Chapter One: Philadelphia

"Case number 24 now filed under the 'went to jail' files. That sucker got busted!" Abigail Collins said confidently as she placed a manila folder in a file cabinet. Being a legal secretary could be fun at times.

"Hey, stop talking to yourself, will ya?"

Abigail looks over to see her new fiancé of only a month; Dennis William Clark, 28, co-owner of Clark and Son's Law Firm. Dennis is the "son" and is wealthy as a prince. He is from the Hamptons and Abigail will be moving there with him once they are married next spring. It's only July, so that won't be for another 9 months yet.

Beaming with a smile, she greets him with a kiss. "I'll have you know, I've been here since 6:00 AM, so it's okay to be going a bit insane right now. Give me a break".

"Your break was between twelve and one".

Abigail's fiancé was also her boss. How in the world that is moral, ethical or even possible, I don't know. Their parents were friendly with each other.

He's gorgeous in a white-collar way. He's buff, blonde, and blue-eyed. He's pretty clean-cut for the exception of his mop of blonde curly hair. He has nice, full and rosy cheeks and is tall as a church steeple, and usually is pretty muscular, but the stress of his lawyer job, Abigail has noticed that the once 6-pack is slowly turning into a dad-bod...not that she minds though, she loves him anyway. He grins.

"I've got a surprise for you."

"Oh yeah?" She wraps her arms around him. "What kind of surprise?"

"I don't know, if I tell you, I might have to kill you". He said in a rather deep voice. He has a really deep, sultry speaking voice by the way. He's by no means a pansy despite having lawyer parents.

"What is it?" She inquires with a flirty smirk.

"My dad maybe-just maybe- has bought us a house in the Hamptons".

"You're kidding." Her green eyes narrow, but then bulge upon finding out that Dennis is for real.

"The whole house is paid-off."

"As in no mortgage?" This is too good to be true.

"We can move in tomorrow if we want! That is, if you want, or if your parents would let you co-habituate before marriage. I know you're Catholic and all."

"My grandmother would have a coronary. I can't move in until we're married."

He sighed. "Abigail Collins, soon to be Clark, you're 26 years old. You're a big girl. I get it though, the house can wait." He kissed her forehead. "Get back to work darling, it's only 4:30."

"Half-an-hour and I'm out of here!"

"Then you can be in my arms my love. Oh and hey, dinner with my family tonight at the Continental. They want to celebrate. Give yourself time to get changed. I like that black dress you wear to nice events. My parents love that one too."

She smiles and nods as he gets back to work. She sighs. Dating the wealthy is exhausting. Having to do nice dinners with his opinionated family was even more exhausting. She always feels inferior, or like she's being judged. She heads to the bathroom and observes herself in the mirror. Smoothing the pieces of stray light-brown hair that surrounded her ponytail, she studies herself. Her make-up is still fresh, so thankfully it looks like she won't have to re-apply tonight. Make-up was a 30-minute ritual for her, as was hair.

Abigail is originally from the Philadelphia area, Montgomery County to be exact. Her father is a lawyer and her mother is a nurse at CHOP. They never hurt for money, and Abigail usually got everything she wanted as a child, but compared to the Clarks, her family was practically on welfare. Abigail had been dating Dennis for two years, and she still can't figure out if his parents approve of her.

Finally 5:00 rolls around and she clocks out. Dennis works until 6, and cleans up shop, so there is an hour to kill before she has to do the dreadful dinner. She walks home to her apartment that she shares with her friend Tanya. It's about a block-and-a-half away, but it is such a nice day that the walk doesn't bother her. Center City is not as bad as other areas, like Kensington, Chester, or North Philly. Cities are weird; it's like there are two classes, the working/business/wealthy, and the poor/homeless/on welfare.

"Hey lady? Penny for the poor?" A hobo woman calls out to her. She gets "cat-called" by hobos a lot because she dresses so nicely. She's used to it. Sometimes she feels the need to look away and walk faster, but they're usually harmless.

There's an hour to kill, so what better way to kill that hour than to meet Tanya for Happy Hour at a local bar. That way she can pre-game. Abigail has never been to this bar before, but Tanya claimed it was good. What Tanya says, goes. She sits at a bar stool and greets her friend.

"Hey Tanya."

"Hey girl! You're looking super adorbs! Love the Burberry shoes." Tanya was always so fun and spunky. That's why we're friends. She's African-American, and likes to let the world know that she's single.

"Thanks! This is a cool place here, how'd you find it?" She takes in the rustic walls. It's a new bar, but they made it to look like an old pub.

"Remember when I went bar-hopping the other night with some of the girls, and someone didn't want to come because she was too busy spending time with bae?"

"What can I say, the bae rules over all." She shrugs and laughs.

"Literally girl. I don't know whose more whipped, him or you."

"I love the guy, I do, but I'm here to pre-game because I have to go to dinner with his parent's later."

"Girl, then maybe you shouldn't pre-game. I think you need to be as sober as possible for that shit." Tanya knew how Dennis' parents were. She's heard stories.

Abigail sighed. She was never much of a drinker. She only drank for two reasons, 1, to enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner, or 2, to rid her anxiety. This time is the latter. "I don't know about you, but I don't think I can handle talking about who didn't make law-review, sober. Just one to ease the tension. What's good here?"

Tanya snapped her fingers. "Hey bartender!"

Damn, was she embarrassing at times.

The bartender turned around, focusing his attention on Tanya. Poor guy looked stressed. "He's a new bartender." She whispered. "I'm giving him a run for his money. It's okay though, cause he's hot. For a white guy."

"What's up?" He barely looks at Tanya, trying to get her order quickly so he can go back to getting other people's orders.

"I'll take a Manhattan. Vodka Cranberry for this light-weight."

"I'm not a light-"

He looks at Tanya and then to Abigail. "Yeah. Sure." Then he's off.

" Isn't he hot?" She beams. "I tried to get his number the other night, but he told me that he isn't really into black girls. He was so sweet about it though, I'm like hey dude, how do you feel about dating a chocolate goddess? I made him laugh at least."

"Ah! Hahaha, you are too much, and to answer your question, I didn't get a good look at him, but I shouldn't be. Dennis is the only man in my eyes."

"Yep. He's got you whipped."

"Does not."

"More whipped than Pinnacle Whipped."

"If you say so."

A different bartender came out with our drinks, an older, middle-aged guy. He must have been the manager. "Sorry about the wait ladies, I mistakenly put the new guy by himself for happy hour. I'm helping out. I'm Dave, the manager, but be sure to give your tip to Toby, okay? Guy's working hard." He smiled at the girls.

"His name's Toby! How cute is that?" Tanya beamed.

"Sure. Hey so hear me out. Apparently Dennis' parents bought us a house in the Hamptons, for when we're married."

"Get out of town." Her dark eyes widened.

"Seriously. My own parents would most definitely not approve if we were to co-habituate before marriage."

"Co-habituate?"

"Live together?"

"Oh! Right."

"I haven't even told them yet. I'll probably chat with my mother tomorrow. It will give me some time to figure out how I feel about it."

"Well you have to accept! It's the Hamptons, and the house is paid off. Hell, Abigail, it was a gift! Do you know how many girls would kill to live in the Hamptons?"

"I know, I'm lucky. It's just too much. I just don't know if I'm ready to move, I guess."

"Aw, you'll miss me as a roomie, I know."

Abigail smiled. "Well that...but it's a whole lifestyle change! How does one be rich?"

"You're rich, aren't you?"

"My parents are well-off, but the Clarks are like Kardashian rich. That's a different lifestyle."

"Just don't become a man, and you'll be okay."

"Ha! That's definitely not part of the plan". Abigail sips on her drink and then notices the time. "Shit. Hey, Tan, I have to go and primp at meet Dennis' family at the Continental. It was fun. Here's my money for the tab".

"Bye, hey, relax girl, okay? You know his parent's like you."

"One can only hope."

"Sorry I'm late!" She walks briskly in her black pumps that accompany her black A-line dress.

Dennis and his parents give her a stare as they sit at the big 5-star restaurant, candlelight table. Dennis stifles a laugh.

"I couldn't find the shoes that went with this dress. Hi Mr. and Mrs. Clark, how are you?"

Mr. Charles Clark looks like a typical dad, but more well to do. His side-swept hair is graying, and he is tall and established like his son. Mrs. Antoinette Clark is shorter, blonde, and always has her hair up perfectly coiffed. Abigail always wondered how she could spin her hair and tuck it so neatly in a bun like that. Needless to say, that woman was flawless.

They gave hugs, and Abigail sat down, smoothing her dress as she did so. She eyed the giant diamond on her finger. Dennis loves her. That should get her through this. "So, how was your guy-ses... I mean, how were your days?" Why does she always have to stutter around them?!

"It was a day like any other. Nothing compared to yours though, I was wondering how you felt about the offer in the Hamptons?" Mr. Clark said. There was no warm greeting, no awkward small-talk, just straight into business.

"Well..." I looked at the menu. I had never been to this restaurant before.

Mrs. Clark jumped in. "Oh you have to see it! It has a four-car garage, a pool, a tennis court, three stories, what else... Jerry Seinfeld is across the street, Martha Stewart lives nearby. It's the best we could do for our only son and his soon-to-be-wife."

Her stomach started to hurt. How is this even possible? Sure the Clarks had a successful law-firm, and were from "old money", but she didn't think they were this rich!

"That's...that's awesome! Really, it goes down in the books as the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I mean aside from when Dennis had to pee on my leg when I got stung by a jellyfish last summer." No laughs. Tough crowd. Shit shit shit shit shit. Why did she have to be so embarrassing? Abigail took another sip of wine.

Dennis spoke up. "I peed on her leg, I know. Gross. She would have done it for me."

"Anyway, back to the house..." His father sipped on his stiff Chardonnay. "Ah waiter, bring us the duck royal for the family. Make sure the meat is nice and tender. Thanks"

Abigail cringed. She always has to pretend to like obscure food.

" I was thinking, Abigail dear, that this weekend, you and I can take a drive up there, to the house and check it out. It's already in my parent's name. We can go there and figure out what changes need to be made to it before we move in." Dennis said as he rubbed her leg under the table to ease her nerves.

"I'm sure it's a perfectly lovely house."

"Oh it is! We made sure of it. Take the weekend for a small trip. It will do you good to get away from the working world for a while."

"It will babe." Dennis squeezed Abigail's knee.

"Sure. We'll go this weekend." She sighs.

"Wonderful. Now, on to talk about who made law-review."

This law-review conversation lasted two hours; kid you not.

"So, did my parents bore you to tears as usual?" Dennis wrapped his strong arms around his fiancée as his parents got in their car and drove home.

"Would you hate me if I said yes?"

Dennis sighed and sat on the couch in the Continental lobby, and pulled Abigail down with him. " I know they're a drag, and not the most fun, but they did do you a huge favor. We'll live there, by them, and live near Jerry Seinfeld and Martha Stewart and whomever, and have a really nice, comfortable life, I don't get why you see so much wrong with that."

"Dennis, I don't see wrong with it at all. It's just a major lifestyle change, that's all."

"Abby, you knew this when you started dating me. I can't live like a normal person; you know that, not with my parents the way they are. Yes, we'll have fundraisers and all of these social events to go to where we will have to schmooze with the rich and be in the spotlight. You knew this. You were excited for it."

"Yeah, but I just guess I didn't know it would come so soon." She looked into is blue eyes, which looked hurt. She hates hurting his feelings.

"Say you'll come to the house this weekend and check it out." He pleaded.

"I already said I would." She shrugged and looked down at the floor fiddling with her dress. When she looked up, she had tears in her eyes.

"What's the matter babe?" Dennis pulled her in, holding her tight, rubbing her back.

"I just...I just feel like a total goof around your parents. I feel like I always have to be proper and up tight, and never me. I can never let loose, you know?"

" I know babe. If it makes you feel any better, it's not like you'll be seeing them all the time. Things will be better, and they'll eventually warm up to you. They're very protective of their son, you know. You're perfect Abigail. You're simply perfect and don't you forget that. I'm making you my wife for a reason, not because you're beautiful, not because you're smart or well-off in life. Because you're YOU, and when my parents see the love I have for you in my eyes, they will have that love for you too."

Abigail laughed a bit as she wiped a stray tear. "Is that the stiff-Chardy talking?"

"No, it's me talking. You're fiancé who is rich, but not to dignified to refuse to pee on you."

"I love you, Dennis."

"I love you too." The two shared a sweet kiss.

The sun was setting, and it was still light out. "Would you like a ride to your apartment love?"

"Nah, it's okay Dennis, I can walk. It's a nice evening, and the sun hasn't set yet. I enjoy the walk."

"So be it. Gosh Abigail, I could stare into those emerald eyes forever." He kissed her again. "'Till tomorrow my dear. I'll see you at work in the morning."

"Bye Dennis. Love you."

"I love you more."