Lessons Learned (The Gifted Realm Book 2)

by Jillian Neal

  “Well, I’ve been better,” she beamed as Keaton crawled up on her chest. “Actually, now I’m better.” She kissed Keaton’s cheeks, and laughed as he leaned back to kiss her as well.

  The room was full to bursting with the Governor and most of the Haydenshire family, along with Adeline, Rainer, and now the twins.

  “Levi and Connor went home to change,” Emily informed him.

  “Mrs. Haydenshire, I’ll just keep the twins in here with you, while everyone goes out for the announcement,” Adeline revisited a conversation Rainer had missed.

  “It’s a mess out there.” He hoped to help Adeline’s case.

  Mrs. Haydenshire sighed. “Yes, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep them out of the cameras through the whole election.”

  “Lillian, I am not doing this! I’m not risking your life or theirs, so I can be Crown,” he gestured to all of his children.

  “Stephen, please; I don’t have the strength to argue with you anymore. You are running, and you are going to win, because this Realm needs you more now than ever before. I will be fine. Our children, including this one,” she gestured to her stomach “Will be fine. I know it. I can feel it, and I’m never wrong, so please.”

  No one argued. They all knew it would only fall on deaf ears. Patrick began pacing. Lucy eyed him nervously.

  “Uh, Mom, Dad,” he stammered anxiously. Governor and Mrs. Haydenshire shared a concerned glance.

  “Yes, son?” Governor Haydenshire drew a deep breath. Patrick reached to take Lucy’s hand.

  “Well… we uh, we….” What little color had returned to Mrs. Haydenshire’s face quickly faded as everyone waited with baited breath.

  Patrick gave a determined nod. “We eloped Saturday.”

  No one spoke, though everyone’s mouths fell open. The Governor’s eyes closed in defeat. He rubbed his temples.

  “Was there any particular reason you chose to get married without your family being there?”

  Rainer braced as Emily continued to sway Henry. They shared a knowing glance with one another.

  “No, sir,” Patrick answered the unspoken question of whether or not Lucy was expecting.

  “Okay,” Governor Haydenshire looked relieved.

  “Patrick,” Mrs. Haydenshire stunned. “Son, I would like to have seen you two get married! You’re my child.”

  “I know, Mom,” Patrick offered apologetically. “But, Friday, I was finally named partner in the Senate Housing and Realtor office. And actually, I’m planning on going into business on my own.”

  “I’ve been handling yours and Dad’s rental properties for several years now, and I needed to grow up. We wanted to start a life on our own. I’m going to start buying my own properties. I’ve been planning to do this for a while. You have enough to deal with without my still living at home, and we didn’t want a media circus,” He gestured to the crowd out the tiny window in Mrs. Haydenshire’s room.

  “We just want to be married,” Lucy whispered. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Haydenshire.” Tears formed in her eyes. “So, the renters on the house on Davenport Lane moved out Friday, and we’re going to move in there. Saturday morning, we went to Brentwood, and Governor Vindico signed and casted the certificate for me, but he said that I had to tell you by tomorrow or that he would tell you, and now we’re married,” Patrick looked relieved to have admitted all of this.

  “You stayed at Mom and Dad’s alone on your wedding night?” Garrett stared at Patrick like he’d grown four heads.

  “Garrett,” Mrs. Haydenshire scolded.

  “What? I’m just saying…who does that?” Garrett huffed.

  “Well, congratulations, I suppose,” Governor Haydenshire offered, though he stilled looked completely shocked. Lucy smiled timidly.

  “We still want to help out with the election, Governor. We just thought we’d been mooching off of our parents for long enough.”

  Levi and Connor returned at that moment. They took in everyone’s stunned expressions.

  “What?” they quizzed simultaneously. Patrick retold the story. This time, he looked at peace with his decision as he gazed at Lucy adoringly.

  With that, they each pulled wedding bands from their pockets and slid them onto their fingers.

  Rainer smiled at Patrick as Lucy added a large diamond ring to the wedding band. They hadn’t even really been engaged.

  Governor Haydenshire slapped Patrick on the shoulder as he phoned his press agents to tell them to address Lucy as Patrick’s wife when she was introduced during the press conference that afternoon.

  Battle Lines

  By noon, the entire front parking lot of Georgetown Hospital was crawling with press from all over the Realm.

  Non-Gifted people began wondering what was going on, and were informed that a major celebrity was being treated in the hospital and for them to stay out of the way.

  This only succeeded in keeping most of them milling about inside the hospital waiting rooms, in hopes of viewing the non-existent celebrity.

  Governor Carrington, who’d decided to postpone his honeymoon until he’d joined with the Haydenshires for the announcement, was positioned at the podium.

  The Haydenshire children and their significant others were arranged around Governor Haydenshire. Mrs. Haydenshire had decided at the last minute that she didn’t want the twins exposed just yet, so Adeline stayed with the boys and tended to Mrs. Haydenshire while everyone else posed for the cameras.

  Vindico, Stariff, Governor Willow, Neil Glenridge, the head of the Senteon, Anna Eleanor, the head of the Governor’s Auxiliary, Governor Vindico, and several heads of the Senate Bank, were all situated alongside the Governor to show that the heads of all of the most vital Senate Departments would be supporting Haydenshire in his run for Crown.

  “Logan! Logan! Logan!” rang from the press in every direction. Logan raised his eyebrows, and cupped his ear indicating that he would answer a question.

  “Where is Miss Parker? Have you broken up? Did your father feel that her reputation might mar his image in the upcoming election?” shouted several reporters.

  “She’s taking care of my mother,” Logan spat viciously. This very effectively ended that line of questioning.

  A hush fell over the crowd as Governor Carrington began his speech. “As most of you know, I have decided to end my term as Crown Governor,” he drawled in his deep, smooth intonation. He went on to announce that he would be supporting Governor Haydenshire in his hopes to replace him as Crown, and then handed Governor Haydenshire a check for a great deal of money to go towards the campaign.

  The Governors were photographed repeatedly as they shook hands. Governor Haydenshire took the podium, and reminded the press why he was making the announcement from Georgetown Hospital. He then publically renounced Governor Peterson for allowing a murderer to walk the streets of the Realm. When he’d finished his speech, he introduced all of his children and their significant others.

  The press went wild when he called Lucy ‘Patrick’s wife’. They were visibly infuriated that they’d somehow missed one of the Governor’s son’s weddings.

  Rainer thought momentarily that eloping looked like a great way to go. He reminded himself of how much Emily loved to play wedding, and that she had binders full of items for their wedding that she’d been making since she was about fourteen years old.

  Governor Haydenshire returned to the podium to inform the press that the family would answer a few questions.

  “Where are the twins, Governor?” asked a tabloid reporter.

  “The twins are safe, and I would appreciate your discretion and your help in keeping my children safe during this election process.”

  “How is Mrs. Haydenshire doing? Governor Peterson informed the press this morning that you’re expecting another child.”

  “My wife is recuperating from her ordeal. She’s obviously still here, or I wouldn’t be making this announcement from the steps of Georgetown.” He was hoping to dodge the question about
the baby.

  “Is she pregnant again?” called another reporter.

  The Governor forced a smile. “Lillian and I are expecting another addition to our family in March.”

  The crowd buzzed as they wrote furiously.

  “Was the fetus harmed during the attack on Mrs. Haydenshire?” a reporter from The Senteon Sentinel shouted.

  Governor Haydenshire gave a slight headshake and called, “Next question.”

  “Rainer, who do you think your father would back if he were alive today?”

  Rainer edged forward. He kept Emily’s hand in his own.

  “The Governor and Mrs. Haydenshire were dear friends of both of my parents, and there is no one else that my dad would want to replace Governor Carrington. There is no question if he were alive today that he would fully back Governor Haydenshire, as I will do in his absence.”

  “Will you be contributing to the campaign, Mr. Lawson?”

  “I will support Governor Haydenshire in any way he’ll allow me,” Rainer vowed. He’d never given much thought to financially supporting the Governor’s campaign. He smiled, as he might’ve stumbled upon a way to repay the Haydenshires that they couldn’t refuse.

  Governor Haydenshire gave Rainer a kind smile and a nod of appreciation.

  “When was the wedding, Patrick?”

  “Saturday,” Patrick answered. He stepped forward and pulled Lucy with him as Rainer and Emily stepped back. Lucy looked terrified. A reporter from the Gravity looked extremely pleased.

  “When’s the baby due, Patrick?”

  Patrick bristled, “We won’t be starting a family anytime soon.”

  All of the Haydenshires couldn’t quite hide their chuckling grins as the press in a collective group simultaneously began erasing their plans for the next day’s front page.

  Several more subdued questions were asked of the Governor before he declared it time for him to get back to his wife.

  He asked the press to give the family a little time for rest and relaxation before they began his campaign.

  Rainer noted that he skirted questions of whether or not the family would be making the annual Labor Day trip to Virginia Beach.

  Politics

  The next day, the battle lines were firmly drawn. Rainer awoke once again to Keaton’s voice. This time, however, Keaton had taken the liberty of going to the kitchen first and bringing a box of Cheerios up, which he was eating with rapidity.

  In effort to share with Rainer, he’d begun placing them on Rainer’s forehead while he slept. Emily laughed hysterically as Rainer removed them.

  Mrs. Haydenshire was to be released that evening at five, and was still insistent that they were all leaving for the beach the next evening.

  Rainer needed to go into work to ask Vindico for the favor he needed in order to give Emily the birthday present he was planning.

  Emily had insisted that he go, and that she could look after the twins while she got everyone packed for the beach.

  Rainer had disagreed, until Lucy and Brooke had informed him that they were already off for work for the Labor Day holiday and would be at the farm house all day to help Emily prepare for Mrs. Haydenshire’s return.

  Patrick and Connor had also taken the day off, and would be helping out as well.

  After his shower, Rainer dragged down the stairs. He let the memories wash over him. He’d showered and come down those same stairs his entire adolescence.

  Emily, Brooke, Will, Patrick, Garrett, Lucy and Connor were staring at a newspaper on the kitchen table.

  “Oh no,” Rainer sighed. Will moved so he could see.

  Do We Really Want to Trust the Realm to Someone With so Little Self Control?

  was the bold headline. It was a quote from Governor Peterson’s announcement speech. The point was illustrated with a large picture of the Haydenshire family and Rainer, minus the twins, as it had been taken many years before they were born.

  The paper had purchased the photo from the professional photographer who had taken the shot. It showed the family in a state of relative discord.

  The kids were looking away or giving each other bunny ears, and it was obviously not a shot Mrs. Haydenshire would ever have purchased.

  Only the Governor and Mrs. Haydenshire were looking at the camera and smiling. It made them appear slightly dimwitted, and indicated that the children were overwhelming.

  The Governor’s speech was printed, and he’d taken numerous swipes at Governor Haydenshire’s inability to keep his hands off of his wife.

  He’d gone so far as to state that Governor Haydenshire had no abstention, and would therefore be ineffective and worthless as the Crown. He’d even joked that the Realm would have to add a personal staff member to the Crown whose sole job would be to pull Governor Haydenshire from the bedroom when he needed to try a case.

  Sickening fury washed over Rainer as he shook his head.

  “Dad’s speech is here,” Emily pointed to another page. The headline read…

  Do We Want a Governor who Allows Murderers to Walk the Realm?

  “And someone handed me this when I went into the Senate this morning to get a few things from my office.” Will slapped down a brochure printed up by Peterson, with shots of the Haydenshire children in many varying, compromising positions.

  Rainer and Emily’s belly shot was in there, along with Connor’s reprimand by the School Governors for saran-wrapping the Auxiliary Order’s campus building.

  Will and Garrett’s photos were in there from many years before. They were stumbling out of Anglington’s Bar and attempting to fall into a cab. Will had missed and landed on the concrete just in time for a reporter to snap the shot.

  Pictures of Levi’s mugshot when he’d been arrested for his car being clocked going over a hundred and thirty miles an hour.

  There was another of Garrett surrounded by bikini-clad women at the beach, all admiring his vast ink work

  There was an ultrasound photo of a fairly developed fetus, obviously not the Haydenshires’ eleventh child, with the caption, “And another on the way.”

  The implication was the same: If Governor Haydenshire can’t control his children, how can he control the Realm? The last photo was of Samantha, holding up her Academy diploma, and smiling in her cap and gown from graduation.

  “Lachland Peterson, a man with the right kind of family values.” was the caption.

  “The poles still have Dad ahead by a good bit, so I guess we’ll see,” Will concluded.

  “I knew he would do this. I knew Grandpa was right.” Furious tears threatened Emily’s eyes.

  “Hey, we have the court documents where Stariff nailed Samantha for lying to the press and the courts about having a relationship with Rainer. If Peterson wants to treat Dad like a game, we’ll show him how it’s played,” Garrett huffed.

  Rainer nodded adamantly. He knew that sounded like an excellent plan, and the need to defend the Governor washed over everyone in heavy doses.

  “No, we need to wait this out. Save some stuff for closer to the election,” Emily strategized. “The whole thing is going to be vicious, obviously.”

  She turned and laid her head against Rainer’s chest. He kissed her forehead sweetly and inhaled the scent of her. He missed their bed, their home, and being alone with her.

  He allowed himself a minute to feel the spark again. He would never let the Haydenshires down by not helping when he was needed, but he hoped to get to spend a little time alone with Emily during their beach trip.

  But he knew he would be stuck in a room with most of Emily’s brothers, and she with their girlfriends, so Rainer doubted if he’d see much of her at all.

  Garrett and Rainer decided to ride into Iodex together. Rainer still needed Will and Brooke’s help with the present he was planning, but their Monday evening plans had obviously fallen to the wayside, in light of Mrs. Haydenshire’s hospitalization.

  Vindico seemed pleased Garrett and Rainer had come in. Though he offered for them to re
turn home, they both said they needed to get some work done since he’d given them Thursday and Friday off.

  “Any word on the baby?” Vindico asked Garrett quietly.

  Garrett shook his head. “It’s still just so early, way too early to tell. It’ll be weeks before they know anything. Mom keeps insisting that she and the baby are fine and, I mean, she’s been pregnant ten times now, so I guess that counts for something.”

  Vindico looked truly devastated for the Haydenshires. An Iodex officer, not from the Elite force, walked in as he studied one of the brochures Peterson was handing out.

  Vindico’s eyes narrowed. “Steadman, I sure as hell can’t tell you who to vote for, but I won’t have that kind of shit in my office.” He pointed to the offending brochure.

  Steadman’s eyes goggled. “I’m not voting for Peterson. Are you crazy? He tried to have me kicked out of the Academy because my parents couldn’t afford it, and I went on scholarship.”

  “Some idiot just handed me this on my way in,” he tossed the brochure into the trash.

  Rainer couldn’t quite hide his smile as he wondered just how many toes Governor Peterson had stepped on in his belief that the Gifted with money were somehow better than those with less, and that even those with less were somehow slightly more valuable than any Non-Gifted person.

  Eventually Rainer worked up the courage to go into Vindico’s office and present him with his request. By five o’clock, Rainer was ecstatic that Vindico had not only agreed, but had struck a deal that seemed to please them both.

  “Em’s gonna flip,” Garrett stated admiringly as Rainer explained the deal he’d worked with Vindico. He was too excited not to tell anyone.

  “That is definitely my plan,” Rainer chuckled as he drove towards the hospital to help the security team get Mrs. Haydenshire out without incident from the press.

  It took quite a bit of work. Mrs. Haydenshire had to move, relatively slowly, out to the Governor’s waiting car and security detail. It was after seven when they all arrived at the farmhouse.

  Emily was glowing. She and Connor had cleaned the entire house. Lucy and Brooke had fixed a tremendous meal while Levi and Patrick had entertained the twins outside all day, and picked the last of the garden harvest and then prepared it for fall and winter. The Haydenshires were visibly moved by their efforts.