ANNA1

It had been six months since Anna’s father died. His brother, Uncle John, phoned her. “Are you up to receiving a visitor?” he asked after the usual greetings. Anna heard the urgency in his voice and told him that she was free in the morning but that she did have an appointment with her gynecologist in the afternoon just after lunch. Uncle John told her that he would be there in less than half an hour. She did not know why, but she sensed that what he had to say would greatly affect her. Anna’s instincts, as usual, were correct. She got out of her chair which took some doing as she was six months pregnant with her second child. Anna walked to the window and looked out. There on the U-shaped driveway she saw her chauffeur and protector, Liam O’Reilly, washing the family limousine. Seeing him as she pushed the window curtains aside while patting her extended midsection warmedher.

Liam O’Reilly, a large agile man, was hired by Anna’s father, Dr. Stephen Blithe, when she was less than two years old. Liam, at a height of 6’2”, looked as if he weighed about 180 pounds. He actually weighed 198 pounds and was a superbly conditioned warrior. Liam, a former Green Beret who left the Army in 1974, answered a want ad posted in a military publication. The ad listed the required skills of a very well-paying position, and Liam knew that he possessed all of them. Dr. Blithe interviewed him and was duly impressed. Liam possessed black belts in several different martial arts and had a superb military record which included two combat tours in Vietnam. In a word Liam was courageous and dangerous with a very strong moral base. Dr. Blithe knew, after an hour of conversing with him, that he had found the right man. He offered Liam the job, and he accepted. Liam became Anna’s protector from that time on. At first, protecting Anna and her mother was just a very well-paying job. However, it didn’t take long for this cute little girl with soft blonde curls and large blue eyes to burrow her way into his heart. She became like his own, and there was nothing that he would not do for her. Liam, due to wounds he received in combat, would never be able to father his own child. This circumstance intensified his protective instincts toward her.

As Anna grew and developed from a child into a startlingly pretty woman, Liam was always there. Even when she went on dates, he made sure that the young men in her life knew not only her boundaries, but his. Anna, all 63 inches and 120 pounds of her, sometimes resented Liam’s intrusion into her personal life. But as she matured, she appreciated his instincts regarding the character of the men that she would see socially. Anna was and is the major beneficiary of her father’s estate, which at the time of his death, exceeded more than $50,000,000. Her wealth made her a target, and she relied more and more on Liam’s judgment as she knew with every fiber of her being that her welfare was his only concern. In her sophomore year at Brown University she met Mark Shellholm who was at least as wealthy as she. When Liam approved, she freely gave her heart to him, and they were married three years later. Her fa