The Candidate

By Sally A Allen

Rand Jacobs is a Republican candidate for President of the United States.
The story follows him through the campaign trail; during this time he meets a
young woman who's friendship turns into romance. His opponent is Democratic
candidate Josh Samson who tries to thwart him all the way. Rand's bodyguards
are kept busy by the many times their campaign is sabotaged, including an
attempted assassination by the opposite party.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514458013

Sally A Allen

Sally A. Allen is originally from Wisconsin and currently lives in West Central Florida with her schnauzer, Sibby. While her novels are fiction, she draws from the many experiences she’s had in her life. Visit her website at www.sally-allen.webs.com.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

R AND JACOBS WAS the forty year old senator from Florida. He had surprised the people of that state by winning the election over Bill Smith, a democrat, aged seventy five, who was the incumbent. Since that time he became very popular because of his stand on foreign policy and on his military views on arming the United States. It didn’t hurt that he was six feet tall with black hair and a contagious smile. He also was an excellent speaker that was listened to by his constituents.

After his election to Congress in 2012 many thought Rand should make a run as the Republican candidate for president. Even though he was young, he had graduated from Harvard in the top percentile of his class with an outstanding GPA. It was well known that his parents had come to the United States from Germany and though they worked very hard pursuing the American dream, his father fell ill and died at an early age, leaving Rand’s mother alone in a strange country to raise her son alone. Instead of running the streets, he studied hard and had a burning desire to make something of himself. Rand went to college on a scholarship and the rest was history.

Martina Hernandez had a similar background except that her parents were from Mexico and had entered the United States illegally. She was born here, then studied determinedly and became a US citizen. Her family worked the fields picking strawberries following the harvest line across the country. Marty helped them work in the fields since she was ten years old and left her family at eighteen years of age, intent on making something of herself and vowing she would never live in poverty like her parents did. Soon after she left, she enrolled in a secretarial school in Texas and rubbed shoulders with students from affluent families. One girl named Gail, took to her immediately and became her friend. Even though Martina worked part time clerking at a department store, she often went home to Dallas with Gail. Marty couldn’t believe the affluence in which she lived.

Gail’s mother and father were both attorneys. It was obvious her folks were very wealthy because the house they lived in was a mansion. It sat on ten acres of land on which thoroughbred horses grazed. They were a hobby of Gail’s father, who raced them just for the fun of it. Marty was in awe and told Gail how she felt. Gail punched her in the arm, laughed and said she couldn’t help it, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. In fact, Ben and Susan kept her grounded and didn’t object when Gail wanted to attend Baylor instead of going to Smith where Susan graduated from. When she was introduced to Marty, she was very impressed with her intelligence and sense of humor. Marty however felt intimidated by them and felt more comfortable with the servants who were also Mexican people. Although the help was treated with respect, it was clear that Ben regarded them as a lower class than himself. That made Martina uncomfortable, so she often tiptoed down stairs and enjoyed a cup of coffee with the maid called Hannah.

Gail got up early one morning and caught her in the kitchen chatting with the maid. She raised her eyebrows and declared, There you are Marty! She acted like she was in a hurry, Come on, Marty, hurry we’re going to take a horseback ride today! Marty reluctantly followed her out to the stables, a huge building painted white which housed ten horses. Gail stopped to pat each horse on the nose and called them by name. Secretly Marty was afraid of the large animals and she shied away from them. Gail, sensing her anxiety, soothed her and said, This is Ruby. She is a lead horse and very gentle. You can ride her today. She has been taught to canter only and will never spook. The old gal is getting up in age and won’t be able to work much longer.

After Gail saddled up the horse, put Marty’s foot in a stirrup and helped her up in the saddle, Marty relaxed and actually enjoyed the safety of the muscular body underneath her. As Gail had said, Ruby padded slowly next to the huge, black stallion. He was jet black with a shiny coat and shook his head sending his mane flying. She could tell the horse was anxious to run, so Gail gave him full reign. They rode off in a cloud of dust and Marty’s roan planted her feet and wouldn’t move. She gently urged the horse, prodding her in the rib cage, but the horse wouldn’t move. Exasperated, Marty prodded her harder and finally Ruby moved; she turned around and trotted back to the barn. No, Marty cried and tried to turn her around, but the horse would have none of it and proceeded on her way.

When they got to the barn, Ruby slowly walked to her stall and waited for Marty to open the door. The horse obediently trotted in and peeked over the edge at Marty with woeful eyes. Feeling sorry for the failed ride, she patted the horse on the nose as she’d seen Gail do and wished she had a carrot to feed her. That’s okay, Marty crooned. Then she surprised herself by saying, We’ll do better next time, won’t we?

On the way back to the house, Gail stopped walking and roughly took Marty’s arm. What? Marty asked bewildered.

Around here we don’t fraternize with the help. They are servants after all and we don’t socialize with them. They are only here to do their duties.

Marty was taken aback. I only went to the kitchen to have a cup of coffee! she exclaimed.

That’s off limits, don’t ever do that again! Do you understand? With that being said, she stormed to the house leaving Marty standing alone. For the first time in her life, Marty didn’t like Gail very much.

When Marty got to the house no one was around so she went upstairs to her room and took a shower. After that she laid down on the bed intending to rest for a while, but her eyelids fluttered shut and soon she was fast asleep.

An hour later someone knocked loudly on her door. Marty jerked awake and sat up. Had she dozed off and missed dinner? Gail wouldn’t like that. Before she got her feet on the floor a maid bustled in with a dress over her arm.

Miss Marty, I’m your maid, she announced. I’m to wait on you and get you anything you desire. She placed the dress over a chair. At Magnolia House we dress for dinner. Miss Gifford sent this up for you to wear. She gestured to a blue silk dress trimmed in ruffles and pearls.

Marty scowled, but remembered what Gail had warned her about fraternizing with the help. Thank you, she said quietly and the maid left the room saying that dinner was served promptly at six o’ clock.

Marty picked the dress up and looked it over. It was entirely too fussy for her. She definitely didn’t like the ruffles and fancy pearl buttons. Discussed, she threw it on the bed and flung open the closet door. All her things were hung neatly on hangers. Her maid must have unpacked her suitcase she thought furiously. Marty jerked her little black dress off the hanger and picked up her sandals. It was the only dressy dress she owned, and she was damned well going to wear it! Looking at the clock, she saw that she had an hour until dinner; plenty time enough to get ready. She donned her dress and sat down. Marty pulled her hair back and secured it with combs, leaving tendrils of hair hanging on both sides of her face. She hated women who painted on make-up, so she only applied blush, a small amount of mascara and pale coral lipstick. She regarded herself in the mirror and was satisfied with what she saw. She grabbed her clutch purse and looked inside. There was a small comb and lipstick, but no cigarettes or lighter. Damn, she thought. Did the maid get rid of the carton she had brought along? Frantically she checked her closet and found them tucked up on the shelf. With relief, Marty opened a pack and slid them and a lighter in her purse. She checked her watch and it was five after six. Marty couldn’t help but grin; it was fashionable to be late wasn’t it?

She walked down the circular staircase and hesitated. Gail’s family and a couple were in the drawing