his parents brought him with them to get Helene settled into her room while his other big sisters stayed home with his grown up brother, Chris.

"Eric, do you want to see where I'll being going to class?" Helene asked her brother.

The boy's eyes lit up. He said, "Oh, yes Sissy! I want to see where you gonna dance!"

Christian put Helene's luggage and belongings in to the room that Eric "chose" for her, then they went to the School of Dance on the other side of the campus. Before they left, Helene filled out two cards with her name and major-- one went on the door of her room; the other on the outside of the suite so that the girls she would be living with (whoever they were) would know she had arrived.

As they drove the short distance to the building where Helene would work on her craft for the next four years, she wondered about Alexei.

They had started a friendship that then started to grow into something more. Helene wasn't sure she could handle it, but wanted to find out if she could.

Then the decision was taken out of hers and Alexei's hands by the older boy's dance teacher. Mikhail Rostenkov didn't want his protege to date. "I brought you here to be  the best, not to get all caught up with some American girl," he had told Alexei, which he reported to Helene when they met secretly some days after the teacher's edict.

"I want to be with you, Helene," Alexei said, "and if I have to disobey Mikhail to do it, then I will. If I have to move to Chicago to be close to you, I'll do it."

"Why does he think I'm so awful?" Helene had asked; "Because I'm an American dancer and not one of his sainted Russian divas?"

"I don't know what his problem is, Leenie," Alexei said; "Maybe it's because you're a better dancer than his ballerinas. I don't know."

"My parents like you,"  Helene said.

"And I like them," Alexei said; "My parents gave Mikhail free reign to run my life. He's the only father I've known since I was eight years old. That's what parents in Russia do when they have a talented child. Hand them over to a coach or a teacher, or send them to specialized schools. I've been in America since I was ten years old. Over half my life, Leenie. I feel more American than Russian now."

Eric interrupted Helene's  thoughts asking, "Is that it, Sissy? Is that it?"

Up ahead, the School of Dance; Helene DeWitt's academic home for the next four years.

She sighed. She wondered what Alexei was doing now.


===


Jaime was a little nervous about leaving home for school. She would be leaving her animals behind, and that didn't sit well with her. But, she was going to be learning about how to take care of animals, so that put her mind at ease somewhat.

She would be the second one in her immediate family to go to Northwestern, and she didn't want comparisons made between her and Miri. They had different majors, different goals.

And if the truth were to be told, Jaime looked forward to seeing Helene DeWitt again. They had been talking regularly since meeting at their sisters graduation back in May. They had different majors, so Jaime hoped that they'd get to see each other every once in a while.

Jaime now went out to the barn to see the animals before her mother wanted to leave to get her to the Northwestern campus at a decent hour.  She started in the south end, where Sarge was penned up.

She heard a snort coming from the bull's stall, and she knew he knew she was coming to see him.

"Hi, Sarge old boy," she said; "You having a good day?"

The massive head came down so Jaime could pat it as she had countless times before. Sarge was a good bull, and sometimes Jaime wondered if he missed Jack, the man who served as hers and her siblings father figure during the last year of his life. Jack Christofferson had been gone three years, and Jaime missed him. He encouraged her to think about studying veterinary science, since she was so good with animals. He made it possible for her to go to veterinary school after her undergraduate work was done.

First, she had to get to Northwestern to get started on said undergraduate work.

"I'll be back before you know it, Sarge," Jaime said; "Jared will still be here to take care of you. Now I know you  don't like him as much as you do me, but he'll take good care of you, I promise."

Sarge's only response was a low moo.

"That's my boy!!" Jaime said, happily.

She then went to where the horses were. Specifically, her horses.

Coltrane and Misty were in separate stalls, but still managed to "flirt" with one another. They recently had a colt, Illini, who was still nursing. He was named after the Indian tribe from which the state of Illinois got its name.

"Oh, no you two," Jaime said, laughing; "you just had a little one! I don't run a horse dating service here!"

That remark got a spirited whinny from Coltrane. Then he whinnied in Misty's  direction, and she answered him with a whinny of her own. Jaime just shook her head. "You two are crazy, you know that, right?" she asked them as she went to check on the colt.

Illini was standing quietly next to his mother. He then saw Jaime and ambled over to her. "How's my little champ today?" she said to him softly.

The colt was very shy. Jaime was the only human he really responded to. It was because of him that Jaime felt bad about leaving for college. Jared was getting the colt's trust, but Jaime was his favorite.

"You know I'm leaving soon, champ," she said to him now. "Jared will take real good care of you and your mama. I expect to see a big boy when I come home. Can  you do that for me, Illini?"

Illini shook his head and let out a soft snort.

"That's a boy!" Jaime said. "Don't forget about me, little guy."

Jaime then left the barn and headed back up to the house.

As she entered the kitchen, her mother asked, "You make your goodbyes to your animals, James?"

"Yeah," Jaime said; "But I'm worried about the colt. He's still so timid."

"He'll come around, Jaime," Julia Summers said; "Even the vet thinks he'll be okay. He did have a hard time getting here, after all."

"I know, that's why I'm still worried about him, Mom," Jaime said; "I don't want him to get sick."

"He's going to be fine, Jaime," said Julia; "You can't let a horse keep you from your dreams. What would Jack think?"

"He'd think I worry too much," Jaime said; "He told me once that I'm just like you like that. That I need to think about solutions,  and not just about the problem."

"He was  right, you know," Julia said. "The problem won't get solved unless you think about solutions. That colt is being monitored, and he's going to be fine. Now stop worrying and get your stuff into the car so we can get you settled at school."

Jaime laughed, realizing her mom was right. It was time to get the college show on the road.

She'd gotten an email from Helene saying that she, her parents and her little brother were going to move her in that week. Jaime wondered what residence hall Helene would be in. Helene didn't yet know according to her email.

I hope we'll be able to see each other on occasion, Jaime thought.

She would be very pleasantly surprised when she got to Northwestern and find out for herself.


===


"Mother, really!" Audrina sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day; "Why do you make such ridiculous rationalizations?"

"What, Audrina?" the Contessa d'Alessandro asked her daughter; "Why shouldn't I find out in advance who they're going to make you live with at University?"

"Because, Mother, that's part of the excitement of being in college," Rina said; "Making new friends! I swear that you want to keep me isolated from everything even remotely American! That blood runs through my veins, too."

Caterina rolled her eyes like a teenager might, saying sarcastically, "Don't remind me of that, Audrina! I hope your father is burning in hell for leaving me here with nothing!"

"Nothing?" Rina said; "We live in a palace! We have servants and teachers and maids! We hardly have nothing! You're just mad that Papa didn't leave his part of his family's fortune to you alone, instead leaving it to me and Vittorio."

"Audrina! Do not speak to me with that insolent tone!" Caterina admonished; "You sound just like your father!"

"Oh, sorry, Mamma," Rina said sarcastically, "that the truth hurts. We aren't blind or deaf, Vito and I, we saw what was going on between you and Papa before he died. Nothing! You were sleeping with Giuseppe, and Papa caught you. That's why you didn't get anything from him. You drove him to his death!"

"Audrina!" gasped Caterina, shocked that her daughter knew about her affair with her manservant, and the fact that Charles caught her. "We don't speak of things that happen at home! That is our family's concern. No one else's. I should forbid you to stay here and mingle with the peasants."

"After all the hoops I had to jump through to extend my student visa, you wouldn't dare!!" Rina said. "After all, Mother, you had no problem whatsoever in leaving me in that horrid boarding school in Vermont! I was glad to finally get my diploma and get out of that awful place!" She then left the room to go to her bedroom the penthouse her mother had at their hotel in the heart of Chicago's Miracle Mile.

Caterina sighed. Audrina was right, of course, she thought. The girl needed to be out of the way, and the boarding school in Vermont was the best she could afford. It wasn't her fault that the school didn't make Audrina happy. She got her education in America like she wanted. Now Audrina wanted to stay for University classes, too.

Caterina d'Alessandro didn't see eye to eye with her daughter on anything. Audrina wanted to go to the country her father was from, and perhaps meet her American grandfather, the manufacturing mogul Christian DeWitt. Not even Caterina's warning that the DeWitts wanted nothing to do with her (Caterina) deterred Audrina. Caterina was happy when the meeting never took place, because no plans had been made for a visit, though Caterina wanted her daughter to think they had been. It was too easy to fool the girl by telling her that Christian DeWitt didn't wish to see her, that he had disowned his son Charles and his family.

The only thing that Caterina didn't anticipate was that Audrina figured out what happened and vowed to see her grandfather on her own. Then the student visa issue came up and that took up a lot of Audrina's time getting the mess straightened out.

Now Audrina would be going to college in Illinois, about which Caterina knew little. Chicago was in Illinois, and an American president was born there. Caterina knew that Charles would want her to let the girl go, that she was growing up.

Damn Charles, she thought bitterly, you've been gone four years and you still manage to hurt me from beyond the grave.

"Contessa," Giuseppe said now, breaking into her thoughts, "what time in the morning would you like to take la signorina to the University?"

"Have Audrina awakened at 8am," Caterina said; "We will head to the University promptly at 10am.  Audrina should go to bed in the next two hours, so she can get used to the time shift."

"Yes, Contessa," Giuseppe said and left the room.

Caterina sat back on the sofa. She had no idea what Audrina would find out about her, her father, her family during her University days. Caterina didn't know just how good her daughter's skills with computers really were. Audrina would find out many secrets that Caterina herself had long forgotten. And it would come back to haunt her in a rather uncomfortable way.


===


"Are you guys ready to go?" Julia asked her children.

"Coming Mom," Zach, 14, said; "Just waiting on Rachel. She's trying to reschedule her video chat with Cole until tomorrow. Apparently, he's AFK."

"Zach, tell your sister to send an email and let's get going, if you don't mind," Julia said, trying not to lose her patience with her lovestruck 12 year old daughter. "She just saw him at camp two weeks ago!"

"RACH!" Zach yelled at his sister, "MOM SAID TO SEND LOVERBOY AN EMAIL! WE GOTTA TAKE JAIME TO SCHOOL AND YOU'RE HOLDING THINGS UP!"

Zach headed downstairs, where his mother said, "Did you have to bellow at her, Zachary? She's not deaf, you know!"

"She's holding things up."

"That's not a valid excuse, Zach, and you know it," Julia said; "Seems to me you've been doing something rather similar with a certain young lady you know."

"Thats different," Zach said.

"How so?" Jaime chimed in, rolling her eyes. She just wanted to get going.

"I'm a guy."

Julia glared at her son, which she only did when any of her kids spouted off any kind of BS.

Rachel  made her appearance at the bottom of the stairs, saying, "Okay, brother, I sent Cole an email. Happy?"

"Deliriously so," said Zach.

"Okay, you two, cut the crap," Julia said; "I've got a shitload of stuff to do after we get your sister situated at school, and you're not making things easy for me right now. Please get in the car."

Jaime appeared to be about to say something when Julia told her, "James, don't even start with me. There are too many lovesick teenagers in this house, not counting Miri. Now let's get going!"

"Yes, Mom," Jaime said; "I want to get settled today in my dorm."

As everyone took their seats in the Tulsa, Julia said, "That's the plan, Jaime. That's the plan."


===

Off to college with you, my dear, he thought as he watched the Summers family leave for the campus of Northwestern University.

His current round of observations would end here, he thought. Must get back and serve my constituents in the House. It's been fun, my dear Jameson, but this is where we part for now; but I have to pretend now that I am an honorable man, and not the monster I really am.

He knew he had a problem, and had it since he was a little younger than the teenage girl he fancied was now. With his position, treatment was impossible. Who would believe that a Congressman had those kinds of sick desires? he often asked himself. His face was well known, and despite the doctor/patient confidentiality laws, he knew that doctors do talk. His secret would have to remain just that. Secret.

He  feared only death would end this unnatural affinity for young girls. He often prayed for it.

Thing was, in another country, he'd been declared dead years ago. If it would only happen for real, he thought. Maybe I'd finally be free of this secret.

He turned his car around and headed back to Chicago to get on a plane back to Washington. The close encounter he'd have with his past would leave him shaken.

Shaken enough to leave his prey alone for a long while.


===


"Wow, this place is huge!" Rachel said as Julia drove up to the dorm where Jaime would be living. "Even bigger than the one that Miri and Kelly lived in!"

"It's one of the newest residence halls on campus, from what I understand," Jaime said; "It was just being built when Miri came here."

"This is what was in the construction zone we always saw?" asked Zach. "I didn't know it was going to be a dorm. I thought it was a new building for classes or something."

"Nope," Jaime said; "It's going to be where I'm living for this year at least."

"Pretty cool," was all Julia said.

They all got out and went inside, where they were greeted by a student guide. Jaime was taken to get her suite assignment, while another student guide spoke with Julia.

"We're excited that Jaime has come to be part of our little community at Mathison Hall," the guide said; "I was a freshman when your other daughter was here. I understand that she graduated in the spring?"

"Yes," Julia said; "She did all her coursework for her degree in three years. She even found time to have a social life. She's engaged to be married on New Years Eve, so we're all looking forward to that."

"That's cool," the girl, who was visibly nervous, said.

Zach leaned in to tell Rachel, "That girl is starstruck by Mom. Now I understand why she hates all that 'heroine of the Resistance' crap."

"You just now figured that out, Zach?" Rachel said with a smirk.

Before Zach could reply, Jaime returned, saying, "Got my suite number. I'm on the third floor in room 313. I'll have two suitemates. There was a third suitemate,  but she withdrew from the school and her room won't be reassigned."

"Well, 313 will be easy to remember," Julia said.

"Why's that?" asked the nervous student guide.

"March 13th is my stepfather's birthday," was all Julia said as explanation.

"Oh," said the girl.

Julia then suggested to Jaime that they go up and check out Jaime's suite. After getting directions to the elevator, the family went to the third floor, where Jaime found her assigned suite easily; then she said excitedly,

"Oh my God! Mom! Look at this! Helene's one of my suitemates!"

Jaime pulled the card from the holder by the door and showed it to her mom.

Well, I'll be damned, Julia thought; lightning does strike twice in the same place!


===

The DeWitts returned to Mathison Hall after taking a tour of the School of Dance, which Eric apparently found boring. He fidgetted the entire time they were there.

"Sissy's house," he said as they drove up to the dorm.

"Not the whole thing, Eric," Helene said; "Just that one room where you picked out my bedroom."

"Oh," was all Eric said.

They pulled into a parking space next to a blue Chevrolet Tulsa All-Purpose Utility Vehicle. "Kathryn, doesn't the Summers family have one of those APUV's?" Christian asked his wife.

"I think they do,"  Kathryn said; to Helene she asked, "What is Jaime's major again?"

"Biology, Mom," Helene said. "You  guys think she's in this dorm?"

"I don't know, Helene," her father said; "but they are the only ones I know who have one of those vehicles."

"Wouldn't that be cool if Jaime was in this dorm? Then we could see each other and study together and stuff," Helene said.

They got out of the car and headed inside to go up to the third floor and get Helene settled before her parents and brother went back to their hotel.

As they got off the elevator, Christian said, "Looks like one of your suitemates arrived while we were gone, Helene. The door to your suite appears to be open."

"I hope she's a nice girl," Kathryn said.

Helene walked ahead and peeked inside and said, "Hello? I'm your new suitemate."

From inside there was a flurry of activity, then Jaime Summers appeared at the door.

"Helene! How cool is this? We're roomies, just like our sisters were!"

The girls hugged, amazed by their good fortune. "I wonder who the other suitemate is," Helene said.

"All I know is that she's supposed to be here tomorrow some time," Jaime said. "So we will soon know who she is."

Julia came out and greeted the DeWitts; "It's nice to see you again," she said; "Looks like our girls will be roommates after all."

"What are the odds? " Christian said, chuckling; "Two sets of sisters would be roommates at the same school?"

"I know the girls talked about it," Julia said, "but they decided that it was probably not going to happen. And yet it did anyway. I think it's pretty neat."

While their parents were talking, Helene asked Jaime, "Which room did you pick?"

"The one next to yours. The other girl has the choice between the two on the other side of the suite," Jaime said. "What do we do with the room that isn't going to be used. We were told that the girl who was to be our fourth suitemate had withdrawn from school and the room won't be reassigned."

"Let's wait until the other girl gets here," Helene said; "Then we'll decide. I'd like to use it as a practice studio, but we'll talk about it first."

"You know, Helene," Jaime said; "I've never seen you dance."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity for that," Helene said; "Now let's get settled so that our families can stop hovering over us like we're going to get in trouble."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll get in plenty of trouble," Jaime said with a wink; "But not with the parentals and younger siblings around."

The girls laughed then made their way over to their families to say their goodbyes. Once the DeWitts and the Summerses were gone, Helene and Jaime got settled into their rooms.

The next morning, they'd meet their new suitemate.

===


"Contessa Audrina, it's time to awaken, my dear," she heard Giuliana-Maria, her nanny, say.

Audrina looked up and saw the older woman standing respectfully in the doorway of her room.

"Yes, Giuliana-Maria, I'm awake," she replied. "Today I go get settled at the University! I'm so excited to meet my roommates!"

"I'm happy you get the opportunity to spend your university days in your father's country," Giuliana-Maria said; "I miss him. He was a good man. He had to be to put up with your mother's moods."

"Maybe I can meet my American family while I am here?" asked Rina. "Mamma messed it up last time, telling me that my American grandfather didn't want to see me. I found out she never even contacted him as I asked."

Giuliana-Maria said nothing. She was used to Audrina's complaints about her mother. She only stayed on with the family because of the girl. But, the girl was a young woman now, something that the Contessa didn't wish to understand. Giuliana-Maria was ready to let the young Contessa grow up.

"I'll leave you to dress and get ready to go to the University, Contessa," Giuliana-Maria said now; "Giuseppe will take you and your mother to the school. I will miss you my dear. I know you will do well and make us all proud."

"I will miss you, as well, Giuliana-Maria," Rina said; "You've been more of a mother to me that my own mother has. Please be well."

"I shall, my dear," Giuliana-Maria said as she left the room.

Audrina sat on the edge of the bed. She really was going to miss Giuliana-Maria. She may have not given birth to me, Audrina thought, but she's my mother all the same. I'm going to find a way to bring her to America permanently, if that is what she wants.

Audrina changed out of her bedclothes and got ready to go to Northwestern to start her American college experience. She couldn't wait to meet her new suitemates. She had no idea how important those two other girls would be to her.

And her to each of them.


===


"Wow, Jaime!" Helene said when Jaime came in with a large bouquet of flowers; "Where did you find those?"

"There's a florist not far from here," Jaime said, "and these were about to be thrown out because they're 'old'. So I said I'd take them. They didn't even charge me for them! I thought they'd look nice in the common room for when our new suitemate arrives."

"They're still pretty," Helene agreed; "Do we even have a vase to hold them, though?"

"I thought of that," Jaime said, "and we can borrow one from the lobby until we can buy one of our own. All we have to do is go downstairs and get it. It was too heavy to bring up here along with the flowers."

"Is that why you went on that walk?" asked Helene.

"Just to get my bearings," said Jaime. "Miri actually suggested it before she went to Oklahoma to be with her fiance, John. She said I'd understand where things were until I could get a car here. I'm getting her car, too, but Mom wanted me to wait til I got settled in first before I added a car to the equation."

"That will be cool, to have a car," Helene said; "My dad asked if I was going to get a job, and I said I was. Where, I have not one clue."

"The florist is hiring," Jaime said. "They're looking for people to work in the shop. I got an application. Maybe we can get a copy of it and you can apply, too."

"Dad put me on a budget," Helene said; "He got the idea from Kelly. Any money I can make above my allowance I can spend on whatever I want."

"I take it that he wants to teach you about fiscal responsibility?" asked Jaime.

"Yeah, because so many college students spend money like there's no off switch. Kelly does talks at the local commuter college about it. I think it's cool."

"And our families have money, we don't," Jaime said; "I get an allowance, too, but I want to work somewhere. Now that I'm 16, I can."

There was a knock on the door, and the girls looked at each other, and Helene said, "That can't be out suitemate already, could it?"

Jaime went to the door. Upon opening it, she discovered it was the Residence Advisor with the vase Jaime was supposed to go downstairs to get.

"I thought I'd save you a trip," she said; "By the way, your suitemate will be here at 1pm. Her name is Audrina Alexander and she's also 16. The powers that be decided it would be best to put the three of you together, as you're the youngest freshmen this term."

"That's fine," Helene said; "I can't wait to meet her!"

"Me either!" Jaime said in agreement; "We'll be ready to meet her at one."

The RA nodded, leaving the vase with Jaime and heading down the corridor to the elevator. Jaime then closed the door. Turning to Helene, she said,

"We should get the flowers in here so it at least looks like we know what we're doing with them."

Helene placed the large arrangement into the vase, added some water, then put the vase on the table behind the couches in the common area.

"They look nice, Jaime," Helene said. "Maybe we should find a store and get snacks for when Audrina gets here. We always had snack trays at home for company."

"My family did,  too. My grandparents did it more than we did, though,"  said Jaime.

"We better get going, then," Helene said. "We've got three hours!"

The girls laughed, grabbed their purses and headed out the door.


===


The drive to the Northwestern campus seemed to last forever to Audrina. She kept looking out of the window of the car she was being driven in. Her luggage and other belongings were in the trunk. She could not wait to get to Mathison Hall and meet her suitemates. Surely, she thought, they're better company than Mamma and Giuseppe!

"Audrina," her mother said, "you are so quiet. Having second thoughts about going to university in America now?"

"No, Mamma, I'm not. I've never wanted anything so badly in my entire life!"

"You just want to get away from your mother," Giuseppe accused her. "You should have more respect for her than that. She did raise you after your papa died."

"When?" Rina shot back; "When she wasn't out partying and carrying on with men not much older than Vito, she certainly wasn't taking care of us. She left that problematic task to Giuliana-Maria. If anything, Giuliana-Maria raised me!"

"Audrina Aida, you insolent little brat!" Caterina said in shock, which her daughter knew was an act. It was all for Giuseppe's benefit, and he swallowed it hook, line and sinker.  "How dare you make such a claim!"

"I dare because I know it's all true," said Rina; "I wish you'd stop treating me like I'm stupid. Sei un bugiardo terribile, Mamma."

"Proprio come tuo padre!" Caterina said; "Just like him!"

Audrina knew she'd gotten under her mother's skin. As they arrived at the dorm she would be living in, Audrina knew that not seeing her mother for five months would be good for her. She could make new friends, explore her American heritage, and finally be the person she wanted to be, instead of the person her mother wanted her to be. She was not her mother's daughter, that much she knew. Audrina d'Alessandro knew she'd never be happy being Contessa, if being Contessa meant being a man hungry bitch like her mother. She knew more about her parents relationship than even her mother knew, or had conveniently forgotten about.

But now was not the time to use her knowledge of that. Her revenge on both parents would come much later. Now, she was going to meet her suitemates and get the American college education she dreamed about in the awful boarding school in Vermont.

But, not without a little adjustment period first.


===