by Mary Whitney
Crossing her arms, Patty grumbled.
Lillian shook her head at her daughter’s reaction before turning back to her son. “As Marco said, as a family, we should support you, and we do.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Stephen said, still somber.
Wanting to make an impact with her opinion, Lillian delayed her next statement as she ran her hand along the tablecloth’s floral needlepoint. After a moment, she announced, “But I do not want you seeing Anne Norwood.” She looked up and gazed at Stephen. “You will ruin yourself.”
Stephen blinked a few times and remained stoic, while Patty grinned.
Lillian clasped her hands together so tightly the white of her knuckles showed, and she took a deep breath. “And yet, I can’t stop it from happening. You’re a grown man, and you’re already pursuing her.” Her voice carried bitter annoyance. “And we all know what happens once these things get started.”
Her equivocal announcement quieted the room. Marco again took stock of everyone’s expression. He leaned toward his mother-in-law. “Lillian, I appreciate what you’ve said and your thinking on this. It’s very rational.”
“Thank you, Marco,” she said with a grim smile.
“I’m wondering if maybe there isn’t a potential way out of this.” He sounded like the career diplomat he was.
Stephen furrowed his brow and turned to him. “What’s that?”
Marco shrugged. “The family could help . . . could be there. We could sort of chaperone, if you will, when you’re with her.”
“Chaperone?’ Lillian asked as she imagined what that might entail.
“Huh?” Stephen asked. His worried expression stayed with him.
“Mom, please,” Patty said. “I expected you to be on my side on this one. This is a political shit storm. You’re not seriously considering we help him lose his seat? What do you think—”
“I’ve not said what I will do,” said Lillian holding up her hand to stop Patty’s tirade. “I’m only listening. Overall, my goals haven’t changed. I’d like a happy son, and I’d like to win this election. Obviously, I’d like Stephen to give up on this silly notion immediately.” She waited a moment to see if she was having any effect on Stephen. His expression remained resolved, so she sighed and gave Stephen a knowing look. “But I’m not stupid.”
“Mom, Dan Langford knows Anne works in the office,” said Patty. “Remember I mentioned the run-in with him last weekend when he was a jerk? He actually brought up Anne, saying she’s just the kind of girl Stephen would like.”
“Hmm. Langford was actually right about something for once,” Lillian quipped in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“But it means he’s already thinking of attacking Stephen about his past,” Patty said.
“Well, of course he is,” said Lillian. “We’ve discussed that. It’s the whole reason Stephen’s been so open with you about his personal life.”
“But, but . . .” Patty began looking around the room as if her perfect argument was just waiting to be discovered hiding in a corner. “What are you going to say to her parents? They’ll be angry you didn’t tell them you knew what was going on with their daughter.”
“Lord, she’s an adult, Patty, not a child.” Lillian shook her head. “It’s her choice if she tells her parents, not mine. I’d hope her father and mother would understand that.”
“From everything I’ve ever heard her say about her parents, they’d understand it was her choice. She says they would blame her, not me,” said Stephen.
“Well, look at you—able to answer all these questions for her. You certainly know a lot,” Patty snarled. “When have you two talked?”
“Obviously, when you weren’t around,” he said with his lip curled.
“What did I tell you? Stop fighting.” Lillian pushed the Wedgewood plate further onto the table and folded her arms in its place. She stared at Stephen. “Do you have plans to see her?”
He met her gaze and was forthright. “We talked about seeing each other tomorrow.”
“Patty has raised the prospect of legal issues. Are you violating any nonfraternization rules?” Lillian asked.
Stephen shrugged. “No—as long as I’m not her direct supervisor. Believe me. I’ve read our office manual. It’s conveniently vague.”
“You’re not her direct supervisor? You’re the senator! It’s your office. Really, Stephen. That doesn’t pass the smell test.” Lillian shook her head with disapproval.
“I think we’re beyond the smell test, Mom,” Megan said. “We’re looking for the letter of the law in any public defense.”
“Then I’d like to ask Phillip to take a look into the sexual harassment rules for Senate employees,” Lillian said, referring to the family’s private attorney.
“Go right ahead. I’m a lawyer. I’d appreciate an impartial review of the law,” Stephen said.
“Impartial review?” Patty sniped. “A politician should care enough about his image not to endanger himself like that.”
“Which brings us to the second issue of public perception,” said Marco. “This is why I’m suggesting the family be around when Stephen and Anne get together. If it was ever to get out that Stephen and Anne had become friendly, it needs to appear to be a respectable relationship. It can’t be unseemly.”
“No blowjobs in the Oval Office?” Patty laughed.
“Patricia Caryn McEvoy, I appreciate your vigilance in protecting this family, but will you please stop it? I need you to be helpful here,” Lillian said with a scowl.
Pursing her lips, Patty slumped in her chair in acquiescence. Only Lillian had ever been able to control her.
Lillian turned to Marco. “What are you proposing?”
“That Anne becomes a family friend. In order for things not to look like Stephen and Anne are sneaking around, he needs an alibi. If family members are always around, it looks better.”
“Chaperoned by my family?” Stephen shook his head. “Please, not that. I’d rather—”
“Not that. I know,” Marco said as he gave Stephen a man-to-man look. “It wouldn’t need to be someone following you everywhere, just someone in the house when you’re there together. That way, you have an alibi.”
“Plausible deniability.” Patty nodded, trying to get back into her mother’s good graces. “It begs the question why she’s there in the first place, but it does give it an air of respectability.”
“Hmm. I don’t think that’s enough,” Lillian murmured. “I will be asked whether I knew of Anne and what I think of all this.” As she took another moment to smooth the tablecloth, Lillian was stone-faced. She raised her eyes to Stephen. “If you continue in your pursuit of Anne, I have three options. The first is to have you go about it alone without any family involvement. I believe you will surely lose your seat under that scenario. The second is for the four of you to work out some arrangement for you to see her. That would lessen the scandal, but only so much. I think it’s still unlikely you could survive politically.”
“And the third?” Stephen asked.
Lillian was well aware of her exalted status in the public eye. She’d been called “the Dowager Empress of Colorado,” and on occasion, she used it to her advantage. “The third option is that I give this my blessing, and I take part in the alibi. You might survive a scandal if I help.” She gave Stephen an icy side-eye. “Might survive.”
“I think Mom’s right,” said Megan.
“Well, I’d like to see Anne again, and I don’t want to wait a year and a half,” Stephen declared.
Lillian checked her watch and announced, “Then bring her over here at two o’clock. I’ll speak with both of you and decide then.”
Stephen’s eyes widened. “What? Mom . . .”
“Do you want my approval or not?” Lillian asked.
“Of course. But what are you going to say to her?”
“I don’t know yet,” Lillian lied.
“Okay. I suppose.” Stephen straightened in his seat like a dutifu
l son. “I’ll call her and ask her over.”
“I think this is a good compromise, Lillian,” Marco said with a nod. He turned to Patty. “But it’s been my experience that treaties don’t work if one side isn’t invested in it.”
Patty glanced at her mother, obviously looking to make a good impression. “I’ve been overruled. I accept it. I’m happy to chaperone or whatever else we have to do to make things between them at least appear platonic. I’ll be damned if we lose this campaign simply because my brother has an uncontrollable crush on an intern.”
“We’re going to control it. That’s the idea.” Megan smiled.
A few minutes later, Stephen went into a spare bedroom and called Anne on his mother’s landline.
“Hello?” It was clear she was hesitant answering a call from an unknown number.
“Hi. It’s Stephen. How are you?” he asked.
“Great. I’m happy you called.” The warmth in her voice confirmed it was true.
“Well, I was wondering if you were also free around two this afternoon.”
“Um . . . sure. What are you thinking?”
“My mother would like to have you over.” Not wanting to pressure Anne any more than he had, he decided to play down the meeting. He chuckled. “I understand you two met recently. You’ve been holding out on me.”
“Er . . . yes . . . we haven’t had much time to talk since you got back. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“Well, it’s my fault we haven’t been able to talk. I’m the one who should apologize.” His smile grew bigger. “But you might’ve pulled me aside to let me know. I practically choked on my eggs when my mom told me.”
“Sorry about that.” She paused, and the apology left her voice. “Wait. Did you just say I’m supposed to pull you aside in the middle of your office? You want me, the intern, to tug on the senator’s arm as he walks by so I can whisper in his ear? Are you crazy?”
“Okay, so maybe that’s not a good idea. But could you’ve talked with Megan?”
“No. I wouldn’t have been comfortable doing that. I don’t know what you’ve told her about us.”
“I understand. I just was in shock when Mom announced it to my entire family.”
“Oh my God. Patty and Megan were there, too?”
“Oh yeah. And Marco.”
“I’m so sorry. You must’ve been completely caught off guard.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was rough in the beginning, but it helps that my mom likes you.” His mother had said something to that effect earlier, so he wasn’t lying. “She’d like to see you again.”
“Okay . . .” Her deep breath was audible across the phone line. “What’s her address?”
Anne pressed “end” on the phone and stared at it as she let the conversation sink in. Oh my God. I have a date with Stephen to meet his mother again. She shook her head as if the movement would make the idea absorb into her consciousness. Dread and excitement grew inside of her, until reality set in with the inevitable question—What should I wear?
At two o’clock sharp, the doorman called Lillian and announced Anne’s arrival. Before Stephen even brought it up, she told him to answer the door. She understood they might want a few words together before they all sat down. The meeting would be awkward enough as it was.
When the two walked into the living room, Lillian was just placing her mother’s china tea set on the coffee table. She looked up and saw Stephen with his hand proudly on Anne’s shoulder. Oh dear, Lillian thought. He really likes her.
Perfectly dressed for an afternoon with a suitor’s mother, Anne was smiling. Lillian returned the smile. “Good afternoon, Anne. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“Thank you for inviting me over, Mrs. McEvoy,” she answered.
“Please, call me Lillian. Still to this day, when I hear ‘Mrs. McEvoy’ I think of my mother-in-law.”
Stephen crossed his arms. “Hey, Mom. Why don’t you tell her about Grandma, and how you and Dad got together? That’s a good story.”
Only Lillian detected the smug tone in Stephen’s voice. She raised her eyebrows. “I think that might bore Anne. Besides, she’s probably already knows that ancient history. It’s certainly been told in the media again and again.”
Anne looked uncertain, as if she didn’t know if she should admit she’d heard it before. “Only a little.”
“Come on, Mom,” said Stephen. “You’ll give her a better version.”
Lillian flashed her son a look to tell him she knew what he was up to. After a second of rumination, she decided the conversation might break the ice. “Oh, all right. I suppose it is amusing.” She gestured to the sofa. “Please sit. Anne, can I get you tea or coffee?”
“Thank you. I’ll take some tea.”
As Stephen and Anne took their seats, Lillian poured tea and handed out cookies. She launched into her story. “Patrick was my second husband. My first marriage ended in divorce, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. My first husband was my escort when I was a debutante. It was always expected Henry and I would marry, and we did—right after I graduated from Sarah Lawrence.”
“Were you too young?” Anne asked.
Lillian smiled at what she thought was an excellent question, showing a cautionary outlook on life. Given what the two were embarking on, Lillian thought it smart Anne considered such things. She took her tea and sat down. “No. I wouldn’t say that, though I understand why you ask. I have friends who married at the same age who remain happy with their husbands. We were never really happy, even in the beginning. That was our problem.”
“That’s too bad. When did you divorce?” asked Anne.
“I was twenty-five. It was rather scandalous. Neither of our families was the divorcing kind. Our parents only accepted it because we didn’t have children.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “Of course, I was blamed for that, but you’ve seen my children. Obviously the problem wasn’t with me, but we didn’t know it at the time.”
“Obviously not.” Stephen chuckled. “Tell her what you did next.”
“Ah, to the great dismay of my family, I moved to Paris and became a governess to a French government official’s family. He wanted his children to speak fluent English. I’d majored in French in college and lived in Paris for a semester, so I knew the country well.” She laughed. “I thought if I was going to be a barren old maid, I might as well do it in Paris.”
“So did you meet your husband there?” Anne asked.
“No. In Colorado, six years later. At the time, Patrick was a junior member of Congress, and his father was senator. The family I worked for was vacationing in the West, and we’d stopped in Rocky Mountain National Park. Patrick was there for an event. He heard me speaking French to the children and came over to talk.”
“And the rest is history?” Anne smiled.
“Almost. He didn’t know I was an American, and he started speaking in terrible French. I told him if he wanted to impress me, he needed to speak in English.”
“It caught Dad’s attention,” Stephen said with a nod. “Normally, women didn’t talk to him that way.”
“That’s great.” Anne laughed. “I guess he impressed you, then.”
“He did. We fell in love, almost overnight. I quit my job to stay in Denver with my family.” She shook her head. “Unfortunately, his mother didn’t like me. Even though he had been quite the ladies’ man, she didn’t think he should settle down with a Protestant, over-thirty divorcee.”
“But you still married. What happened?” Anne asked.
“It was very romantic.” Mrs. McEvoy sighed happily. “A year after we met, we eloped.”
“That does sound special, especially given the circumstances.”
“It was. Patty was born the following year. Then Megan came along a few years later. And finally, Stephen.” She smirked. “My ex-husband has still never acknowledged the birth of any of my children.”
“I bet he never will,” said Anne with a smile.
Lillian nodded. “Would you like another cup of tea?”
“Yes, please,” Anne answered.
As Lillian poured Anne’s second cup, she used the mundane activity as a segue to the real subject of the day. “So that was my scandal.” She gave Stephen a sharp glance before passing the cup to Anne. Meeting Anne eye to eye, she asked, “What do we have going on here?”
With a chiding tone, Stephen jumped in. “Mom, we talked about this already.”
“We did. Now I want to hear from Anne.”
Anne’s eyes shifted to Stephen and then back to Lillian’s. She shook her head. “I don’t know yet. I’d only say we’re proceeding cautiously.”
“And so you’re aware of the risk—of everything?” Lillian said as she cocked her head in skepticism.
“Of course,” Anne answered, her brow furrowed. She obviously didn’t like the friendly conversation turning into an interrogation.
Stephen leaned forward in his seat and said, “Mom—”
Anne briefly placed her hand on his arm and showed her good manners, despite being put in an awkward situation. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. It’s a reasonable question.”
“But not appropriate,” Stephen countered.
“I think this entire situation is well past appropriate, Stephen.” Lillian leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “I only want what’s best for you, but since you’re an adult, you have to decide that.”
She turned to Anne. “It’s not that I don’t like you. Actually, I do. I just want to make sure the two of you have thought this through completely before you proceed any further. Stephen says he has. Have you?”
Anne nodded, but looked at her askance. “With all due respect, some might say I have more at risk, personally, than anyone here. You know what kind of family I come from—what’s expected of me, what my life should look like. Of course I’ve thought this through.”
Lillian studied Anne for a moment, admiring her candor. She’s lovely, and if it weren’t for the election, I’d be more than happy he found her. Turning to Stephen, she saw he wore a frown until he looked at Anne and they shared a smile. Lillian sighed to herself as she saw what was in motion before her—for better or for worse, Stephen was falling in love. She resigned herself to the fact she was powerless to stop it and her job was to steer her son the best she could.