Ready or Not (The Ready Series #4)

Prologue

Twenty Years Ago

I stood on the large stage and quietly bent forward, smoothing the tiny wrinkles out of my pretty pink taffeta dress. The fabric glittered and shimmered as I moved under the bright spotlights. A simple satin bow sat high on top of my head, and dark ringlets curled down my back, reminding me of all the princesses Daddy would tell me about at bedtime.

Looking around at the crowded room and the large audience standing before us, I couldn't help but smile.

I guessed I was kind of like a princess now.

"Stop fidgeting, Olivia," my mother whispered next to me.

Her pale pink coat matched my dress, but it wasn't nearly as pretty. It made her look old and stuffy. I liked it better when she used to dress in shorts and sandals, and she'd dance with me in the sprinklers when the weather got too hot and sticky to stay indoors.

I heard a tapping sound as a microphone came alive. My attention turned to the front of the stage as the crowd exploded in applause.

Smiling, I watched my daddy step out from behind the curtain, grinning and waving, as he passed by a sea of red, white, and blue. Signs bearing his picture and name were bobbing up and down amid the crowd, and I soon found myself covering my tiny ears to block out the thundering noise.

Slender polished fingers wrapped around mine and tugged my hands back down to my sides. I looked up to find my mother wiping tears from her eyes. She gave me a tight hug, and then she whisked away salty trails that had made their way down her cheeks.

"He's no longer just ours anymore. Things are going to be different from this moment on," she said.

I glanced back at my father, who was now standing at the wooden podium. After thanking everyone in the room, he turned around and motioned for the two of us to come forward.

"I wouldn't be anyone without these two women standing beside me—my wonderful wife, June, and darling daughter, Olivia."

The crowd cheered, and I couldn't help but smile and blush a little.

I really did feel like a princess—or at least a senator's daughter.

Whatever that was.

My father always said that being a senator was a big deal. All I knew was, his face was everywhere, and soon, he'd start working at the Capitol building downtown. I'd once taken a field trip there. It looked like the White House, and everyone said it was very old.

"This is only the first step. We're making waves in Virginia ladies and gentlemen! Victory tonight, change tomorrow!" he bellowed into the microphone.

The crowd erupted once again as he wrapped his arms around us. My mother's tears continued to flow as I smiled out at all the people cheering for my father.

She was wrong.

Daddy wasn't different. He felt the same, and he certainly looked like the same goofy dad who would tuck me in at night and sing me songs about dinosaurs and princesses having tea parties.

It was just a job. Kara was one of my friends at school, and her father had gotten a new job. The only thing that had changed in Kara's life was that she got a bigger house down the street.

We already had a big house.

I looked up at my daddy one more time as he squeezed me closer to his side and waved to the crowd.

Nothing would change.

He'd always be my hero.