“It’s snowing harder. I thought by the time we got off the mountain, it would have let up,” Nikki said, worry in her voice. “Someone call Charles and tell him we got down safely.”

“I’m doing it now,” Alexis said.

“Our ride is here,” Yoko said, pointing to a white van that was almost impossible to see through the swirling snow.

The Sisters climbed in the van and settled back for the ride to the nation’s capital.

Martine Connor, the president of the United States, Marti to close friends, Madam President to those who worked for her, and POTUS to the Secret Service, with the code name Chick, stood at the window, coffee cup in hand, staring out at the snow. It was a winter wonderland for sure. She wondered how much snow had fallen during the night. Six inches, she surmised. And it had just started to snow again a short while ago. In a way she was glad it was snowing, because it would make the annual children’s Christmas party hosted by Baron Bell and herself that much more exciting for the little ones.

Martine had already performed her early morning presidential duties and had a few free hours to herself. Her secretary had told her that, because of the inclement weather, cancellations were coming in for all the ten-minute interviews and photo ops that had been scheduled for the day. That was fine by her. She needed some downtime.

She walked back to her kitchen and poured more coffee and returned to the window. She liked to stare out the window at the outside world and just let her mind wander in whatever direction it wanted to go. Just then, it was going in Baron Bell’s direction. She had met the man only once and hadn’t really formed an opinion of him. Lizzie Fox hadn’t seemed enamored of him, that was for sure. Yet the man was in and out of the White House on a regular basis. Or so Lizzie had said. As Martine sipped her coffee, she tried to remember what she’d read about the lawyer over the past months. Nothing earth-shaking. A philanthropic attorney in the District. A lover of children.