by K. A. Linde
“Congratulations,” she whispered in his ear.
“Thanks, baby.” He squeezed her and then placed her back on her feet.
Everyone backstage seemed to want to come over and congratulate him too. Liz took a step back as Brady shook hands with the team that stood behind him the whole time and then his family. Just as Brady bent down to give his mother a hug, uproarious applause broke out in the convention center.
“They’ve just heard the news,” Heather explained.
It was so strange sometimes to see all of this from the other side. To get the election results before the news media, before she would have gotten them as a reporter.
And then she heard one of her favorite sounds. A cheer rose up from the crowd. Max-well. Max-well. Max-well.
“That’s our cue,” Heather said with a huge smile on her face. Liz had never seen Heather smile so brightly. “Congratulations, Brady.”
“Y’all act as if you were worried,” he joked, but it was clear all the tension had left his body. He had an entire general election to contend with, but at least one obstacle was out of his way.
Heather strode out onto stage, a total natural before the audience. She stepped up to the microphone, with a smile. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re pleased to have you here tonight at the celebration for Congressman Brady Maxwell III.”
The crowd cheered at the mention of Brady’s name.
“With the announcement that he has won the nomination for the Fourth District, I’m happy to introduce you to the man who you entrusted two years ago and who you continue to believe in today. Congressman Maxwell!”
Brady’s campaign mask slipped easily into place as he walked with confidence and power onto the stage as if he owned it. He was bred for this. It was what he was best at. He could wow a crowd, and tonight was his moment.
The crowd started up their chant again and the applause hit a record high. Bulbs flashed as people took pictures from all areas of the room. Red, white, and blue MAXWELL FOR CONGRESS banners hung everywhere. People were holding the signs above their heads and waving American flags in the air. It was a madhouse; Brady couldn’t even speak because the enthusiasm was all-consuming.
He laughed softly into the microphone. “Thank you. Thank you.”
It proceeded like that for nearly five minutes before Brady was finally able to speak. And then he delivered the acceptance speech that she had written for him.
She could hardly listen to her own speech without tears welling in her eyes. Brady had worked on it with her to tailor it to his cadence, and still she felt emotional. It mirrored the speech he had given at his last acceptance in some ways and spoke of the people he had met along the campaign. Liz had met many of the people that she referenced. An older woman who always donated to candidates she believed in each race, even though she didn’t have much money to spare. A young man who organized his high school to try to get all of the eighteen-year-old students registered and voting, and he was now actively working for the campaign.
There were so many stories. She couldn’t ever hope to capture them all. But she just wanted to focus on the things that were important to Brady—dedication, ambition, trust, hope, and working for the good of the community.
And when he finished, the cheers were even louder than they had been before.
Heather leaned over toward Liz and spoke low. “You did a really good job with that speech.”
Liz just stared at her, stunned. She was still not used to Heather acting normal, but ever since Liz had confronted her at the gala she seemed to be trying harder. “Thank you.”
Brady came offstage and scooped her up into his arms. “Brilliant. So brilliant. Like nothing else I’ve ever experienced,” he muttered against her skin.
Liz breathed in for what felt like the first time. She had survived her first election, and not just survived—Brady had won!
Chapter 27
MINE
The celebrations seemed to last forever.
Brady spent hours talking to reporters and answering questions about his victory. Then he spent even more time with the constituents who had come out tonight to see him. He was a star—smiling for pictures, shaking hands, kissing babies—the politician’s agenda. The room had an energy about it that seemed unstoppable.
It was certainly infectious. Every second that she felt as if she was getting tired, her feet were hurting her, or she couldn’t keep a smile on her face, she saw the people who greeted Brady. They were the reason they were even here today, the reason Brady had won.
After the primary party, they moved to another celebration for his high-end donors. Most of them had been at the fund-raising gala last weekend. They had been seated at the primary party, but Brady liked to thank them in additional ways. It was good to keep donors happy.
Liz sipped champagne and smiled at the faces that she had seen over and over this summer. She wondered what each of them wanted in return for their donation. How many of them had agendas they wanted to press on Brady, as Chelsea had?
She forced those thoughts out of her head and just enjoyed a night of celebration. Brady had the rest of the week off before delving into the general election, and she looked forward to those precious moments alone with him before school started. Between school and the campaign she wasn’t sure either of them would have much time together. Her chest ached at the thought of not being there to help with every speech as she had over the summer, but she had to sacrifice some of that for the greater good—her own independence.
She loved Brady like mad, but she needed a life beyond him. Liz was ready to begin anew. The more she thought about it, the more excited she got about her work in the PhD program. The thought of working in journalism, creating original research in the field, to maybe one day become a professor like her mentor was all too intriguing.
Marilyn approached her near the end of the evening and pulled Liz into a hug. “It is really wonderful to have you here, dear.”
“Thank you,” she said. Her voice was always thick with emotion whenever she spoke with Brady’s parents.
Marilyn pulled back to look at Liz with her hands still on Liz’s shoulders. “Don’t be a stranger when you start school. We’ve enjoyed having you around this summer.”
“I’ll be back on the campaign every chance I get.”
“We know you will,” she said with an easy smile. “Good night.”
Jeff said good night as well and then they departed. Clay and Savannah had never made it to this event and Chris had retired about an hour ago. The numbers were dwindling and only a few older drunk couples remained dancing in the center of the room.
Brady returned to her side after escorting his parents out. “Are you about ready?”
“Dying to get out of these heels,” she admitted.
“I’ll have someone pull the car around.”
Brady said a final farewell to the remaining guests and then they exited the party. It was just past three o’clock in the morning when they finally sat down in the back of the town car. Liz sighed heavily and leaned into Brady’s arm that he had wrapped around her shoulder.
“This was an amazing night,” she breathed.
“I loved sharing it with you.” He kissed her temple and she just sighed louder.
Liz had a feeling that she was going to fall asleep on the drive back to Raleigh. Her mind was exhausted as much as her body was. She couldn’t wait to sink into the soft mattress and wake up to five full days with Brady lounging around the house.
A second later, Brady was shaking her awake and she realized that she must have passed out. She fluttered her eyes open and yawned wide as she came to. “Are we home already?”
“No, baby, just a short detour,” he said. The door opened and Brady helped Liz out of the car.
She glanced around her, trying to figure out where they were. It was pitch-black. The car hea
dlights and the light of the moon offered the only illumination of where she was. There were no buildings and it appeared that they were at the end of a paved road. Everything before them was gravel.
“You brought me to the woods?” she asked, confused.
Brady didn’t have a chance to respond before the driver handed him a few things and then with a nod returned to the car. Brady passed her a jacket, which she took, though she was utterly confused. Next he handed her a flashlight.
“Ready?”
She stared down at her heels. “What is going on? And do you expect me to walk through the woods in these?”
Brady laughed. “It’s a short walk, and not through the woods. There’s a path.”
“Okay,” she said apprehensively.
Liz slid the jacket on over her party dress. It was mid-August so it wasn’t exactly cold outside, but the wind whipped up around her, causing her to shiver. She flicked the flashlight on and walked with Brady across the street to the concrete path that led down the dirt road.
She felt a bit as if she were at the beginning of a horror movie. Walking around in high heels at night in the middle of the woods with nothing to defend herself and only a flashlight that was probably going to break in a matter of seconds. She had so many questions, but Brady didn’t seem as if he was going to answer any of them, so she just kept pace next to him and listened to the crickets chirping in the woods surrounding them.
True to his word, they stopped after only a few minutes when they reached the end of the sidewalk. Before them stretched nothing but a cleared grassy knoll that led down to a glistening uninhabited lake.
He kissed her softly before she could say anything and then gestured for her to walk a short distance down the hill. Brady unrolled the bundle that the driver had handed him. It appeared to be a relatively large quilt, which he spread out before her.
“Take a seat,” he said, and then took his own advice.
Liz gratefully kicked off her high heels and then sank down onto the quilt. She was terribly confused, but too tired to fight him. Plus she was curious as to what they were doing here.
“Are you going to explain yourself?” she finally asked when he remained silent for another moment.
“I took a girl out to dinner once,” he said. “She had been uncertain about the election for longer than she had been uncertain about me. We’d been apart for a long time, and I wanted to prove to her that my feelings were genuine.”
Liz smiled. “Me? I’m that girl.”
“You are. I took her out to dinner. I wanted to be seen with her. I wanted to claim her. I wanted to claim you.”
“Well, I’m yours.”
“And that night you said that the most romantic thing was sitting in an open field looking up at the stars.” He gestured around him. “I give you the stars. I already have mine.”
Liz’s mouth fell open. The stars. He was giving her the stars. She glanced up and realized exactly what was going on. They had driven out of town to a secluded park with no lights for distraction simply to stare up into the night sky, as she had said six months earlier to him on a whim while they were out to dinner.
“I love you,” she whispered. “You . . . you seem to understand me unlike anyone else.”
“I feel the same way. We’re a matched set.”
“Brady, you gave me the stars.”
“I’d like to give you a lot more than that,” he said.
Then as Liz stared at him, stunned by his words, Brady shifted to one knee and pulled a small blue box out of his pocket. Liz’s eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth.
“They say the measure of a man is what he does with his power. I’ve come to find that I have no power without you. So, I want to share it with you for the rest of my days.” He opened the box, and a glittering princess-cut diamond with matching diamonds to either side shone bright in the moonlight reflecting off of the lake. “There is no other option for me. It’s just you. I don’t need to wait any longer to see if that’s true. I lost you this day two years ago, and I never want to live without you again. This time you’re mine, and I plan to do right by you.”
Liz felt tears prick her eyes at his words and she wasn’t sure if she was breathing.
“Will you, Elizabeth Anne Dougherty, do me the honor of marrying me?”
A million thoughts flew through her mind all at once. Was she ready for this? They had been together six months. In the grand scheme of things it wasn’t that long, but it had already felt like a lifetime.
He had told her once before that he could never be cajoled into marrying. That he could date, but marriage wasn’t on his horizon for a long time. But he loved her, and wanted this life with her.
She felt a tear run down her cheek as she nodded. “Yes. Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”
A smile broke out across his face. He plucked the ring out of the box and slid it gingerly onto her finger. It fit so perfectly that it was as if it were always meant to be there.
And then Brady was kissing her. Their lips melded together. His hands tangled in her hair and hers grabbed on to his waist, trying to get him as close as she could. She had never seen this moment coming. Even in her wildest fantasies she hadn’t pictured this happening until years down the road, but here and now couldn’t have been more perfect.
Brady was right. There was no need to wait. They had already been through hell and back. They had already realized they couldn’t live without each other. They lived together and worked together and traveled together. There weren’t any obstacles holding them back from this. And she wanted it.
She wanted to be with him. She had always wanted it. Life without Brady had always been like walking out of Technicolor into black and white: drab and lifeless.
They stayed like that until they both broke apart gasping. Brady wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. Tears of joy and happiness and contentment.
After a moment, Brady laid them back on the quilt, cradling her body against his. They lay there staring up at the stars, lost in the euphoria of their engagement.
Chapter 28
RIGHT DIRECTION
Liz and Brady spent his five days of vacation celebrating their engagement. The day after the primary, they had lunch with his family to tell them the news. The welcome she received brought tears to her eyes. Marilyn and Jeff both hugged her and told her that they were happy to have such a wonderful future daughter-in-law. Savannah was jumping-up-and-down excited. Even Clay smiled at the news. Though it did seem to make Andrea more pouty and bitchy than normal.
Clay had hugged her when they were leaving and whispered in her ear, “I guess the golden boy is still perfect, huh?”
Liz had smiled as she drew back. “Don’t worry. No one will take your black-sheep title.”
He had laughed and shaken his head. “I was never worried about that.”
“You should be worried about Andrea, though. She looks like she’s ready to be married off.”
Clay had just shrugged. “She’ll survive.” He had looked pensive for a moment before deciding that he could continue. “I want what y’all have.”
Liz hadn’t been sure that she had even heard him right, and then he was gone. Sometimes that man confused the hell out of her.
That weekend Brady had flown them down to Tampa. She had wanted to see her family before school started; now she had the excuse—to tell them about her engagement.
Her parents were, as Liz had expected, shocked. She and Brady had only been dating for six months and that seemed fast to them. But she explained that she couldn’t think of her life without him and she was insanely happy about the decision. After that they seemed to relax. She didn’t blame them for having an is this man taking advantage of my baby? feeling, but that was so far from the truth that it was easy to dispel it.
As soon as the apprehension left their fac
es, her mother immediately launched into preparations and they didn’t stop until the minute they were getting back on the plane. What kind of dress do you want? You look lovely in white, dear. Will Victoria be the maid of honor? I loved the Trenton wedding last year, and she had champagne and rose as the color palette. Are you thinking something like that? I wonder what floral arrangements we should look into. Orchids or lilies? Spring or fall? Tampa or D.C. or Chapel Hill?
The questions went on and on and Liz just listened, answering as best she could. The only thing that she knew for certain was that they wouldn’t have any time to plan until after the election. November 3 was Election Day and then after that . . . they would have the rest of their lives.
Liz’s first day of school at Maryland in the journalism program was on Monday. She met with her advisor that morning for the first time. She took a seat in an oak chair facing his desk.
“Welcome, Liz. We’re pleased to have you in Maryland’s Journalism Department.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here, sir.”
“Feel free to call me Terry. We’re colleagues now,” he said with a warm smile. “Lynda spoke wonderfully of you when I spoke to her. She said you were hardworking, and we’re always glad to have students like that here.”
Liz smiled and imagined the conversation between Terry and Professor Mires.
“I went ahead and got together your class schedule as well as your teaching assignment for the semester. We put you with Dr. Mary Whitley’s Tuesday/Thursday ten a.m. section and you’ll have a breakout Thursday afternoons at two.”
“That sounds great,” she said, relieved. She didn’t want to have any Friday classes so that she could be with Brady during the campaign as much as possible.
“I placed you in the four prerequisite classes as you can see here,” he said, passing her a sheet of paper. Four classes starting at three thirty in the afternoon Monday through Wednesday and Friday. Her stomach dropped. She knew that she would have a heavy load, but she hadn’t anticipated a Monday and Friday class.