Candace stepped back and smiled. “I am sure he is,” she said. “Jameson is going to be over the moon,” she told Jonah. “She won’t believe you named that baby after her.”
Jonah shrugged, momentarily thinking that is what had produced his mother’s emotional reaction. He smiled. “J.D. is my best friend,” he said softly.
Tears began streaming down Candace’s cheeks freely. “Mine too,” she commented.
“Mom?” Jonah asked again hesitantly. Jameson’s absence along with the palpable emotion in the room was beginning to unsettle him. “Mom, where is J.D.?” Candace pulled Jonah to sit beside her. Jonah felt sick. “Is J.D. okay?” he asked fearfully.
Candace nodded. “Jameson is fine, honey, I promise. She’s at Marianne’s.”
“Why? Is…”
“It’s Rick,” Candace said quietly. She closed her eyes to center herself. “There was an accident.”
Jonah swallowed hard. “Is he?”
“No. It’s not good news,” Candace said. “I’m not sure,” Candace paused.
“Not sure of what?” Jonah asked.
“That he will make it until Marianne gets there,” Candace said honestly.
“This is not happening,” Jonah said.
Candace smiled at her son. “You need to go be with your family,” she said.
“Marianne….”
“Jonah,” Candace began. “You have a family now of your own. They need you.” She turned to Michelle and Melanie. “You two need to go to Marianne’s. Say hello to your new nephew and go.”
“How are you going to get home?” Michelle asked.
“Don’t worry about me. You go. I will stay here with Jonah and Laura.”
“No,” Jonah chimed. “You go,” he told his mother.
Candace was torn. She felt a need to be in two places at once. That was not an unfamiliar feeling, but this time that feeling held a sense of urgency she had never before experienced. “Jonah.”
Jonah shook his head. “Mom, I’ve got this. Laura will understand. J.J. won’t know the difference if he sees you later. He’s like fifteen minutes old.”
Candace grinned. “True enough,” she said.
Candace’s reluctance to comply was evident. “Come on, you are a senator. I’m sure they’ll let you in with me,” he laughed as he took his mother’s hand. “Come meet your grandson and say hello. Then Shell can take you to Marianne’s.”
Normally, Michelle’s inclination would have been to argue playfully. “We’ll be here when you are ready,” she told her mother. Candace nodded her thanks and followed Jonah out of the door.
“He’ll be okay, Mom,” Jonah said with more confidence than he felt.
Candace smiled as earnestly as she could manage. He has to be.
Chapter Two
Candace laid her head on Jameson’s lap and closed her eyes. Aside from holding Jameson’s namesake for the first time, it was the closest Candace had felt to contentment in nearly forty-eight hours. “How are you holding up?” Jameson asked.
Candace snuggled closer and let the sensation of Jameson’s fingers combing through her hair calm her. “I hate the idea of her being alone.”
“I know,” Jameson replied. “That’s why I booked you on a flight to Austin tomorrow at noon.”
Candace sat straight up. “Jameson, I cannot leave you here with Spencer and Maddie.”
“Why not? Think I will break them or something?” Jameson asked playfully.
“No,” Candace let out a sincere chuckle. It felt wonderful to experience even a moment of simple joy. “You have to work.”
“This is one of those times I wish I could master that arc of yours. What are you talking about?” Jameson mildly scolded Candace. “You just canceled events indefinitely.”
“That’s different,” Candace said.
“How so?” Jameson challenged.
“My first responsibility is the kids—always,” Candace said.
“And? How is that different from mine?” Jameson asked. Candace sighed. “You are my first priority—always,” Jameson reminded Candace.
“Jameson….”
“Candace—stop. I promise they will have all their fingers and toes when you get home,” Jameson said with a wink.
“I can’t ask you…”
“You didn’t ask me,” Jameson said. Candace mumbled something inaudible under her breath. “Hey,” Jameson interrupted her wife’s mumbling. “You need to trust me.”
“I do trust you,” Candace said assuredly.
“I mean that you need to trust me that I am doing what I need to do,” Jameson clarified her meaning.
Candace looked up at Jameson and stroked her cheek. It was rare for Candace to break down emotionally. Jameson looked at her compassionately as the stress from the day finally consumed Candace, her tears pouring forth. “I can’t…”
Jameson kissed Candace’s forehead and let her lips linger. Rick was as much a son to Candace as any of her children. Jameson understood that. He had adopted Candace and Candace had welcomed him with open arms. “He’ll pull through,” Jameson said. Candace’s eyes shut tightly and she shook her head. “Candace,” Jameson whispered. “No matter what happens, we will get through it.”
Candace opened her eyes and looked at Jameson despairingly. She had been fighting the urge to be physically ill all day long. Something was pulling at her gut, telling her to prepare for the worst. She had learned early on in her life to trust those instincts. More often than not, Candace’s first inclinations proved correct. She had felt the familiar tug when her father had passed, when she had lost her grandfather, and just before her mother’s stroke. Now, she desperately wanted to rationalize the feeling.
“Jay Jay,” a small voice broke through the silent tension in the room.
Jameson looked down at Candace who was struggling to compose herself, deliberately shying away from her grandson’s sight. “What’s up, Spence?” Jameson asked lightly.
Spencer moved a few steps closer and regarded his nana with concern. “Nana? Why are you crying?”
Candace forced a smile to her lips. She sat up and opened her arms to Spencer. He walked between her legs and allowed her to lift him into her lap. “I’m just tired,” Candace said as she playfully brushed her hand over his short locks.
Spencer watched his nana thoughtfully. His small lips pressed together tightly in a doubtful frown. Candace’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears. Spencer threw his arms around her neck and hugged her. “It’s okay Nana, Jay Jay will kiss it better,” he told her.
Instantly, Spencer’s words broke the remaining vestiges of the dam that had been holding Candace’s emotions in check. She pulled Spencer close to her as her tears fell freely. Jameson leaned in and wrapped her arms around them both, kissing Candace’s forehead and stroking Spencer’s back comfortingly.
“See, Nana?” Spencer said sweetly. “Jay Jay makes everything better,” he said.
Candace giggled through a sob. “Yes, she does, Spencer. She certainly does.”
***
“What are you thinking?” Melanie asked Michelle.
“I’m not sure,” Michelle replied. “I’m worried.”
“About Rick?”
“Yeah. About Marianne and Mom…about Spencer and Maddie.”
“Shell, I’m sure Rick will be okay.”
Michelle shook her head. “Well, that’s good. Maybe you and J.D. can be sure for all of us.”
Melanie sighed. “How was Jonah?”
“Confused, I think. Like, he is so excited about the baby and so upset about Rick at the same time. What the hell? Can’t anything in this family ever just be happy?” Michelle asked in frustration.
Melanie was at a loss. She had learned that sometimes silence was the best way to handle Michelle’s emotional swings. “What can I do?” Melanie asked.
“Nothing. No one can do anything.”
“What did J.D. say when she called?” Melanie wondered.
Michelle le
t out an exasperated breath and plopped down into a chair. “Mom is leaving for Austin tomorrow.”
“What about the kids?” Melanie asked.
“J.D. is keeping them here with her.”
“Both of them?” Melanie asked in surprise.
“Yeah.”
“What about the campaign? What about J.D.? She’s got three new…”
Michelle stopped Melanie in her tracks. “Mom has suspended all of her events indefinitely.”
“Shell, the election is in less than a month.”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks,” Michelle barked.
“I’m sorry.”
Michelle sighed deeply. “No, I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that. Actually, you don’t deserve half the shit I give you.”
“What are you talking about?” Melanie asked. Michelle made no response. Melanie moved to Michelle’s side and turned Michelle to face her. “Shell…You have every right to be upset. I just don’t know what to say sometimes,” Melanie confessed. “I suck.”
Michelle laughed. “No, you don’t—at least not in a bad way,” she teased her girlfriend. “I don’t know what is going to happen,” she said honestly.
“Do you think your mom will quit?”
“No,” Michelle said assuredly. “J.D. said Mom talked to Dana. Dana is flying in tomorrow.”
“But, I thought your mom was leaving.”
“She is,” Michelle said. “Dana is coming to meet with me.”
“I don’t understand,” Melanie said.
Michelle nodded and took Melanie’s hand. “We have to deal with the press. Dana will field as much as she can, but Mel….I…We,” Michelle took a deep breath. “I need to keep this off Mom’s plate as much as I can.”
“What about off of your plate?”
“It’s…”
“Your job? Jesus, Shell, you need…”
“It’s my family,” Michelle interjected. “Right now, like it or not, I’m the one it falls to. Mom has Marianne to support. Jonah has a new baby and J.D. has the kids. They need the space more than I do.” Michelle noted the concerned crease in her girlfriend’s forehead. “Worried about me?” she asked playfully.
Melanie answered seriously. “Always.”
***
“Ready?” Jameson asked Candace as she pulled the car in front of the airport doors.
Candace turned around to look at the two sleeping children in the backseat of Jameson’s car. She chuckled. “I think the question is—are you?”
“Cute,” Jameson replied. “If they get out of hand I’ll just do what I do with you.”
“Oh? What’s that?” Candace wondered.
“Order Chinese.”
Candace’s eyebrow arched in amusement. “You think feeding a three-year-old and a nine-month-old chicken wings and spare ribs is a good idea?”
Jameson glanced back at their grandchildren and shrugged. “Spence is good for a chicken finger or two, and he already takes after you with those fortune cookies,” she said.
“Uh-huh. And, Maddie?”
Jameson shrugged again. “I’m sure she can gum something. Anything’s got to be better than that baby slop.”
“I see. So, that wasn’t you I saw dipping into her bananas then?” Candace inquired. Jameson blushed furiously. “Mm-hm,” Candace said. She placed a soft kiss on Jameson’s lips. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered, her lips still touching Jameson’s. Candace pulled back and sucked in a nervous breath. “You call me if you need me back here,” she told Jameson firmly.
“I’ve got it covered, Senator.”
Candace smiled. “Promise me,” she urged Jameson.
“Have a little faith in me,” Jameson said sweetly. She opened her door, walked to the back of the car, removed Candace’s bag, and made her way to open Candace’s door.
Candace fought the onslaught of fresh tears as she stepped out of the car and looked at Jameson. She leaned in and captured Jameson’s lips again. “I love you, Jameson,” she said. Jameson stroked Candace’s cheek with the back of her hand. “You call me,” Candace said again.
Jameson smiled broadly and wrapped her arms around Candace. “Stop worrying about us. You forget, I have Pearl. Now, go on. Call me when you land, okay?”
Candace nodded. She found herself locked in Jameson’s gaze. She needed to get to Marianne. Jameson was Candace’s rock. That was a fact that Candace knew few people understood, not even Jameson. Pearl was perhaps the only person in Candace’s life that grasped the strength the powerful senator derived from her wife’s presence. “Let me know when Laura comes home. And…Shell is…”
“Candace,” Jameson smiled at her wife. “Go on. We’ll all be fine. Take care of Marianne,” she said. Candace closed her eyes. Jameson kissed her one last time and let her lips linger. “I love you,” Jameson whispered. “More than anything.”
Candace nodded and accepted her bag from Jameson. She stole one last glance at the sleeping pair in the backseat and smiled. “I’ll see you soon,” she said.
Jameson smiled with as much reassurance as she could. She watched Candace walk through the automatic doors and let out the breath she had been holding. She made her way back into the driver’s seat, looked back at Spencer and Maddie, and closed her eyes to steady herself.
“Jay Jay?” Spencer’s sleepy voice called to her.
“Hey, Spence.”
“Where’s Nana?”
“Nana went to see Mommy,” Jameson told the toddler.
“I get to stay with you?” he asked happily.
Jameson turned back and smiled at him. “You can stay with me any time, buddy.”
“Mabs too?”
Jameson chuckled. Spencer was quite articulate. He had struggled with Maddie’s name when she was born. Somewhere along the way he started calling his sister Mabs. Jameson wondered if it would stick. “Yes, Spence, Maddie too.”
Spencer bounced in his car seat excitedly. “McDonald’s, Jay Jay?” he asked hopefully.
Jameson snickered. She wondered how it was that a three-year-old struggled with a word like Maddie, but could pronounce McDonald’s perfectly. Spencer loved McDonald’s. Jameson wasn’t sure if it was the toy he got in the meal, the fake chicken, or the small indoor playground that the closest restaurant sported. She suspected it was a little bit of all of it. She glanced in the rearview mirror to a pair of pleading, blue eyes. Spencer’s expressions often reminded Jameson of Candace. She smiled.
“Mickey D’s it is,” she said.
“Yeah!”
Jameson shook her head in amusement. Here goes nothing.
***
“Spence….No….Hey…Spencer!” Jameson called across the house. Spencer was running in a circle through the rooms while Jameson made a feeble attempt to balance a wailing Maddie on her hip and heat up a bottle. “Spence!” Jameson called loudly, sending Maddie into a loud pitched shriek of disapproval. “Aww, Mads, I’m sorry,” Jameson attempted to comfort her granddaughter. Her frustration was building. No sleep, too much caffeine, very little food, and a volume level in the house she was not accustomed to had conspired to plant the seeds of what Jameson was certain was going to be an epic migraine. Two days without Candace. Jonah was due home any minute with Laura and the new baby. Jameson had thought that Pearl would have already made an appearance—no such luck.
“Jay Jay, find me!” Spencer yelled.
Jameson finally managed to get the bottle into Maddie’s hands. “He’s going to kill me, you know?” she whispered to the baby. “Nana and Grandma Pearl are plotting with him. I know it.”
“Any particular reason that Spencer is in the China cabinet?” Pearl asked as she entered the kitchen.
Jameson spun on her heels, slack jawed. She wordlessly handed Pearl the baby. “Spence!”
“Find me!” he yelled.
Pearl watched a flush faced Jameson scurry from the room and looked at Maddie in amusement. “What are you two doing to Jameson?” she chuckled. Maddie’s eyes twinkled with a hint o
f mischief. “That’s what I thought,” Pearl laughed harder.
Jameson stopped just inside the door of the dining room. She was ready to scold Spencer for his antics, but when she saw his eyes peering at her through a crack in the door of the China cabinet, she lost all hope of a reprimand. The cabinet was a tall, solid, maple piece that Jameson estimated had to be at least one hundred years old. She half expected to find Spencer sitting amid Candace’s fine china. She wondered how he would have gotten to that height. Spencer was in the bottom cupboard of the corner cabinet that remained for the most part empty. As soon as the toddler caught sight of Jameson, he pulled the door completely closed.
Jameson snickered to herself. “Spencer? Spencer?” she called. “Are you under the table? No?” she pretended to look for him. “Are you….Are you behind the chair? No? Where are you, Spence?” Quietly she crept up to the cabinet and lowered her voice just outside Spencer’s hiding place. “Where could he be? I can’t find him anywhere,” Jameson sighed loudly. “Nana is not here to help me. What am I going to do?”
With a forceful push the cabinet doors opened and Spencer emerged triumphantly. Jameson struggled not to laugh when Jinx followed right behind. “I’m here, Jay Jay!”
“There you are!” Jameson declared. “Traitor,” she muttered to the black cat. Jinx rubbed up against Spencer’s leg and trotted off. Jameson looked at the toddler and hung her head slightly in defeat. “I thought I’d never find you.”
Spencer flew into Jameson’s legs. “Don’t cry, Jay Jay.”
Jameson smiled down at Spencer. “I couldn’t find you,” she said seriously.
“I was hiding.”
“I know. I don’t want to lose you,” Jameson said to him.
“Nana would be mad,” Spencer said. Jameson lifted the toddler onto her waist. “My Nana is best, Jay Jay.”
“That she is,” Jameson agreed.
“We find Nana?” he asked.
Jameson smiled. “Nana is with Mommy, buddy. Afraid you are stuck with me,” she said a bit sadly.
Spencer put his hands on Jameson’s face. “My mommy?”
“Yes, Spencer. Nana is with your mommy.”
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