Thank you, everyone for reading the story, and commenting. The response has far exceeded any of my previous stories as far as kudos go. It's nice that something I enjoyed writing has been received so well. I posted Part 2 this morning, and there are five more parts to come. I think it would be best to get this posted before Christmas (It's not a Christmas story. I already wrote one of those two years ago.), so I will post each part on successive days continuing with Part 3 tomorrow. I hope the story continues to please.

Portia