Without You I Have Nothing

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
          
A Significant Meeting

Chapter  2
        
The Following Weeks

Chapter  3
        
Secrets No More

Chapter  4
        
A Fairy Tale Date

Chapter  5
        
A Plea for Help

Chapter  6
        
That Special Friend

Chapter  7
        
The Little One Is Called

Chapter  8
        
Mistaken Identity

Chapter  9
        
Meeting the Family

Chapter 10
       
The Moment of Truth

Chapter 11
       
Back to Reality

Chapter 12
       
The Wedding

Chapter 13
       
At Last

Chapter 14
       
Forewarnings

Chapter 15
       
The Prophecy is Fulfilled

Chapter 16
       
Pearl Harbor in a Night
Club

Chapter 17
     
Flying Brings Its Rewards

Chapter 18
       
Paying The Piper

About the Author

_{The harbor-side street was busy with the Friday
evening rush.}

_{At the well-lit entrance to a popular hotel four
security guards carefully studied each vehicle as it paused to drop off
passengers. The guards thoroughly scrutinized each passing patron as they
entered the bar.}

_{When a large SUV pulled into the forecourt, one left
his station to move to the driver’s door. Recognizing a friend he could only
laugh, “Hello, Peter, why are you here?  You have always made me believe you
were too busy to come to such a place. Give me your keys and I’ll park your
vehicle. It’s the least I can do when you did such a good job repairing my car.
You go off and enjoy yourself but behave. We don’t want to throw you out.”}

_{Still chuckling, he drove off.}

_{Left standing at the entrance Peter tried to
rationalize exactly why he had come to meet his two friends, Ted and Bob. ‘This
is no place for me!  I cannot relax in the company of women and I have no
social graces at all. Perhaps if my parents had lived then it might be
different. Life in the jungle taught me to kill but never prepared me for this.
Perhaps I should just go back to the workshop. I don’t drink, I’m uncomfortable
with women no matter my feelings for them and I am poor company. Perhaps I
should just return to the workshop!’}

_{As he waited for the return of his car keys, he
watched three women alighting from a taxi.}

_{A tall, elegant redhead flanked by two friends who
seemed to be dragging their unwilling and unhappy companion with them, gained
his attention.}

_{The vision of that redhead as she disappeared into
the hotel suddenly made him change his mind and he turned to follow them.}

_{Full of happy, boisterous people dressed for their
'Friday Night' drinks and socializing, the dimly lit bar was smoky, huge, well
organized and over-crowded. Obviously, a popular meeting place in the Sydney
Hyatt, the room was a constantly moving kaleidoscope of suits and skirts as
late arrivals sought seats. Busy waiters dashed back and forth while friends
mingled between tables.}

_{The noise was deafening, even without the music from
the large band.}

_{Those couples on the handkerchief sized dance floor
were taking the excuse of dancing to grope one other. Like disturbed ants, the
couples continually moved from group to group, as if touching antennae to
establish personal relationships in the seething nest.}

_{Peter quickly moved to join two men leaning against
the bar in a quiet corner.}

_{The new group of three, conspicuous in their own
company, took no notice whatsoever of the activities around them. Two,
obviously white-collar workers, were dressed in expensive, smartly tailored
business suits. Peter, a blue-collar worker, dressed in jeans and an open
necked shirt, dwarfed them although they, also, were burly men.}

_{“Hey Peter, time for another drink. Are you going to
have a beer this time or stick with the lime and soda?  Be brave have a
Fosters!”  They addressed this bear of a man as a friend and good-naturedly
teased him about not touching alcohol.}

_{In the furthest corner of the room sitting at a
table were three attractive young women - an unusual group as no men approached
them. One, who had drawn Peter’s attention earlier, seemed most ill at ease. The
noticeable antics of the older bosses pulling their young secretaries hard
against their bodies did not amuse her.}

_{Karen Wilson, who appeared to be the leader of the
group, crunched an ice cube, as she snapped at the redheaded woman with her. “Look
Jennifer, lighten up. I don’t want to pay for my drinks all evening!”}

_{Her companions called her Jennifer and did
everything to make certain her first night out with them would be enjoyable.}

_{Jennifer Blake sighed as her thoughts raced. ‘I hate
this. There must be a better way to meet people.’}

_{She was unhappy. This young lawyer, newly arrived
from Melbourne to manage the Legal Department of an insurance company in
Sydney, was homesick. Her high academic qualifications did nothing to ease the
ache in her heart for her usual Friday night on the farm with her mother,
father and twin brother - aggravating pest though he was. She was missing the
music, the warmth and the security of her family.}

_{Remembering that seriously catastrophic incident in
her past she allowed her thoughts to wander, ‘If only my brother had arrived on
time to pick me up after that school social so that I hadn’t accepted that lift
home with those men!  Perhaps, had he been on time I would be enjoying the
surroundings instead of sitting here like an iceberg terrified that some man…’}

_{“How gross!”  Her thoughts were vocal now.}

_{“What was that?”}

_{“I’m sorry, Karen,” Jennifer replied. “The noise in
here is deafening. What was it you said?”}

_{“You’ll get used to it. Isn’t it delightful here? 
Aren’t you glad you came?”  Karen leaned towards Jennifer but her blue eyes
searched the crowd. She tossed her head and tugged her blouse down over her
breasts as she spoke.}

_{Jennifer noticed her perfectly manicured nails.}

_{She knew that Karen and Ruth (Karen’s best friend
and workmate), two secretaries at the insurance company, were delighted that
she, as the newly appointed head of the Legal Department, had accepted their
invitation. They brought her here for a so-called relaxing drink. Of course,
they hoped that they would finish the night with dates, and prayed that
Jennifer, who had proven so stiff and unbending with men, would join in the
evening’s fun.}

_{“Well, I agreed to come and...”  Jennifer did not
bother to continue. Karen was not the least interested in her answer and
Jennifer doubted that she was even listening. The idea that Karen was looking
for someone in particular occurred to her.}

_{Realizing she was out of her depth even in such
shallow waters, she tried to be friendly.}

_{“How do you manage to keep your nails so long with
all the work you do on a keyboard?”  Jennifer consciously raised her voice over
the din, trying to relax with her two new friends.}

_{“Oh, these are false. Ruth fixed them for me,”
explained Karen.}

_{Defensively, Jennifer dropped her hands to her lap
as if to hide them.}

_{“My nail polish always seems to get chipped. I look
after my nails but I have to keep them short, and bright nail polish just looks
wrong on them.”}

_{Bringing one hand up and holding her fingers out for
their inspection, Jennifer added ruefully, “I just can’t seem to do all my work
and have beautiful nails.”}

_{Karen and Ruth started an involved conversation on
the new season’s nail colors and Jennifer knew just how ill at ease she felt in
these surroundings. However, everyone else in the room appeared happy.}

_{As she listened to snatches of conversation from
surrounding tables, she envied the smiling faces. Drinking for the sake of
drinking seemed to be the prevailing interest, with small talk, flirtations, wandering
eyes and wandering hands the norm. Off-color jokes and sexual innuendoes
floated in the air. It wasn’t her scene in the first place, but right now, her
attitude made her even more isolated.}

_{Looking around the room at the groups of drinkers,
all engrossed in their own self-importance, she became aware that someone was
watching her. She felt herself under the surveillance of a ruggedly handsome
young man standing at the bar, his gaze locked onto her in a most unnerving
manner.}

_{Quickly looking away, she focused her attention on
her two companions.}

_{“Have you been to Melbourne?” she inquired brightly.}

_{“No, but we’ve been to the Gold Coast,” they
responded as one.}

_{“Who’d want to go to Melbourne,” teased Karen. “No
sun there. We're beach bunnies.”}

_{Ruth, coming to the rescue, showed some interest. “What’s
the social life like there?  Is it the same as here?”}

_{“Well, perhaps, but...”  Jennifer did not want to
offend her two companions. They were doing their best to be friendly.}

_{“I haven’t been here long enough to compare. We have
many good little restaurants down there and most of them have musical
entertainment. There are bridge parties, tennis competitions and...”  Her voice
trailed away.}