Chapter One-"Dreaming, I'm always dreaming..."

Big, fluffy clouds rolled across a blue sky above a luscious green field. A child's giggles filled the air. A woman with long, golden brown curls was tickling the child. Every time she bent to tickle the girl, her curls bounced against the girl's arms.



The alarm startled me awake and for a moment I forgot what I was dreaming. Slowly a homesick type feeling filled my stomach as the recognition of the 'the dream' came. How many times I'd had this one I couldn't say. It was the same one that occurred every time I had encountered a major change or challenge.

Was the woman my mother? Pherhaps...who could say?! My mother had died before my third birthday, so my memories of her, if they did exist, were very faint. My grandparents, Lottie and Lester Law, had raised me. Mamma Lottie Law refused to talk of my mother. In fact, it upset her to hear Mildred's name. Therefore, no one talked about my mother.

Ugh: the name Mildred was so rigid sounding! Her nickname, Millie, fit the image I had of my mother much better. Of the little information I could learn, Mille was fun-loving, soft and loved to learn. She was soft, but not weak. No, she was quite strong, in character and will, if not body.

The floor felt cold beneath my bare feet. I stumbled to the alam to shut it off. For the life of me, I couldn't remember why I had set it for a Saturday.

Then it hit me. My Great-Aunt Jane was taking me to the most exclusive restaurant in town for lunch. It was to celebrate my twenty-first birthday. She also wanted me to meet, as she put it, a very special person. She didn't say it, but secretly I assumed and hoped this person was male.

In any event, it would be fun to shop a little before lunch, a birthday present for myself. It would be something simple enough to be elegant without being 'showy'. Besides, there really wasn't anything appropirate for the Carlton in my closet.

By the time I was adding a gold pair of earrings to top off the simple white dress I had gotten on clearance, Jane was calling to say she'd meet me at the restaurant rather than pick me up. I was used to changing plans where Jane was concerned. Jane was a reporter for the Middleton Chronicle. Her job often warranted our plans being flexible. In fact, Jane was the inspiration for my choice of journalism/history major at State U, where I was a senior.