Chapter One: The Beginning
Abigail Daniels and Robert Thompson were born the same year and lived next door to each other from the time they were born until they married.
"They look so cute," their mothers told each other as the two of them walked hand in hand to school each day. And they were. Robert was a handsome boy and Abigail was a pretty girl.
They fell in love when they were in middle school and promised they would remain virginal until they married, as soon as they graduated high school.
They kept their promise; graduated in May and married in June. Their sex life followed the usual fumbling bumbling that is part of adjusting to a sexual partner when both are inexperienced. It was satisfactory for both, though not very imaginative as it was limited to the missionary position.
Abigail, while satisfied sexually, felt just a bit of disappointment that Robert was not more imaginative in bed. Her high school girlfriends had told her in graphic detail about pussy eating and, she actually blushed as her mind recalled the conversations, about other things sexual that seemed perverted to her.
Neither had dated anyone else, though Abigail had many suitors. The idea of being with someone other than Robert just did not enter her mind and Robert was true blue all the way.
Robert, who had been working part time at a franchised fast food restaurant when he was in high school, went to work full time as the manager of the early shift upon graduation. Abigail got a job as a receptionist at a local plant that manufactured high-end machine tools.
Abigail, always using that very fine brain she had, took advantage of the company's offer to pay full tuition for any courses their employees took in order to upgrade their skills. Over a period of two years she had transformed herself from an unskilled receptionist to a qualified secretary.
She became bored, however, at the receptionist's desk, answering the phone, directing traffic. There was no challenge for her brain and she was tired of being hit on by every man who came to her desk.
Abigail, the conservative girl/woman that she was dressed down; white cotton blouses that buttoned to the neck, long sleeved sweaters, gray or brown knee length skirts. It was if she were hiding her sexuality deliberately.
While she may have fooled herself about how sexy she was, she did not fool any of the men and women who met her. The clothes covered up her curves; they did not make them go away.
The firm for which she worked was a three generational company, owned and managed by the family that had founded it nearly a hundred years ago. The youngest, Halston Heuer, was being groomed to become president when his father retired.
Halston was a handsome young man of 28. He had attended a prestigious private university as an undergraduate and played quarterback on a good though not national championship team; while he was a superb athlete he never had the supporting cast to get beyond the first round of the championship series.
He graduated high in his class, majoring in computer science and business and earned a graduate degree in business. Halston had worked in every department of the company and knew it from the ground up. Personable and gracious, he was sought after by every mother in the city as marriage material for her daughter.
Halston, however, was wedded to the company his grandfather founded. He, as one might expect of a handsome athletic man, had many conquests. He was seduced as a young man by his mother's best friend who taught him more about sex in the six weeks their passionate affair lasted than he had learned in a dozen years of sex education in school.
He loved women and it showed. They were flattered by his attention and delighted by his performance in bed. They also knew he was not marriage material, but accepted this as the price they paid for being seen in his company and having his body in bed with theirs.
Abigail's concealed charms had not gone unnoticed. Halston, as company vice president, had an office next to his father's and passed Abigail's desk every workday morning, giving her a cheery hello as he did.
One day he looked at the nameplate on her desk as he gave her his usual hello and stopped. Abigail was startled by this change in routine and looked up, a quizzical expression on her face.
"What is your middle name, Abigail?"
Abigail blinked her eyes, surprised by the question. "Ah, ah. It is Laura, sir."
"Well Laura we need to make two changes. First off, my name, as you well know, is Halston and you are to address me as Halston from this day forward, as do all who work here."
Abigail had always called him Mr. Heuer or sir. She had found it difficult to accept the familiarity with which even the janitors addressed the man who was going to be president of this company one day.
Abigail felt her face redden as she looked up at this handsome man smiling down at her. She could not keep from smiling as she told him she would do so, "Yes, Mr...ah Halston. And the second change?"
"You are not an Abigail and from this day forward you will be Laura whenever you are on these premises." He turned to Mrs. Prudholm, his father's secretary, who had come in behind him. "Get a new nameplate for Laura's desk and a new ID badge."
Mrs. Prudholm nodded and had the changes made immediately. Before the day was out Laura had a new nameplate and ID badge. She mused about this as she took on her new identity. Not an Abigail he had said. What did he mean by that and then she flushed, thinking about the name Abigail; how stuffy it sounded, how just plain old fashioned.
She licked her lips as she thought about Halston as a man for the first time since coming to work at Heuer. He noticed me and he knows I am not an Abigail. What am I? How is Laura different from Abigail? Laura was more than a little confused and at the same time excited, but was not sure why.
