On the train to New York, Jane sat staring out the window, reflecting on the strange and wonderful turns her life had taken. She felt very good about herself just then, very confident and attractive, like everyone who saw her wanted her.
It was a far cry from her younger self, who had been a very shy and insecure person. She had grown up poor and although her intelligence had gotten her a scholarship to a good private school, she never felt like she fit in. The girls at the school were mean and made fun of her inexpensive clothes, and though she was pretty she was awkward and not good at presenting herself, so the boys ignored her. She finally lost her virginity on the last night of high school to a boy that she never saw again, but did not enjoy the experience and was in no hurry to repeat it.
She had planned to go to college but that summer her mother, who had raised her single-handedly, took ill and she was obliged to go to work. She got a job as a legal secretary and after that lived a quiet life, tending to her mother and working lots of overtime to make ends meet. After three years, her mother passed away, but by now Jane (that was not her name at the time, of course) was set in her ways and continued living in their house and following the same routine.
The men at the law firm considered Jane prim and proper and unapproachable, but after she had been there about five years, an older man who was a senior partner at the firm took a shine to her. When he started plying her with compliments and gifts, she soaked up the attention like a parched plant soaking up water. They had only gone out a few times when he asked her to marry him, and although he was 25 years older than her, she readily accepted. He was wealthy, powerful, and handsome in a distinguished, graying way.