Misconception

by Christy Hayes

Chapter 30

  Jason and Pace couldn’t get within five hundred yards of the Whitfield’s house and were forced to park in a private school lot. Jason felt pretty sure the car was going to get towed, but short of going home and then taking a cab, there didn’t seem to be an alternative. Pace had been a jumble of nerves beside him in the car on the ride into town. She’d twisted her hands, checked herself in the mirror at least ten times, and tapped out what sounded like the national anthem on her legs twice.

  Jason reached over and grabbed her hand as they walked along the sidewalk. She was trying hard to remember the shortcut she used to take through two neighborhoods twenty years ago while Jason still tried to figure out what he’d seen on the internet before they’d left. “Do you know where we’re going?”

  “What?” She was a million miles away. “Oh, um…” She looked around with her brow furrowed and pointed to a side street. “I think we turn there and then look for a white brick house with black shutters and a red front door.”

  “Let’s hope they haven’t painted,” he mumbled and followed behind.

  “I’ll probably recognize it anyway.”

  “Pace?” He yanked on her arm to make her stop. “Honey, are you okay?”

  “Yes.” She pulled free and rubbed her gloved hands over her puffy white parka. “No. I just want this over with.”

  “It will be soon.”

  She lifted up her sleeve and pushed her glove down to see her watch. “Let’s get going. I want to make sure Mom knows we’re at the house before she faces the cameras.”

  They found the white brick house, amazingly just as Pace had described it, trudged over a creek and squeezed between towering cypress trees that separated the Whitfield’s yard from another family. As they approached the pool house and the back door, they could hear the bustle of people scurrying around the front of the house setting up cameras and microphones for the big event. Jason would have sworn Colin planned an outdoor press conference in December to show his love to the media. On second thought, he’d bet it had been Trey.

  Pace pressed her face against the windows of the French doors. “They’re all huddled around my father.” She glanced over at Jason with the weight of the world in her weary eyes. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready when you are.”

  She knocked on the glass pane and the door opened within seconds. Tori answered, unable to hide the surprise on her face. “I thought you weren’t coming.” She dragged her inside and Jason followed.

  “We’re here for you, Mom,” Pace whispered into her mother’s ear as she hugged her tight. “Only for you.” She pulled off her gloves and unzipped her jacket. Jason saw her mother’s critical gaze at Pace’s jeans and sweater, but, to her credit, she didn’t say anything.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” Trey lorded over the scene from the middle of the den with a clipboard and an angry scowl. Colin sat in a chair while a woman hovered around him patting his face with powder.

  Jason had expected a hostile reception and came prepared to defend himself. What he hadn’t expected was for Pace to shove a hand in her old boyfriend’s chest and get in Trey’s face before Jason had the chance to respond.

  “Back off, Trey. He’s here with me and we’re both here for my mother.”

  Trey glared over her shoulder at Jason and snarled. “Get out of here, Kelly, before I throw you out.”

  Jason stepped forward and watched in astonishment as Pace shoved Trey back with both hands. He swayed backwards, his eyes wide with shock, but didn’t budge. The fact that he remained on his feet didn’t make his wife’s actions any less remarkable. “I’ve had it with the way you speak to him. He’s my husband and he’s here because I want him here. If anyone is going to get thrown out, it’s you.”

  “Pace.” Colin stood up and adjusted his tie. From the look on her face, Jason could tell she was about to crumble. He stepped next to her and squeezed her hand. She gripped his fingers tight. “Your husband is the cause of this fiasco. I don’t suppose he’s mentioned the private detective he hired to tail you.”

  “I know all about the private detective.” Her voice revealed a confidence Jason knew she didn’t feel. “And the only cause of this fiasco is you.”

  He’d never seen Colin look at Pace the way he did now, as if she was worthless and practically see-through. It was the same way he looked at Tori. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” He held his hand out to Tori. “Ready, darling?”

  Tori stared at his hand like he’d presented her with a stick of dynamite. She glanced at Pace who reached out to grip her mother’s arm. “Whatever you decide, Mom, we’re here.”

  Tori shook her hair back from her face and stole a quick breath. “I won’t be standing with you during the press conference, Colin, and don’t touch me. I won’t play act for you in front of reporters.”

  Colin dropped his hand and appeared as stunned as Jason at her words, as well as the disdainful tone she’d used to deliver them. “I thought we agreed you’d be with me. I thought you understood how important it is for us to present a united front.”

  “You haven’t thought about anyone but yourself in a very long time.” She jutted her chin in the air and looked down her nose at her husband. “You’re on your own with this one, darling.”

  The room was so quiet it was like everyone was afraid to breathe. Colin stood gaping at Tori, completely dumbfounded. He never considered she might stand up to him.

  Trey cleared his throat. “Senator, we really need to go.”

  Colin nodded and turned to leave. At the threshold, he stopped abruptly and whipped around to face his family. “Jason, you’d better be gone when I get back.”

  Tori gently coughed and stepped forward. “Jason’s not the one who leaked the pictures. I did.”

  Jason finally understood. Colin slumped against the wall, too amazed to believe the truth, as was everyone else in the room. Everyone but Jason. “I…how?”

  “You’ve gotten careless,” Tori said. “And a little too brash. Two detectives, Ed Prenzy, and some boys from the club. Do you think you’re invisible? Or just invincible?”

  “Why, Tori? Why would you do this to me? Why would you ruin everything? Revenge?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips contemptuously. She showed her strength in withstanding the heat of his fury, the look of hatred in his eye. Jason would think her heart impervious if he couldn’t see the tremble in the hands she’d tightly clasped behind her back. “I didn’t do this to you, Colin. You did this to yourself.”

  When she glared at him, challenged him to rebuke her, he took a quick look around the room. His minions, the staff who’d followed him blindly, wouldn’t meet his eye. “Well, then. We’ll discuss this later.” He turned and strode toward the anxious press.

  Everyone ambled into the foyer behind him and Pace and Jason stayed behind, alone in the room except for the makeup artist, who quickly packed her stuff in a large case, and Tori, who hadn’t moved.

  Pace rushed to her mother’s side and searched her face. “Mom? Are you alright?”

  Jason let the makeup artist out through the back door.

  “Mom, please,” Pace pleaded. “Talk to me. Tell me you’re okay.”

  “I did this.” Tori’s voice was void of inflection. “If he loses the election, it’s because of me.”

  “If he loses the election, it’s because of him. Stop blaming yourself for his mistakes.”

  Tori stumbled toward the foyer and, for a second, Jason thought she might have changed her mind about joining Colin at the press conference. But she listened for a moment and then spun around to face them. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Pace.”

  Tori gave Jason a quick shrug and a pitiful look of appeal. “I let you be the fall guy, Jason. I’m sorry about that.”

  He felt staggered, not only by her admission, but that she’d apologized. “I wondered. Not right away, of course. I assumed it was the private detective I hired. But then when I saw the pictures
, I knew it couldn’t have been because of me.”

  Pace threw her arms in the air. “Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?”

  Tori wandered back into the room and ushered Pace to a chair by the fire. She slumped into the chair across from her. “I suspected your father of having an affair. I had him followed.”

  “You had Dad followed? When?”

  “A month or so ago.”

  Pace shook her head, like she couldn’t quite absorb everything her mother admitted. “You two should have gone in together, maybe gotten a two-for-one discount. Sorry,” she said with a quick glimpse at Jason. “So you’ve known about this girl for awhile?”

  Tori nodded and exhaled loudly. “I was furious, Pace. She’s twenty and the daughter of a friend. I was humiliated and felt betrayed, the same way I always feel when he does this. But this time it was worse. I don’t know if it was her age or the way he’d skip around the house like a love struck teenager, but I just couldn’t bury my feelings and wait for him to end it. I felt threatened for the first time in a very long time.”

  “Oh, Mom.”

  “But then…he seemed to need me again with the campaign, in a way he hasn’t for years. I buried it, I guess, tried to forget. I thought he’d realize how stupid it was to run around with a girl more than half his age while his seat was under attack. I thought he’d ended it. I was wrong.”

  “Why did you press me to stand by him? Why did you insist on taking his side when you were the one who’d outed him? I don’t understand.”

  “I couldn’t go through with it—standing up for myself, demanding he change. I thought I could, but when I talked to him, when I saw how destroyed he looked, I folded. He did need me then and I so desperately wanted him to.” She seemed close to tears and her chin began to quiver. “But he lied to me only moments after begging my forgiveness. And then when I saw you here today, for me, I couldn’t go through with it. I owe it to you to be strong.”

  Pace started crying and she slid out of the chair to her knees. She grabbed her mother’s hands and put her head in her lap. “You don’t owe me anything, Mom. I’m so very proud of you.”

  Tori stroked her hair and Jason tried to back out of the room. He not only felt uncomfortable overhearing Tori’s private business, but the poignant moment seemed only for them.

  “Jason?”

  The sound of Tori’s clipped tone halted his progress. He peeked around and saw her straining to look at him. “Thank you for taking responsibility for the pictures, even though they weren’t yours.”

  Jason couldn’t help but smile. “No need, Tori. I didn’t really care if he thought it was me. It just as easily could have been.”

  Jason tried again to slip out when she stopped him. “Jason, stay.” She patted Pace on the back and they both got to their feet.

  “Mom, are you going to be okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m going upstairs to change my clothes and pack a bag.”

  Pace gripped her arms before she could go. “What? Where are you going?”

  Tori flashed a cunning smile. “I’m not going anywhere. Your father needs to face more than just the reporters alone.”

  She winked at Pace and disappeared into the hallway and up the stairs.

  Pace looked to Jason with wide-eyed wonder. “You knew?”

  “I checked online while you were in the shower. The pictures were from a different location and…” Should he tell her? “…it wasn’t the same woman. I knew they weren’t mine.”

  Pace fell back into a chair. “Are you sure?”

  “The woman in my pictures was blonde and she sure as hell didn’t look twenty.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “Pace?” Jason had never heard her cuss. “God, I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “No, no, of course you should have. No more lies, remember.”

  He pulled her to her feet. “No more lies.”

  “You let everyone think you were responsible. You were willing to take the blame.”

  “Your father hates me, Pace. He always has. No matter where the pictures came from, it doesn’t change the way he feels.”

  “I always thought he liked you.” She lowered her forehead to his chest. “I’m such a fool.”

  He lifted her head until she met his eyes. “You’re nobody’s fool, Pace Kelly. Your father is the fool for throwing all of you away so carelessly.” And a very busy man. Damn.

  She glanced toward the doorway where her mother had escaped. “Do you think she’ll be okay? Do you think she’ll really leave him?” She gripped his jacket tight. “Do you think I should tell her about the other woman?”

  Jason shrugged and pulled her into a hug. She looked like she could use a big one. “I definitely don’t think you should tell her about the other woman. I don’t know if she’ll leave him, but I’m glad to see her stand up to him.”

  She buried her head in his chest and groaned. “I hate this for her. I hate him for doing this to her. Two women?”

  “I hate to bring this up, but he’s still your father.”

  She wiped her face with the end of his scarf. When she leaned back and caught him smiling she said, “What?”

  “You. I enjoyed watching you yell at Trey more than I enjoyed hitting him myself.”

  She snorted and yanked on the scarf. “Trey’s an ass.”

  Jason threw his hands in the air. “I’ve said that all along!”

  “You were right.” She reached up and cupped his face, hauled him down for a kiss. “Thank you again for being here.”

  “Oh, baby.” He reached back and wrapped his fingers around her ponytail. She could have passed for a teenager. “I love you.” He gave her hair a tug. “For better or worse, remember.”

  When she smiled up at him, Jason knew they could get through anything. “I remember.”

  Epilogue

  The ice cream shop was packed, three deep at the counter and a crowd milled around waiting for their names to be called so they could retrieve their orders. It was stifling outside with temperatures hovering near ninety degrees. Jason and Pace waited along with the rest of the lucky few inside the air conditioned shop. Tori had the boys outside and Pace could see her through the window trying to fan her face with a napkin. They ran circles around the table she held for them. It was only May, but promised to be the hottest summer on record.

  “Your mom looks happy.” Jason shuffled to let another patron through the door.

  “Yeah, she does.” Pace glanced back outside the window and watched her grab Mitchell after he almost ran over a toddler with bouncy blonde curls and a dripping waffle cone. “I’m so proud of her for moving on with her life.”

  “It only took thirty-eight years and a national scandal.”

  “She told me he called and asked her for a date. She said no.”

  Jason lifted his brows in surprise. “How long do you think she’ll hold him off?”

  If this ordeal had taught Pace anything, it was that her mother was not predictable. “He’s sent her flowers every day since. It doesn’t seem to be having an effect on her.” She stole a glimpse behind the counter to see if anyone was making any sundaes or shakes. The line was getting longer by the minute and the teenage workers seemed like they were goofing off.

  “How do you feel about that?”

  She stared up at her husband. “Marriage takes work and trust.” She nudged him with her shoulder. They’d learned a thing or two about trust. “They’re my parents and, as much as I hate what he did and especially the way he treated her, a very small and selfish part of me would like to see them together if he could be faithful. But I’m not sure he can and it’s not about what I want.” She snuck a glance out the window and watched Tori throw her head back and laugh at Dillon’s antics. “I don’t think she can ever trust him again. I think she likes the person she is now. I know I do.”

  Jason followed her gaze and nodded. “I do, too. She’s a lot easier to take without the attitude. Your dad on the ot
her hand…”

  In the months since the scandal had hit, Colin’s attitude toward them had vacillated between indignation and remorse. He still blamed Jason for having to retire his seat. Until he was ready to take full responsibility for the destruction of their family, his marriage, and his career, Pace didn’t have much to say to him. Their relationship, what little was left, was strained and kept her up some nights. “I hope he owns up to his mistakes, but until then…”

  She squeaked the last word out as she got knocked in the back. She turned around to see the flushed face of a very pregnant woman. “Sorry.” She rubbed her hand over her belly. “I forget to allow for this extra load sometimes.”

  “No problem.” She scooched closer to Jason to give the pregnant woman more room. God knew she remembered what it felt like to be pregnant in the heat of the summer. “When are you due?”

  A teenager called “McCalister” over the din of the crowd and a man with three small children rushed forward. “The end of June,” she said as she blew her bangs out of her eyes.

  Pace remembered her pregnancy scare. She’d calculated her due date to be the end of June. She watched the girl, sweating, bloated, and ready to pop. God, that could’ve been her. How different would their life have been now if she’d really been pregnant?

  A pimply faced boy came forward with another tray of ice cream. “Pace?” he announced to the crowd. Jason tried to muscle his way forward at the same time the pregnant woman next to Pace patted her belly and said, “That’s us.”

  Pace watched them both arrive at the counter. “Um, I think you have my order.” She smiled at Jason as he picked up the tray and turned back toward Pace.

  “Uh, no.” He looked down at the two kid sundaes they’d ordered for Dillon and Mitchell, the shake he and Pace would split, and the smoothie her mother had requested. “This is ours.”

  Her brow furrowed and she twisted back to the teenager who watched raptly, as if he didn’t have three thousand other orders to fill. “Didn’t you say Pace?”

  “Yessss…”

  She looked back at Jason. “That’s my wife’s name,” he explained.