Madam President

by Cooper, Blayne

  Bruce Jordon signed first, then Wayne, and finally Lauren, who launched herself at Wayne and gave the flustered man a firm kiss on the mouth for his efforts. When he figured out what was happening, he pulled Lauren into an affectionate hug, laughing when she squeezed him so hard he could barely breathe. "Thank you, Wayne," she whispered in the stocky man's ear. "You don't know how much this means to me."

  "You don't have to thank me, sweetheart. A bestseller will be thanks enough."

  Lauren laughed then gave David a hug as well. "I know this was mostly your doing, David," she said softly, her face and voice conveying her true gratitude.

  David's already ruddy skin took on a darker shade of red. He shrugged lightly. "Just doing my job." But his warm brown eyes glittered with pride over a job well done.

  Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

  "What about my hug?" Dev griped playfully. "I'm last on the list?"

  Lauren grabbed the President's hand. "You rate a full-blown celebration, Madam President. Liza," she said, never breaking eye contact with Dev, "how long until the President's next appointment?"

  "Twenty three, nearly twenty four minutes," Liza answered without hesitation, causing Wayne to raise both eyebrows. The woman was a human organizer and alarm clock all rolled into one. He wondered whether she was single.

  "Good." Lauren smiled at Dev. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

  Dev's face instantly mirrored the happy grin. This was turning out to be a great day. "Lead the way."

  Lauren and Dev padded slowly to the door, hand in hand. The writer opened it for Dev, who was just about to walk through when she felt Lauren let go of her hand.

  Lauren spun around and stomped back to face Bruce Jordon.

  "Mr. Jordon," Lauren squared her shoulders, "you are an asshole of the highest order. And it will be my supreme pleasure to let America know that fact in Starlight Publishing's biography of the President." She smiled insincerely and spoke in her sweetest southern drawl. "Have a nice day."

  And with that, Lauren marched past Devlyn and out the door.

  Dev looked back to the Party Chairman with a smirk so perfect David wished he had a camera to capture it. "What she said."

  Then she ran to catch up with Lauren, who was already half way down the hall.

  Sunday, November 7th

  "C'mon, Daddy. Pick up the phone. You're always home after dinner." Lauren punched the speaker phone and video functions and waited, hoping tonight would be the night he would answer. She'd dutifully called her father once a month since her mother's death, just as she had since leaving home thirteen years ago. Only, since Anna Strayer's suicide, Lauren's father was suddenly never home when she called.

  The generally stolid, retired plumber had told his daughter in no uncertain terms that when she chose to go back to Washington, D.C., after Dev's shooting, and while Anna was still in the hospital, she was choosing Dev over her own mother.

  Lauren hadn't disagreed with her father. Though the circumstances weren't quite the way he had made them sound, Lauren knew in her heart that if there were a real contest, she would always choose Devlyn.

  His attitude had softened immediately following his wife's death, however, and when Lauren came home for the funeral, he welcomed her with open arms. But it only took hours for bad feelings to rear their ugly heads again, and for Howard to assign blame for his loss to Lauren. If she'd only stayed to help. The stress of reading about her daughter having an affair with the President was simply more than the fragile woman could be expected to take. If she'd only sent Anna to different doctors... The list went on and on, and Lauren found that she couldn't leave Tennessee fast enough.

  But that was four months ago, and though they'd never been close, she'd never gone this long with no contact at all. While she was quite certain that she'd never have the kind of relationship with her father that Dev had with Janet and Frank Marlowe, she still loved him and wanted to know that he was okay.

  Lauren was about to give the verbal command for her phone to hang up when her father picked up. A flashing green light on Lauren's phone let her know that there was no image available. She remembered that her father had always hated that part of the phone and only allowed a visual link to please her mother. Now that her mother was gone, he must have disabled everything except for the simple voice transmission.

  "Hello."

  "Daddy?"

  Click.

  Lauren blinked at the sound of the buzzing dial tone. "Oh, that went well. Guess you figured out how to turn off the caller ID. Still mad at me, by any chance?" she muttered sarcastically. But she was hurting, despite the fact that she tried to brush it off.

  The blonde woman snatched up Gremlin and Princess' leashes from the top of her dresser. Both dogs magically appeared from nowhere, beating Lauren to the door. "How do you do that?" she asked the short pooches, feeling herself slipping into a full-fledged bad mood. She bent over and snapped the leashes on the collars and grabbed her jacket from the coat rack near the door.

  When she opened her door she was surprised to find Ashley standing there. "Hi, Ashley." Lauren peered down the hallway, looking for, but not finding, Ashley's brothers. "I was just on my way out to walk the dogs. What can I do for you?"

  Ashley dug her toe into the carpet. "I dunno." She reached down to pet Gremlin and Princess, who were howling, their bodies shaking in utter delight at the sight of their friend.

  "Okay," Lauren drew out the word. "Well, we could talk when I come back, or you could join us? Grem loves it when you walk him."

  Ashley smiled and reached for the leash. "I was coming over to see if he and Princess could play. I'm bored."

  "Ahhh... I see," the writer stated seriously, trying to remember what she had done for fun at Ashley's age at, she glanced at her watch, 7:30 P.M. Somehow she didn't think throwing rocks at the abandoned house at the end of the street, putting pennies on the railroad tracks so passing trains could flatten them, or staring mindlessly at the television for hours on end would be high on Dev's list of approved activities. "Wanna borrow a jacket of mine?"

  Ashley's eyes lit up. "Sure!"

  Lauren chuckled softly. "Okay, you can have this one." She held up her worn jean jacket for the girl's inspection. "Or," she put the end of Princess' leash between her teeth and grabbed a second jacket from the rack, "Dhis un."

  The girl selected the butter-colored suede jacket and shrugged it on. It swallowed her whole, and Lauren gave her a fond look, helping her push up the sleeves before she shut the door to her room.

  Lauren said to the first agent they passed in the hallway, "We're going to the south lawn to walk the dogs." A few seconds more, and the agent normally assigned to Christopher joined them at the top of the stairs, remaining several respectful paces away. Lauren glanced down at Ashley. "Amy's night off tonight?"

  "Uh huh."

  Gremlin could tell they were getting near the door, and he began pulling Ashley along.

  The dark-headed girl was trying to pull him back into line, but failing miserably.

  "Gremlin!" Lauren barked.

  He slowed for a moment in response to his mistress' cross use of his name, but soon began to tug on the leash again.

  Ashley laughed; her arm was fully extended, and she was skipping every third step. "He really wants to go out!"

  "Apparently." Lauren shook her head. "Let's trade." She took Gremlin's leash, giving it a sharp tug to slow down the Pug, and then handed Ashley Princess'.

  The Pomeranian show dog was acting like, well, a show dog, prancing quietly down the hall like royalty. She was the very picture of serenity and obedience. "Why do I think instead of you getting better behaved, you'll just drag Princess down?" Lauren asked Gremlin flatly, more to hear Ashley laugh than to scold her beloved pet.

  They opened the doors to the south lawn and were greeted with a blast of chilly autumn air that smelled heavily of wet leaves and soil. "Brrr!" Lauren shivered as she stuck her hand in her pocket. "We'd better make t
his a short trip."

  "Okay," Ashley agreed, snuggling deeper into the warm suede.

  "You going to tell me what's wrong?" Lauren asked casually. Ashley was a chatty, bright child who wore her emotions on her sleeve for the world to see. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out something was up with her. "You didn't seem too happy when you came to my door."

  "You didn't look too happy either," Ashley shot back.

  "You're too smart for your own good." Lauren snorted. "Just like your mama." She moved to the left, guiding Ashley and the dogs around a large, muddy puddle. "Well, you gonna tell me?"

  "You first."

  That earned Ashley a raised eyebrow, but Lauren didn't refuse. "I tried to talk to my daddy on the phone, and he hung up on me."

  Ashley frowned. "That's not very nice."

  "No." Lauren sighed and pulled the collar of her jacket closer around her neck. "It's not."

  "Is he mad at you?"

  Lauren nodded. "I think so. Mad and disappointed, I guess."

  Ashley made an unhappy face. There was nothing worse than having a parent disappointed in you. "How come?"

  Lauren exhaled wearily and glanced down at Ashley, considering how much to tell her. She decided she was old enough to understand the simple truth. "He's disappointed because I didn't stay in Tennessee to help my mama this summer." There was a pause. "When she was sick." They approached a bench, and Lauren motioned for Ashley to sit down.

  They both took a seat. "Let's let ‘em run around for a while," Lauren said as she unhooked first Princess' then Gremlin's leash. "They're already going to need baths."

  "How come you didn't stay home then, when she was sick?"

  Lauren winced at the complicated situation being distilled into a child's simple question. "C'mere," she held out her arm, and Ashley scooted closer, pressing tightly against Lauren. "I didn't stay home because, in my heart, I didn't think there was anything I could do for my mama. But your mama needed me, and I thought I could make her feel better." She shrugged. "So I decided to come home... this home."

  "When she got shot," Ash recalled.

  "Uh huh. So that's why my daddy is mad at me.""

  "That doesn't seem fair." The girl hugged Lauren. "I'm sorry."

  Lauren leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I'll be okay, sweetie. It just makes me sad. We'll work it out eventually." Or not.

  They were both quiet for a moment as they watched Gremlin and Princess playing in the yard and splashing through the leaf-strewn puddles.

  "Mom didn't come home for dinner tonight," Ashley commented very softly. "She's working late."

  Ahhh... so that's it. "I know. She's in a meeting tonight with some people from Mexico."

  "She couldn't come to The Nutcracker with me last week. It was my birthday present; it was going to be just the two of us. Emma took me, but it's just not the same."

  "Oh, honey." Lauren closed her eyes and tightened her hold on Ashley. "She wanted to go with you. Your mama felt terrible about that." She was nearly in tears that night when she told me. "But it was an emergency and-"

  "And she had to work late," Ashley finished glumly. "She always does."

  Lauren let out an unhappy breath. She had no good answers for this. Ashley didn't give two shits about the global economy. "You know she has a very important job that takes up most of her time, right?" she began rhetorically.

  "Yeah." A dark head nodded. "I know."

  "But when she has to miss out on being with you and your brothers, it's not because she thinks y'all are less important than what she's working on."

  Ashley's eyes widened a little, and she looked up at Lauren's face to see if she was telling her the whole truth. "It's not?"

  "No way, Ash. Nothing is more important to your mama than you guys," the writer announced firmly. She cupped Ashley's chilled cheek. "But the stuff she's doing is very important, and she knows that the people who love her will cut her some extra slack when there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Nobody except her family will do that."

  "They won't?"

  Lauren shook her head gravely. "No."

  Ashley's face turned contemplative. "I didn't know that."

  "I know. It's a hard thing for even grown ups to understand. And it's not fair to you or your mama. But she's doing the best she can, Ashley. If she could, she'd spend all her time with you guys."

  An enormous grin broke out across her face. "She would? Really?"

  "Of course!" Lauren hugged her again. "She's very proud of you and loves you like crazy. Besides," she pressed her forehead forward against Ashley's, "I happen to know she got tickets again for this week, so you guys can still go to the ballet."

  "I know. It's still going to be just the two of us." Ashley tugged on Lauren's coat a little. "That's okay with you, right?"

  Lauren smiled warmly. "Absolutely. You'll both have a wonderful time, and you can tell me all about it. And maybe, if something comes up, and your mama absolutely can't make it... even though she wants to more than anything... maybe we can go?"

  "Sure!" Ashley blurted out. "I would miss Mom. But that would be fun too." Impulsively, Ashley kissed Lauren on the cheek. "Thanks, Lauren."

  "You're welcome, sweetie."

  "I love you."

  Lauren swallowed hard. "I love you too."

  Tuesday, November 9th

  "We're finished for the day, right?" Dev shifted on the sofa anxiously.

  "Sure," Lauren answered slowly. "If you want to be." She sat down her notebook on the coffee table, a little put out that Dev wanted to end their interview so soon. This hour had been set aside all week. Then again, it's not like we're getting anywhere. It had been thirty minutes of pure frustration, with Lauren having to pry every single word out of her normally chatty partner. Dev had been nervous and withdrawn, her gaze finding the antique grandfather clock, which had been an October addition to Lauren's room, every few minutes. Dev's sudden restlessness left Lauren confused and on edge herself.

  The blonde slipped off her glasses and began gnawing on the tip of an earpiece. "Do you have a hot date or something tonight?" she asked teasingly. But her words were laced with annoyance and insecurity.

  "No. No." The President waved her hand dismissively. "I've got nothing going on." Dev groaned inwardly. Shit. That was convincing.

  Five minutes into their work, while Dev was thinking about how much she loved Lauren and how much she wanted to be married to her, she'd suddenly remembered she had an evening appointment with a jeweler to pick out a ring. Ever since then she'd been a nervous wreck, just thinking about how she was going to make a quick exit in the middle of their scheduled meeting without arousing Lauren's suspicions. God, I'm helpless without Liza and Jane to keep my schedule.

  The jeweler had also asked for Lauren's approximate ring and hand size, stating unequivocally that this was crucial information if Devlyn wanted to pick out a truly flattering piece of jewelry. Personally, Dev thought that was a load of crap, but where Lauren's happiness was concerned, she wasn't taking any chances. "Nothing is going on," she repeated when it looked like Lauren was waiting for her to elaborate. She reached for Lauren's hand, only to have it subtly pulled away.