He unwraps my present while I nervously look on. Who gives someone a picture of themselves? At least the frame is old and cool looking and the picture is of us both. That has to count for something, right?
He doesn’t say anything at first and it confirms my fear. He doesn’t like it.
I jump in to explain, “It’s the picture taken before our first interview. Right after I chose you. I chose that picture because of how happy we were. And because of how confident I was in that choosing you, you’d be the person I’d eventually marry. I thought you might like it for your office or whatever. And I wrote you a little note that’s on the back.”
“Reagan, I love it,” he nods, not hesitating to read the explanation on the back.
“Oh. It’s okay if you don’t like it. I felt a little silly getting you a picture of us.” I blush. “You’re a hard person to shop for.”
He shakes his head in argument. “Not only did you marry me, Regs, but you found a way to be with me at DIA all the time,” he shrugs. “And you look freaking gorgeous in this picture.”
I smile and we just sit there a moment. You know, husband and wife.
“I could get used to this,” I offer.
“Gifts?” he asks.
“No. Seeing you half-naked in the morning.” I bounce my eyebrows playfully, blushing shamelessly.
He grins. “Well, fully naked can be arranged too, Mrs. Reed.”
I feel my cheeks get even hotter, which was why he said it in the first place. Torturing me with my blush again.
“I need a shower. Of the cold variety.” He looks at me all smolder-scoldy. “And though it’s Christmas, I’m going to quickly check in with DIA and Langly even though they probably won’t tell me anything. Marcia flies out at two. Although I would love to lay here and honeymoon with my wife, I don’t think that is likely. You should go spend some time with her. And don’t forget we also have quick meetings with Dougall and Lowis this afternoon and an interview tonight.”
I pretend to pout. “Does this mean you have to put a shirt on?” I ask while running a finger over his collarbone.
He looks at me and rolls his eyes dramatically. “I’m getting in the shower. Gertie said she would be in at 0930 anyway.”
“Oh,” I say, trying not to sound bummed.
And with that, he gets in the bathroom.
My bathroom. Lyncoln is in my shower right now. In the nude!
How did we ever get to this point?!
****
“I’m surprised to see you this morning,” Marcia winks at me, opening her door wider and letting me in.
I roll my eyes for her to see as we plop down on the couch and chair in her room.
“Figured you would be at the hanky-panky all day,” she grins, fully enjoying torturing me.
“Stop. Right. There. There was no hanky-panky,” I explain for the sole purpose of wanting her sex jokes to end. If I don’t shut her down now, they never will.
She looks at me shocked.
I sigh. “He’s waiting until I’m ready. I just don’t think I will ever truly be ready.” I stop to shrug before the rambling begins. “I’m not a sexual person. I don’t know how to be sexy. And he is super sexy. So I guess I’m intimidated. And scared. Stupid scared, really.”
She makes a gesture. “The way you two are around one another and the chemistry you have will make it amazing, whenever it happens. Fireworks, I tell ya. I am only shocked because it’s clear there’s some serious sexual tension between the two of you,” she shakes her head and then laughs. “Go figure. You find one of the hottest men on earth and he treats you like a queen.”
She then wiggles around and does some dance moves while sitting in the chair.
“What on earth are you doing?” I’m laughing hysterically while she just keeps doing her thing.
“Want me to teach you some moves?” she bounces her eyebrows and adds in a whisper, “You know, for the bedroom.”
“Absolutely not. I will definitely not be using anything I just saw either,” I answer with a blush and we both erupt into giggles. As soon as I have stopped laughing so hard I add, “Now, tell me everything about what you have been doing since you left.”
We talk for hours and have an early lunch brought in, all her favorites. She tells me about her project and the progress they have been making and also the slew of suitors she has had since returning to Seattle just because of her having been in the Culling.
The conversation takes a sad turn when I have to confide in her what really happened to Oliver. She deserves to know. Oliver’s mother deserves to know. We both cry, and hug, and are closer because of it. I can’t explain everything about the drifters, but when I tell her that Hadenfelt set me up and it was either kill or be killed with Isabella, and about the recent development with Lyncoln’s dad’s murder, she starts pacing the room.
“At least you got justice for Oliver,” she says angry. “Now you need to find and kill that man.”
I smile at her anger, knowing the feeling well. “I think there is a long line and I will probably not be at the front of it. They are doing everything they can.”
“Sign me up. I’ll do it. I’ll find him,” she says determined.
“You? Sneaking around? A spy?” I ask with a giggle. Then I get to laughing so hard there are tears in my eyes.
She glares at me. “You can bet your beautiful booty I would be the best.”
“You can’t even walk quietly,” I offer with more laughing.
She grins and puts her hands out in defeat. “Okay. You have me there. Now was it just me or is there something brewing with your brother and Vanessa? Did my eyes deceive me or did I see them dance twice last night?”
“You don’t miss much, do you?” I smile then sigh. “I hope he doesn’t hurt her. He doesn’t have the best track record with women.”
“Well, that girl will kick his butt if he does. I’m not worried. She can hold her own.” She shrugs.
“And what about you? Not a single new suitor strikes your fancy?” I smile, wiggling my eyebrows.
She sighs and looks down at her hands. “No.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask, reading the look on her face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says though looking guilty.
I just stare her down. She will tell me. She always does.
“I maybe kind-of had some feelings for one of my guards,” she admits a few seconds later, trying to make it sound like it isn’t a big deal.
I think back to her guards. One was rather old so I’m assuming it was the other one. I look at her surprised with this new piece of information. I had no idea. I consider her one of my best friends from the Culling and I still didn’t know.
“Nothing ever happened. And I don’t even know if he felt the same. I just know that once he held my hand. Which I know sounds juvenile compared to you and Lyncoln and your level of hotness, but…” she pauses. “He makes me feel more than any of the boys in Seattle. We just had a connection, I guess. One I can’t seem to find anywhere else.”
“Have you seen him since you got here? Or heard from him since you left?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t think I will either. I don’t know what department he normally works in. Or if he is still here at Mile High or at DIA. I have no idea.”
This is the second could be couple, that I know of, that has been ruined because of this stupid no travel between townships business. Immediately I am angered by that. Why bring all of us together and make us date one another, hoping we form solid relationships, and then just throw that away when we don’t make it any further? I could argue logistically that if we are the best of the best like they say we are, you would think they would want as many babies as possible to come from that gene pool of people. Though this is a little different since it was with a guard and not a candidate, it still just doesn’t make sense.
“I’ll hunt him down and get him your email address,” I offer.
/>
“And then what?” she asks. “It isn’t like I can come to Denver.”
I sigh again, knowing she’s right. “I don’t know what I can do, honestly. But, if there is something I can do, I’ll try. And you know I would love to have you here. Especially if we win.”
What I want to do is get rid of that stupid rule completely once I become Madam President, but I don’t want to tell her that now and get her hopes up. As the Board has already reminded us, if we win our first mission is the drifter business. I have no problem having her as a cabinet member though, especially if it means she can come to Denver. I again can’t tell her that now and get her hopes up. I have to win the presidency first. First things first.
She smiles at me. “So, Madam President, huh? I think you have it in the bag.”
“I hope so,” I say determined. For the both of us.
All too soon the knock on the door comes and Marcia has to leave for DIA for her flight. I would just ride along with her, but with Hadenfelt still MIA, Lyncoln and I can’t leave. We say our goodbyes and I head to my room feeling a little blue about Marcia.
Lyncoln is sitting there going over some files. I assume on the men they have in custody that were working for Hadenfelt.
“Mrs. Reed. How was your morning?” he asks affectionately, pausing his work.
“It was good,” I say and plop down on the couch next to him. I know I need to be changing into my skirt for our meeting with Dougall and later Mr. Lowis, but I just don’t feel like it. Nor do I feel like getting all fancy for our interview tonight. I mean, it’s Christmas.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, looking at me concerned.
I fill him in on what Marcia told me and add, “I just can’t help but wonder what I would’ve done if I would’ve gone home and we would’ve been stuck in separate townships.” I search his eyes. We were closer to their fate than either of us wants to admit. That could have been us.
“I would’ve gone after you. There would’ve been no stopping me,” he offers, pulling me closer and onto his lap. “We will fix it. Among other things. Add it to the list.”
I sigh, feeling grateful for his understanding and agreement on this. “I suppose I will quit being so glum about it and go change for our meetings now.”
I move to leave but he grabs my hand and pulls me back down. “In a minute,” he explains. “Right now, I just need to kiss my wife.”
****
Our meeting with Dougall and Elle turns out to be groundwork for our all-day meetings with cabinet members tomorrow. If we win, we have no longer than thirty days to put together our new cabinet. We are required to keep 20% of the current cabinet members on for at least a while to help the transition with our new cabinet. There are currently 45 cabinet members, which means we must choose at least nine.
Many of the current cabinet members want to stay on versus being given new careers, and they have a day to meet with us and give us their cause and reasoning why. Then there are other cabinet members, like Lyncoln’s mom, who are of retirement age and ready to be done serving in the cabinet. Tomorrow will be an interesting day of finding out who does and who doesn’t want to continue on.
I only worry there aren’t enough Hadenfelt-free followers. We want people who hate the man as much as we do, and he has been in the cabinet a long, long time. Are there even nine of them? I don’t truly trust them because of their lack of decision making lately. I would almost rather it be that we got to pick a completely new cabinet, no carrying over.
But I guess tomorrow will be enlightening. We know we will want Taggert around. I like a few of the younger couples, but don’t want the cabinet to be all younger couples either. I also don’t want our cabinet to just be people that will agree with us on everything. We want some opposing views, just not so opposing that they are on team Hadenfelt. So there is a lot going on with that. It can’t be taken lightly because setting up our new cabinet is one of the most important things we will do. And we don’t want a cabinet that is so easily swayed by one evil person. We definitely want to avoid an evil person being given a position in our cabinet. Should we win, of course.
In discussing with Dougall and Elle, we start to form a list of who we would and wouldn’t want on our cabinet, selecting our “dream team” cabinet. We have Maverick, both Attie and Knox, and Henry in our cabinet. We also have Taggert, Mr. Lowis of course, and Vanessa’s dad, Mr. Holt, too. I surprise the room when I ask about the President. Apparently, this hasn’t been done as it eases the transition of power exchange if the previous president isn’t around. I know President Maxwell is a kind man, and I trust him. It would be nice for him to be around though I know I can approach him with anything, even if he isn’t in the actual cabinet.
After leaving that meeting with somewhat of a list, we head to our meeting with Mr. Lowis. He hasn’t wanted anything to do with serving on the cabinet before, so convincing him that we will need him might be difficult. We have coffee/tea and cookies with him and his wife, despite that it’s late in the afternoon, before our interview, and on a holiday to boot. He tells us about the support he is gaining us and wants us to meet with a few of “his guys” on Tuesday. I haven’t heard their names before, but Lyncoln seems to be excited about it so I am too.
“Mr. Lowis. As you know, we have thirty days to put together our new cabinet,” I begin, trying to get the hard part of this meeting over with already. It was Mr. Lowis’ idea to meet today, but he also had to know we would be bringing this up eventually. So why beat around the bush?
He sighs. “And you want me in it.”
Lyncoln nods.
I like that with Mr. Lowis, we always get straight to the matter at hand. No dancing around the topic or time spent trying to be politically correct.
“I have tried my best to stay out of the cabinet. Cabinet corruption is not new to this presidency,” he reminds us. “Of the four presidencies post-Trident, three of the four were corrupted in one way or another.”
“So help us to set it up right this time. Help us to form one that isn’t. We need that. The country definitely needs that,” I almost plead.
Lyncoln chips in, “Mr. Lowis, you once told me that because I didn’t feel like I totally wanted the office of President, it was exactly why I should have it. Because I have both a healthy respect and a healthy fear for it. It’s the same thing with you in our cabinet. We need you. And because you don’t immediately say yes, it makes you even more perfect for the job.” He pauses. “It’s time.”
Mr. Lowis sighs again and looks from one of us to the other, then towards his wife. Neither Lyncoln nor I say a thing or budge.
“Alright,” he finally says, defeated.
Lyncoln smiles and looks to me affectionately. This was supposed to be our hardest sell, getting him in our cabinet. And we accomplished it in the first meeting we brought it up. As we finish up, I can’t help but feel hopeful. What would a corrupt-free cabinet be like for this country?
No more Hadenfelts.
****
That evening after our interview, we have supper with my family. They know we are busy getting everything set in motion for a win on Thursday. They have even been helping with that too. They’ve been meeting with the regular citizens and volunteering with the public. Their going out of their way in kindness should help the voters’ image of us. And it gives them something to do.
“Soooooo,” Ashton grins mischievously, “Will Vanessa be at the election results?”
I roll my eyes and cross my legs under the table carefully. This red dress has a high slit and I have to be a bit more cautious than usual.
Lyncoln smirks, “Yeah.”
“Cool,” Ashton says nonchalantly.
Lyncoln laughs. “You should probably know that that girl’s father did my basic training. Not only is her father a man you don’t want to cross, but he trained her in self-defense just like he did all of us.”
“I like a girl that can take care of herself,” Ashton offers and almost blushes.
He is acting like a love-struck fool. I don’t think I have ever seen him this way, and there have been a lot of girls throw themselves at him over the years. Then again, none of them could speak weapons with him.
“Me too,” Lyncoln smiles at me with a wink and squeezes his hand on my bare knee under the table.
“Any word on plans for the location Thursday?” My father asks, changing the topic and saving Ashton from getting an earful from me.
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
We all chat and eat together, gearing up for Thursday. We are all so focused on campaigning and this vote that I have a hard time remembering that life wasn’t always this way. It just feels so… normal.
Maybe it was my impromptu wedding and all the good spirits from Christmas, but this week has me feeling a bit hopeful. In less than a week, I could be the new Madam President alongside Lyncoln. I am a week away from having my happily ever after. What are the odds that Hadenfelt could also be found in that time? That would be the cherry on top of it all.
Then again, we could also be a week away from our country falling into the wrong hands and being worse off than it ever has been before. So there’s that.
Back in our room, feeling the exhaustion from a long day, I immediately change into my pajamas. On a last-minute whim, instead of wearing one of my t-shirts, I wear one of Lyncoln’s. It smells like him and is so big and roomy I just can’t help myself, especially since he moved his clothes and all his stuff into my room.
Did I really marry that man?
Married?! I am married?
Lyncoln is already in bed, looking over more reports and half naked again.
“How was day one of being Mrs. Reed?” he asks as I cuddle into him with my head on his chest.
The Fracturing: Book 2 (The Culling Series) Page 46