Book 1 of the H&K Series : Path of Knowledge

Chapter 4

"He what?" Katharine exploded.

"Please, Kitty," Karen said, placing her hand on her closest friend and business partner's hand.

"Are you sure he only slipped you ecstasy at the cookout?" Katharine asked, aghast at the very thought.

"Almost certain," Karen began. "I know I can trust you, so I'm going to tell you what's happened between Michael and me." Karen laid all her woes out for Katharine.

Karen was a strong, confident, independent woman, who was devoted to her family and loved her husband with every fiber of her being. She dedicated every free moment she had to her family and made sure every Thursday night was her husband's and her date night. Thursday nights were strictly for them. No work, no kids, just them being together feeling and acting like it was their first date all over again.

In return, Michael Mitchell felt the same for his wife and family. Their two children, a son named Michael Jr. and a daughter named Cyndi, were but an extension of their love and devotion to one another. He was drawn to her confident bearing. He admired her drive from the moment they met at an Autistic Awareness fundraiser cosponsored by Thomas Jefferson University and Princeton University. They had dated for a year before getting married even though he was in the final year of his doctorate in accounting and business administration at Princeton University and she was finishing her fourth year of residency at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He was twenty-six and she was thirty-one. From the beginning, they were soulmates. A year after getting married, she gave birth to their daughter. She relished motherhood, deciding to remain at home until their daughter was able to start school. Then their son came along the very next year. By the time both children were in school, she was thirty-seven. Unable to be a stay-at-home mom, she opened her own concierge business a year after her daughter was born. She excelled at it, growing the company by leaps and bounds. Michael was just as driven, becoming the CEO of an international accounting firm by the time he was thirty-two.

At forty-eight years old, Karen was the model of the perfect businesswoman, doctor, mother, and wife. All those who knew her marveled at how she was able to juggle all her responsibilities and still have a happy marriage.

Karen met Katharine at a fundraiser sponsored by her husband's company for an international medical aid group sending medical supplies and personnel to Liberia, Africa, in 2000. Katharine was a nurse practitioner who had worked with the group years before when the organization had sent her to Columbia, South America, to help villagers being harassed by drug cartels and rebels. It was a fast friendship. A year later, Karen brought Katharine on as a consultant and within a few months had asked Katharine to become her partner in the business. The two worked extremely well together.

Every year, Karen would have a get-together for all the different contributing physicians' partnerships, hospitals, and other companies they dealt with professionally as well as a few they were hoping to build a relationship with. Karen decided last year's get-together would be at her house for a cookout barbecue in the suburbs where she had a huge backyard for entertaining. It had been the first business get-together Karen had held at her home. All the others had been at hotel conference halls or downtown Philadelphia fine restaurants. Doctor Jim Martin and his wife Samantha Craig had been in attendance since his physicians' partnership was one, she had been trying to build a professional relationship for some time. Karen had minimum dealings with him and only on a professional basis.

Doctor Martin seemed always to be hovering close by as Karen went about being the gracious hostess, apparently leaving his wife Samantha to indulge in business accounting discussions with Jeff. At one point, Karen had mentioned she needed to get more hotdogs from her refrigerator. Doctor Martin offered to take over the grill for her. When she had returned, Doctor Martin had handed the cooking off to Karen's husband Michael who was still talking accounting business with Samantha. Doctor Martin had offered her a hotdog and a glass of wine. Karen had accepted the food and drink without question. Doctor Martin had made some excuse to speak to her alone concerning a possible permanent relationship with his contributing partnership.