Dutch and Gina stood up as Roman approached, his hand extended. Dutch liked Roman because he cared about Gina and looked out for her best interest. Roman liked Dutch because he loved Gina and Gina, to his ever loving disappointment, was devoted to Dutch.
“Mr. President, how are you?” he asked as they shook with a warm handshake.
“I’m good, Roman, good to see you again.”
“Same here. Only wish it were better circumstances, man. I mean talk about the Looney tunes.”
Dutch laughed.
“These people crazy,” Roman continued, smiling too. “It’s as if insanity rules these days.” Then he looked at Gina. She seemed more beautiful to him every time he saw her. “Hello, Princess,” he said and reached over and gave her a hug.
LaLa and Allison glanced at each other as Roman held Gina. And then they looked at Dutch. Although they were disturbed by the contact, Dutch revealed nothing.
“I’m so sorry they got you involved in this,” Gina said as Roman removed his arms from around her.
“Oh, I can take it. I’m used to the disgust of men.” Then he looked at her with all sincerity. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
Dutch looked at Gina as she smiled weakly. The toll all of this, not just the ridiculous, media-invented scandals but the marriage itself, was taking on her was noticed most by him.
“I’m okay,” Gina said.
“Sure?”
“Yes, thanks. I just never dreamed they would take it this far.”
“If it’s politics,” Roman said, “it’s too far. And you can take that to the bank and cash it.”
Gina smiled as the door to the sitting room opened and a presidential aide stepped inside.
“Listen, Roman,” Dutch said, extending his hand, “I have a meeting. But please feel free to spend time here with Regina, I know you two needs to talk about Marcus Rance--”
“Yes, we do--”
“So feel free. And nice seeing you again.”
“You, too, sir,” Roman said, shaking his extended hand. “And all I want to say, sir, is that I can tell you with a one hundred percent degree of certainty that I am not the father of your son.”
Dutch laughed. “Take care,” he said and left the room. LaLa and Allison also bid their farewells, and left too.
Roman sat down beside Gina and crossed his legs. “Alone at last,” he said. Then he stared at her. “How are you really, G?” he asked her. “And I don’t want the public answer that you’re just fine and dandy. I want the truth.”
Gina exhaled. Her relationship with Roman had always been a direct one, even when she found out he was seeing other women. She confronted him, he was straight with her, and that was the end of that chapter in their lives.
But they somehow managed to remain friends.
“I’m not so great,” she admitted. “I mean, I know some folks in this town had a problem with me and my style and my outspokenness and--”
“And your color,” Roman offered.
“But for them to even suggest that I would cheat on Dutch just astounds me. I’m like where in the world did that come from?”
“Especially when it should be the other way around,” Roman said.
Gina found that an odd comment. “What do you mean?” she asked him.
“I mean your husband,” Roman said pointblank. “Wham Bam Harber, remember? The ladies man of ladies men? I don’t want to be disrespectful, G, but he’s the one with the reputation with the opposite sex, not you. You lived the life of a nun compared to him.”
“That was before we were married,” Gina made clear.
“I understand that.”
“That was before he met me. So I don’t see why you need to bring up something like that when it doesn’t have anything to do with me and Dutch now.”
“I’m just stating a fact, G. Dutch Harber got around, but it’s you they want to call the slut? Seriously? And it’s not just before he was married either. Look at that mess with all of those women just a few months ago, and you were pregnant, G. That was some crazy shit he put you through.”
Gina frowned. “He didn’t put me through anything, what are you talking about? You can’t blame him for what happened, he had no control over that. And if you think for a second I’m going to let you just sit up here and run down my husband then you can say your goodbyes now, Ro, because I don’t need a friend like that.”
Roman, realizing his slip-up, smiled his charming smile and threw his hands in the air. “Hey, wait a minute,” he said, “I come in peace.”
“You’re my friend, and I love you as a good friend of mine, but I’m not about to let you or anybody else talk about Dutch as if he’s some whore from way back who still have those tendencies. It’s not true and you saying it don’t make it true.”
Roman considered her. He always suspected she was blind when it came to that ladies man side of her husband. But the thing about men who like the ladies, as Roman did, as he was convinced Dutch still did, they could never keep their true nature clamped down for long. Just as Roman was beginning to feel stronger feelings for Gina, the feelings he wish he had for her when they were together, Dutch Harber wasn’t above those feelings either. If the right woman came along.
And if that right woman did come, Roman was determined to be in perfect position to comfort Gina with a love she’d never want to lose again.
“I apologize if that’s how I was coming off,” he said. “I like the president, you know I do. It just angers me that he’s not doing more to squelch this craziness.”
“There’s nothing more he can do.”
“He can bundle up that baby and let the world see him, for starters.”
“They saw him. Dutch released that photo this morning, remember? But they still aren’t satisfied. Now they want DNA tests. DNA tests, Roman.”
“Then give’em DNA tests.”
“Why? To prove what we already know? Besides, they won’t believe the results and you know it. All kinds of conspiracy theories will bounce around. They’ll declare we rigged the tests or tampered with the results or something to prove their theories.” Then she looked at Roman as if she had suddenly been enlightened. “Unless you want to take the test, not to clear me, but to clear you?”
“Come on, Gina, what do you take me for?” He touched her hand. “I would love to be the father of your child, are you kidding me?”
Roman didn’t intend to go that far. He looked at Gina. She was staring at him.
“You had your chance, Ro,” she said, sliding her hand from his grasp.
“I understand that.”
“I wasn’t woman enough for you.”
“That’s not true. I just didn’t realize what I had.”
“Well Dutch realizes what he has, and I realize what I have.”
“The point I’m making,” Roman clarified, disappointment surging within him, “is that I don’t have a problem with the rumors. But I know they’re killing you. And if you were my woman and I saw this country treating you this way, I’d put a stop to it.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“I think it is.”
“Well you think wrong. Nothing will satisfy these people and we refuse to get caught up in their catch-22. We give them a photo, they want video, then a live shot, then DNA, then another DNA test with the test being performed on reality TV, then on and on and on. Nothing but the next big story will put a stop to this. So we have to sit back and wait for that next big story to come; a story that will capture the imagination of the American people and get that fickle press off our backs.”
Roman shook his head, genuinely concerned for Gina. “Some life you have,” he said.
“I know,” Gina agreed. But she’d live this one and worst if it’ll mean she’ll be with Dutch. “But anyway, let’s not keep talking about that. Tell me about the case.”
The “case” involved Gina’s half-brother Marcus Rance. A convicted killer once on Death Row in Texas, his sentence was recently co
mmuted to life. Gina saw her brother for the first time in her life when she went to the prison in Texas, and heard her brother declare his innocence. Although she wasn’t certain herself, she hired the best, Roman Wilkes, to look into it.
“We’re at a standstill really,” Roman said. “The old evidence points to innocence for sure, but you can’t overturn a conviction in Texas on old evidence. There must be new evidence that’s significant enough to have changed the verdict if known at the time of trial. We don’t have that yet. We have evidence, but it’s all been litigated before. What I’m trying to do is to dress up that old boy and make him look brand new. And to do something like that in Texas is what the good old boys call a tall order, let me tell you.”
“I knew it was going to be darn-near impossible,” Gina said. “But you do think he’s innocent?”
“Actually, I do,” Roman said. “I’m working on it, G, that’s all I can tell you.”
“Have you seen him lately?”
“Week ago, yeah.”
Gina stared at Roman. “How is he?” she asked.
“He’s very optimistic to tell you the truth. He believes you can work miracles, lady.”
Gina rubbed her forehead, shook her head. “That’s what I was afraid of. I tried to tell him that I can only look into his claims.”
“But you’re the First Lady of the United States. That’s all he knows. He figures you can just drop a word to the Texas board and he’s free.”
“I hope you disabused him of that assumption.”
“I did. But the brother is hopeful, what can I say? Hope is a good thing in prison.”
But not this kind of hope, Gina thought, especially if he was truly innocent of the crimes and they prove unable to overturn his conviction.
Gina looked at Roman. “Is it going to work, Ro? Are we going to be able to overturn that verdict?”
Roman hesitated, then shook his head. “I doubt it seriously.”
Gina’s heart dropped. “Then what can we do?”
“We, nothing,” Roman said. “But your husband is the President of the United States. He always has the power to pardon any criminal and set him free.”
Gina stared at Roman. “Pardon?” she asked. And she was amazed. She had never even thought about that before. Then she thought again. If Dutch were to pardon a man like Marcus Rance, a man who used to be a drug dealer before his murder conviction, it could ruin the rest of his presidency and tarnish his legacy forever.
“Let’s just do what we can for Marcus,” Gina said.
“And if what we do isn’t good enough?” Roman asked.
But Gina wasn’t ready to answer that question, not if it meant involving her husband. “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” she said.
EIGHT
Liz Sinclair was taken to the waiting area on the West Wing, and no sooner than she was sitting down did Max Brennan, along with an aide behind him, storm in. She smiled as he came, because she knew if anyone would disapprove of her return, it would be him.
“Hello, Max,” she said.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he wanted to know. His aide had notified him of her arrival and he nearly had a conniption getting to her. Now they were alone and he walked directly up to her. She, however, maintained her cool and her seat.
“You heard me,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
Liz smiled. “I’m here, same as you, at the pleasure of the president.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Who asked you to come here? They said you were on the manifest but I didn’t order your inclusion. Who said you could come here?”
“Allison Shearer phoned me---”
“Allison?” Max said, surprised. Then he looked at his aide. “Get Allison in here.”
“Yes, sir,” the aide said, glancing back at the beautiful black woman as he left.
Max pulled a chair over so that he could be directly in front of her. “Why would Ally call you?”
Liz smiled inwardly. She was going to love this, she thought. “I’m assuming because Dutch asked her to.”
This seemed to catch Max off guard. “Dutch? Why the hell would Dutch Harber want to have anything whatsoever to do with you?”
“Perhaps he saw through your game, Max. And those lies you told on me.” She said this with some degree of bitterness.
Max, however, was unrepentant. “Lies my ass,” he said. “You were up to no good and I told him so.”
“I was looking out for his best interest!” Liz snapped.
“I look out for his best interest!” Max snapped back. “And it wasn’t in his best interest to run around this White House fucking you!”
Liz stood up quickly, angry at herself for allowing him to get to her this easily. She folded her arms and moved over to the window. When she turned back around, she attempted to smile again. “As usual, Max, you don’t know anything about anything. My relationship with Dutch was then and has always been pure and beautiful and so deep and loving that it often awed both of us. And you and your yes-men couldn’t handle that.”
“Yeah, right. The only thing deep about your relationship was whenever he penetrated you up your ass, so don’t even try that schoolgirl bullshit on me.”
“What, Max, afraid? Running scared?”
Max snorted. “Yeah, I’m running scared, how ‘bout that? I’m real scared!”
“Afraid I might do what I was doing before you and your people forced me out?”
Max hesitated. Liz didn’t play checkers, she played chess. She knew how to get an advantage before you even knew the game was afoot. “And what exactly were you doing before Dutch fired your ass?
“Dutch didn’t fire me. I resigned. And you put him in a position where he had no choice but to accept my resignation.”
“Yeah, yeah, right. But tell me: why am I so afraid of you of all people?”
“You’re afraid that Dutch might just do it again.”
Max frowned. “Do what again?”
“Do an interview on national television where he referred to me, not you, but me as his best friend, as his go-to person, as the one human being he would trust with his life.”
Liz knew she was overstating the case, but she was close enough. It was a prime-time, sit-down interview on NBC. The journalist asked the president who was his most valuable staff member. His entire staff, including Liz and Max, was in the Roosevelt Room watching the interview at the time. Liz remembered how Allison patted Max on the back, as if she just knew for certain what the president’s answer was going to be. Everybody thought they knew the answer.
But only they didn’t. Because the president didn’t mention his old friend and chief of staff Max Brennan. The president, instead, spoke only of Liz. And he spoke glowingly of her, describing her as his most valuable staffer, as the one person he relied on the most, as the one person he trusted the most. Liz nearly cried she was so touched.
And that day, she believed, was the turning point. For it was at that very moment, when the president was praising her and didn’t even mention Max, did Max make it his business to do everything in his power to get rid of her.
“I don’t know what your game is this time,” Max said, standing to his feet, “but it won’t work.”
“Good. Because I don’t play games.”
“Like hell,” Max decried. Then he frowned. “But what’s with you? Dutch doesn’t want you. He’s a married man. If he had wanted you he would have married you instead.”
“Oh, no, he would not have,” Liz said, her bitterness reemerging. “Not with his old chum from childhood planting all those negative seeds in his ear. Not with his long time buddy sabotaging my work, getting your powerful friends at the NIA to tell Dutch they considered me a security risk. A security risk! Me! When I would have died for that man before I let anybody harm him and you knew it! But you let it happen anyway. And now you have the nerve to suggest that he would have married me if he wanted to? How could he keep me anywhere near him when y’all
were feeding him those pack of lies?”
“I don’t know what this return of yours is about,” Max said, refusing to re-litigate that terrible time, “but I promise you I’ll get to the bottom of it, I’ll find out what game you’re playing at, and make sure my displeasure is known.”
Liz smiled. Max was still in awe at how quickly she could go from anger and bitterness to all smiles and sweetness. “What, Max,” she said, “he didn’t confide in you about my return? Now that’s news. Maybe it’s your game he’s on to.”
“Go to hell.”
She laughed. Allison entered the room just as she did. “You’re just worried I’ll get too close to your man again, isn’t that really the problem, Max?”
Max looked at Allison, as Allison hesitated when she heard that snide remark. He fooled them all, he thought. But he could never pull the wool over Liz’s eyes.
“What’s this all about?” he asked Allison before she could ask about Liz’s comment.
Allison shook her head. “Don’t ask,” she said. “The president will see you now,” she said to Liz.
“Wait a minute,” Max said, grabbing Allison, who was about to turn to leave, by the arm. “Did he, did the president have you to phone her and ask her back here?”
“He told me to schedule a meeting. I scheduled a meeting.”
Liz had grabbed her purse and briefcase from the chair and was by Allison’s side. “Hello, Ally,” she said with her grandest smile.
“Right this way,” Allison replied and headed for the exit.
Liz grinned. “You taught them well, Max,” she said as she followed.
Max, although amazed by this turn of event, wasn’t so thrown that he didn’t follow too.
Dutch was seated behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval office reviewing the National Intelligence Estimate he had just been briefed on when Allison and Max arrived with Liz. Dutch smiled when he saw her.
“Hello, Liz,” he said as he stood, coming from around the desk.
“Dutch,” she said as she hurried to him, her hand extended long before they meet, her affection for him as it had been when she worked for him.
And when they met, Dutch put his hands on her upper arms, staring into her gorgeous eyes. He missed her companionship, her intelligence, her love.
DUTCH AND GINA: A SCANDAL IS BORN Page 7