“My only regret,” he continued, “was that it had to take such an awful tragedy to get me to this place.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “I should have taken my family away from this city a long time ago. When Little Walt was born in that hospital in Newark, I should have submitted my resignation as I sat in that hospital room. Maybe then Gina. . .”
LaLa hugged him, tears now in her eyes. “It’s okay, Dutch,” she said. “You can’t look back. You served your country as best as you could, and that’s all anybody could ask of you. That’s all you can ask of yourself.”
They stopped embracing. Dutch stared at her, smiled at her, and then gave her a kiss on the lips.
“You’re a champ, you know that?” he said to her.
“A champ in my own mind,” LaLa replied with laughter.
Dutch chuckled too. Then he looked at her again. “Let’s turn the page a bit, shall we? I understand you’re still staying at your house in Georgetown.”
LaLa exhaled. That wasn’t just another page they were turning. That was another book altogether. “For now,” she said.
“You’ve stood by Crader during this whole ordeal. I was a basket case and he was essentially running the country even before I resigned. And you were right there with him. Even after the DNA results confirmed that that baby is his, you stood by him. You’re to be commended for that, Loretta. Many women wouldn’t do it.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t as altruistic as it seemed. I’m no better than Crader. We all fall short.”
“Amen to that,” Dutch agreed. Then he rubbed her arms, contemplatively looking into her eyes. “Christian is a good young man,” he said. “I love him to death. But even with your husband’s disastrous faults, and he has many, Christian is no Crader McKenzie.”
LaLa stared at Dutch. Did he know about what she did with Christian? They both had agreed that they would never tell it to anyone. Crader knew she messed up with someone, but she never told him with whom. And, given his new responsibilities and the care he was taking in keeping this family together, albeit barely, he wasn’t asking anymore. So who told Dutch, she wondered.
“Nobody told me,” Dutch said, when he saw the baffled look in her eyes. “Nobody had to tell me. Crader had mentioned there were some issues in that direction, another man perhaps, but he didn’t know who. I just happened to see the gleam that came into Christian’s eyes whenever he mentioned your name.”
LaLa shook her head. “That boy,” she said, prompting Dutch to laugh as they began their final walk toward the exit.
Crader and Christian stood across from each other as they, along with all of the senior aides and cabinet secretaries, waited for the president in the corridor just inside the South Portico. It had been a long month. Crader was catapulted from the vice president who signed documents all day, into the lead role while Dutch stepped back and recovered. Although the DNA test confirmed that Crader was the father of Elvelyn’s baby, and he still didn’t know who LaLa had had an affair with, the stress of taking on a hundred more duties, with LaLa at his side, changed them. They could not look back. His mistakes, her mistakes, were to be for another day. Time did not permit them to focus on anything other than holding it down while Dutch got it together.
And now this.
Dutch met with them the night before and informed them of his decision, propelling Crader into the presidency with the stroke of a pen. The shock was still there for Crader, as he stood along that wall waiting to see Dutch Harber off. The thought that he was now responsible for running the entire government, that he was now the leader of the free world, was as terrifying as it was exhilarating.
Dutch and LaLa appeared in the corridor and the entire hall began to applaud. Dutch struck a tall, elegant pose as LaLa held back and he made that solitary walk for the last time. He walked lighter now, even more sure-footed, as he approached his friends and colleagues with hugs and kisses.
It took a long time, but he eventually made it out onto the south lawn, Crader at his side, as the entire White House staff, hundreds strong, applauded him.
Christian stood beside LaLa at the entrance door, and watched as the new president escorted the former president to the helipad. It was a passing of the baton, and the press would later play it up that way, but Dutch was thrilled to pass it on.
Christian looked at LaLa. “You’re the new First Lady now,” he said.
The idea of it still stunned LaLa. “Yes, that’s true.”
Christian immediately saw her differently. But he still couldn’t help his feelings. “Jade finally signed the divorce papers,” he said.
LaLa looked at him. “You’re okay with that?”
“It’s what I wanted, yes,” he said. Then he paused. “What about you, and Senator, I mean Vice, I mean President McKenzie?”
LaLa looked at Crader, as he and Dutch talked at the helicopter. “I’m going to hold on, Chris,” she said, “and see what the end is going to be.”
Christian’s heart dropped. “But he cheated on you, La.”
“I cheated on him.”
“It’s not the same.”
LaLa looked at Christian. He looked so young to her, right then and there. “Yes, it is the same,” she corrected him.
“But you don’t have to stay. Why are you staying in such a troubled marriage?”
LaLa started to give the usual reasons people stayed: because she loved him, because he was the father of her baby girl. But she thought about what Dutch had said. “Because he needs me,” she said, instead.
Christian had to think about this. And then he responded. “But what do you need, La?”
La thought about this. “To be needed,” she admitted.
It would not be long before the chopper landed on the back side of the Harber estate in Newark, New Jersey. Dutch stepped off, saluted the pilot one last time, and made his way across the property. It was a gorgeous piece of land, with a lakeside view that seemed panoramic. But the best view of all for Dutch was when he walked along the home’s colonnade, onto the front side of the property, and saw his wife and son playing catch on the lawn. And when they saw that Dutch had returned to them, they took off running for him.
Dutch stood there, in awe. He couldn’t help himself. This was what life was about to him. Not being the most powerful man in the world, or commanding attention just by walking into the room. But to see the smile he put on the faces of his family just by coming home, was pure happiness to him.
He swept Little Walt up into his arms, and then he placed his arm around Gina, lifting her too. But they weren’t heavy. They were his responsibility. And he embraced them heartily.
“I saw it on TV,” Gina said as she swept his hair out of his face. “You looked great.”
Dutch looked at her. She wasn’t a hundred percent yet, but she was close. No permanent damage, at least not physically. “And how are you doing, young lady?” he asked her.
“I feel wonderful, Dutch. Glad to have you back.”
“Glad to be back,” he said.
Early in her rehab she used to ask him, every night, if they had found Marcus Rance yet. And every night he had to tell her no. But time was a wonderful ally. Dutch had hired the best investigators he could find. Time would find that bastard. And then he would have an appointment with Dutch.
“It’s getting chilly out,” Dutch said, walking his family toward the entrance. “Let’s go inside.”
Gina smiled. “I’ll race you,” she said, and took off running.
“Not fair,” Dutch said, running behind her. “I have a kid in my arms!”
“Run, Mommy, run!” Little Walt said as he grinned at his parents.
And Gina ran. It warmed Dutch’s heart to see just how beautifully Gina ran.
Now was the beginning of their new life together. No fishbowls, no spotlights, just them.
And Dutch, like Gina, couldn’t wait to get started.
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DUTCH AND GINA: THE SINS OF THE FATHERS Page 19