I was a child of seventeen. My whole life consisted of pleasing my father by going on these dumb trips, reading romance novels, and never experiencing much of a childhood. I mean, when I was six, Mother tried to get him to stop making me go on his expeditions all the time.

"Abner, she's just a child! I don't want her missing out on her childhood completely because of your stubbornness. I understand you want to spend time with her, but isn't it obvious that she has no interest in your expeditions?" Mother had said one day, after she had learned that Father wanted me to go to Egypt with him. Father, being the stubborn ass he was, refused to see the fact that I had no interest in what he did. Mother hated these expeditions. She told me once she used to like them until she had me. After that, she felt she had to keep house, and give me a stable home life.

I did have a stable home life most of the year. I had tutors, and took occasional classes at the college. My grades were excellent, but on the outside, I just wished Mother was around. She would have let me go to a real school, and not have to be tutored just because Father wanted me with him every moment. One day over dinner, he told me some news.

"Mary, we're going to have a special guest in a few weeks. One of my students is coming to stay for a while and go with us on expeditions. He'll be in the guest room on your side of the house. I want you to be good while he's here. No funny business." Abner said, lifting up his goblet to drink from it. I looked puzzled. "Funny business? I know I was little and played pranks on his students, but what the hell is he thinking? I'm not eight years old anymore. I'm a woman dammit, and nearing becoming an adult, and he insists on treating me like a child."

A few weeks passed, I spent the mornings with my tutors, and the afternoons preparing for our visitor. I cleaned, and polished and scrubbed until passing out on my bed from exhaustion. The next morning I took a bath, and put on the dress Father wanted me to wear, since today was the day his student was to arrive. Tying the ribbon in my hair, I felt uncomfortable. Personally, I'd rather wear my regular outfit, which was red plaid skirt, and white sweater. I hated ribbons. But Father wanted me to look nice. I headed down the stairs, and much to my surprise, bumped into this man. He looked to be in his mid twenties, so he might have been the student.

"I'm Henry." The man smiled, and then gestured to me. "And you must be Abner's daughter."

I blushed."Correct. I'm Marion, but you can call me anything but Mary. Father calls me that, and I hate it." Henry laughed."Actually you can call me Indiana, or Henry, doesn't matter to me, even though I prefer Indy for short." Just as they met, Abner entered the room.

"Good to see that you two have met!" He smiled, and walked out of the room. Indy stood there, smiling.

"So, what do you do for fun around here?"

I smiled. "Well, I read... ride my horse, and try to stay out of Father's way as much as possible."

Indy nodded." You don't seem like the type to go on these expeditions."

I smiled. "Yeah, I really don't like them much. Mother hated it that he constantly thought of himself first over us. I haven't been in a school since I was ten, because Father wanted me to be able to go with him on these trips, so he hired tutors. Before that, my grandmother—my mother's mother came to live with us. She died when I was eleven. When she was alive, Grandmamma made sure I actually was in a school. She hated that Father constantly took me in and out of schools to have me travel with him."

I looked at Indy. He smiled, and said, "I know the feeling. My father wasn't exactly the best either."

For a moment there our eyes locked. Indy grinned, and said, "Well Marion, it was nice meeting you. See you around." He walked outside, closing the door behind him. After he shut the door, I sighed.

This was living proof that I was in love.

I always dreamed of the day that I could leave this house and get a life of my own. It would be great, having a place of my own, not having to travel with Father anymore, just living out my dreams. Honestly, I think Indy was falling in love with me too. I lay on my bed, thinking, when suddenly, a knock came at the door. I yelled out, "Who is it?" A familiar voice came through my bedroom door.

"It's Indy. May I come in?" I jumped up, and opened my door. "Come in, if you wish." Indy walked into my room.

"Nice place you got here. Abner tells me you have a whole wing of the house to yourself, is that true?"

I smiled. "Yes, and it's been all mine since I was born. Mother and Father wanted me to have my own space in the house, so they had an addition built to the house when I was seven. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and my own sitting room. Great, isn't it?"

Indy smiled."It's great. So does Abner come on this side of the house much?"

As I put away my book, I said," Not really, to be honest. He keeps his distance, which he's been doing since I was twelve." Indy then smiled, and said, "I know we just met, but would you like to go out...with me? I was stunned. My jaw literally dropped.

"Maybe we can go to one of those serials in the movie theater, would you like that?" Indy was really desperate, I could tell, and finally I said yes.

"I'd love to." I smiled.

Indy grinned."We'll tour the town, and you can show me the surroundings." I nodded, and said," Yeah, he's not really trusting of me, especially since he caught me making out with his one student last year. We were this close, to you know—and then Father walks in, and starts screaming, and calling me a disgrace. It's not like I've never done it. There are a lot of things he doesn't know I've done."

Indy put an arm around me, and said, "Trust me on this one. Nothing's going to happen."

That night, we went to the movie theatre. Surprisingly, Abner allowed it. He thought it was great that we were getting to know each other. I was quite unsure about us moving too quickly. I mean, I only knew the guy for, well...maybe about twelve hours. First things first, I wanted to make sense of this whole thing. So, being the concerned one, I confronted Indy.

"I don't know if we should be moving this fast, I mean, we barely know each other. Shouldn't we take some time to get to know each other as friends first?" I said, with a concerned tinge to my voice.

"Oh, yeah...that would be good first, wouldn't it...I am sorry I came on too strong. Why don't we go as friends and start from there. Does that sound better?"

I sighed in relief. "Loads better."

Indy put an arm around my shoulder, and smiled."Now Marion, we better get going, we don't want to miss that flick now, do we?"

I laughed, and said, "Let's go, shall we?"

Weeks went by, then months. Indy and I spent a lot of time together. Since I had no real friends, Indy made it a point to become my constant companion. As we became closer, I fell in love with him more each day, and then one day out of the blue, things fell into place. We were sitting under the huge oak tree in the backyard enjoying a picnic and some time out in the fresh air. Father was okay with that, as he wanted me to go outside and enjoy the beautiful spring day, instead of spending the day in my room, reading. I went outside only so it would please him. Pleasing Father was close to impossible. He constantly complained that I was getting like my mother. My mother would have not liked it that he was still dragging me around with him, and would have told him to stop treating me like a child. I mean, when I was caught sleeping with one of his students last fall, he refused to talk to me for a month. If it weren't for our housekeeper, we would have still not been talking. But since that night, Father's and my relationship hasn't been the same. It was part of the reason why a part of me was afraid to get involved with Indy. The sun was shining, and the weather beautiful as Indy and I ate.

"Nice day out today, isn't it?" Indy said, in between bites of his sandwich. I nodded in agreement. We pretty much ate in silence until finally, Indy said something.

"Can I tell you something, Marion?"

I looked up, and said," Sure, what is it?"

Indy smiled, and said, "Is it alright if I tell you that I think I'm falling in love?"

I looked at him in surprise. Thinking to myself, I was like, "Is this what I think it is?"

He continued on to say, "Marion Ravenwood, I think I am falling in love with you."

My jaw dropped...literally. I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, and when I did, I realized this was no dream. He was serious.

"I think I'm falling in love with you too. I was from the beginning when we first met, but I think now I really am falling more in love with you." We leaned closer, and Indy smiled. Our lips locked, and we finally kissed. I had been dreaming about this for months. Indy pulled back for a moment and said, "So, did you like it?" I looked at him and then, I leaned forward and kissed him back.

He laughed. "I guess that was a yes." We made out for what seemed an eternity. He held me in his arms, as if he was protecting me. And from there, we were lovers.

"What if Father finds out, he'll kill me..." I said, worried.

Indy kissed me softly, "He won't find out. We'll just have to keep it our little secret." I smiled.

"So this means, when we are around Father, no physical contact?" I then said, looking up into his eyes. He smiled. "You got that right." I laughed. We spent the whole afternoon outside, with me in his arms. When it was time to go back in the house, we stood up under the huge tree, and kissed, which led to us making out. I didn't want this all to end. I wanted to be in his arms longer, and to feel his kiss against my lips. Indy sensed that I think, and he said," How about we meet after Abner goes to bed?"

I whispered, "Sure."

Indy then said, "Good, where should we meet where Abner won't catch us?"

I then said," The horse stables. He hates horses, so he wouldn't go near the stables." Indy stifled a laugh. I smiled and said," I'm the one who takes care of the horses. One horse is mine, and the other used to be Mother's. He's old though." Indy smiled." Okay then, we'll meet at the stables after he goes to bed."

I grinned."Deal."

We headed back inside, and I went to my room to undo my hair and put it down, and Indy picked up a book and started reading. Finally, about an hour later, Father went to bed. I told him I was going to check up on the horses, and he just told me not to stay up too late. Heading out to the stables, I found Indy outside. We shared a kiss, and went in the stables. I went into one of the empty stables, and Indy followed me. Pulling up a bale of hay, we sat next to each other, and he put his arms around me.

I think I'm going to like this.