41
“Stop fidgeting,” I said as we walked up to the huge Georgetown mansion that dated to the earliest days of our nation’s capital.
“I’m nervous,” Michael admitted.
“You do realize as a senator, you’ll meet with the president and visiting dignitaries regularly, right?”
“Yes,” Michael said. “But you made me feel like the Wainwrights are royalty.”
“Hey,” I said, grabbing his shoulder so he turned to face me. “The only thing that separates them from us is money.”
He tilted his head with a wry smile. “Us?”
I shook my head. “I know you think I’m rich, but compared to this, I grew up in poverty. And besides, I’m just a soon-to-be divorcée to a man who married into a much wealthier family than his own. But believe me, the Wainwrights have their own problems.”
“Such as?”
I wasn’t going to divulge what Mama had told me Anna confessed about the state of her own marriage. A shadow of her former self, Mama had whispered. She called herself a dowdy housewife. Can you imagine Anna thinking herself dowdy?
“Listen,” I said. “Charm them tonight, and the rest of this election is a piece of cake.”
“But no pressure,” Michael said.
I grinned. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“There will be alcohol, right?”
“Flowing like the Potomac.”
“Between you and a drink, I can do this.”
I slipped my hand into the crook of his elbow as we entered the receiving line that snaked around the side of the house. “You’ll have both.” He looked down at me like he wanted to say something, but when he didn’t speak, I tugged him along. “Into the lion’s den we go.”
“Better lions than vipers, I suppose.”
“Oh, they’ll be there too. In fact—” I pulled my hand from his arm and offered a hand to the woman who had turned around in front of us. “Isadora,” I said with a fondness that I hoped sounded more genuine than it felt. “It’s been far too long. How are you? How’s life as a diplomat’s wife?”
“Simply dreadful,” she said. “We’re back home now. I told Harry I couldn’t take another posting like that.” And she proceeded to tell me how appalling life in Prague had been with only one nanny for the children and none of the amenities of the rich at home.
When Isadora’s attention wandered to the much more well-connected wife of an author, Michael leaned in. “I thought this was a dinner party,” he said, gesturing toward the assembled crowd that was being directed toward the rear of the house, where at least a hundred people mingled.
“This is nothing,” I said. “They hosted a cocktail party for the Kennedys before the inauguration—it stormed, and Anna was in a tizzy because they invited six hundred people, and only two hundred could get here in the snow.”
Michael looked at me, blinking rapidly.
“My parents were supposed to attend, but Papa got stuck in a snowdrift.”
“Six hundred people,” he repeated.
“So you see, this is an intimate gathering.” He was staring at me. “What?”
Finally he shook his head. “It’s like you’re from a different planet,” he said finally. “How will we even find the Wainwrights?”
I smiled and adjusted his tie. “You worry too much.”
Anna was holding court at the entrance to the garden, where tables were set up beneath twinkling lights that were strung across the porticos. And sure enough, as men and women waited in line for their turn with the socialite, the man monopolizing her was none other than Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Michael’s eyes widened. I elbowed him gently. “Pretend you’re not fazed,” I whispered. “It won’t do for you to look starstruck. You have to seem like you belong.”
“You act like you’re at parties with vice presidents all the time,” he whispered back. When I didn’t reply, he looked at me. “You are , aren’t you?”
I shrugged and recounted some of the higher profile guests from my wedding.
“I’m amazed it’s Sam who’s in office and not Larry.”
“Don’t be silly,” I said. “He wasn’t thirty yet when the last Senate race happened.”
He started to say something else, but Johnson kissed Anna’s hand with more gusto than I’d consider proper, and the line inched forward.
Finally, it was our turn. Anna greeted me with a hug and an air kiss on each cheek. “Beverly, darling, you look divine.” I smiled under her praise.
“It’s impossible to compare with you,” I said. “But I will always take the compliment that I can fit into your sphere.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere, my dear.” She leaned in conspiratorially. Then she turned to look at Michael. “And this must be your candidate. I was surprised when your mother told me about your new career, but I have to say, it sounds like you’re the perfect person for the job.” She held out her hand. “Anna Wainwright.”
“Mrs. Wainwright,” he said, taking her hand. “Michael Landau. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“Call me Anna.” She took in the cut of his suit. “Yes,” she said to me, “he’ll do quite well, won’t he?” She took Michael’s arm and, much to the dismay of the people waiting behind us to greet her, led him away. “You simply have to meet my husband. He’s the one who knows all about politics. Then Beverly and I can catch up.”
I followed a few steps behind them as she took him to another area of the enormous backyard—something unheard of in Georgetown—where Henry Wainwright was in conversation with Johnson and other politicians, a drink in one hand, a cigar in the other.
Anna waited until there was a lull, which was created by Johnson, for her to speak. Her own husband clearly saw her but was ignoring her presence. Which, at a party especially, was quite rude. If Larry had done something like that ... Well, Larry had done something worse. Although the rumors about Henry had him in the same ballpark of philandering.
“Henry, I want to introduce you to Michael Landau. He’s running for Sam Gibson’s Senate seat in Maryland.”
Henry looked Michael over, then switched his cigar to his left hand and offered his right. “Henry Wainwright,” he said. “I think we wrote about you a few months ago.”
“You did,” Michael said.
Henry quickly did a round of introductions, then asked Michael his opinion on the situation in Cuba, completely ignoring Anna again. Johnson looked me over with interest, but Anna pulled me away. “Come along. Let’s go get a drink and you can tell me all about this new man. Your mother told me about Larry. Ghastly business.”
“Oh, he’s not—no—we’re not together,” I said quickly.
“More’s the pity,” Anna said sympathetically. “I didn’t see a ring though.”
“Strictly professional. But I’ll take that drink, and I’d love to tell you about why he should win.”
She waved a hand, and a waiter appeared with a tray of champagne flutes. “I don’t need to hear about all that,” she said.
My heart sank. I had told Michael to just talk to Henry and I would charm Anna into making sure the Post ran something.
But Anna was nothing if not an attentive hostess. “How on earth did you decide to go from housewife to political strategist? I couldn’t imagine having time to work outside the home, and my children are nearly your age.”
“My mother is watching the kids while I work,” I admitted.
“She told me she had moved in with you—I wasn’t going to pry, but she had a couple drinks and confessed that she had left your father.” Anna took a sip of her champagne. “Oh dear, I do hope that wasn’t a secret.”
“It’s not.”
“Do you think they’ll reconcile? They always seemed so happy together.”
“I’m working on that one.”
“Good,” Anna said, touching my arm. “I’ll take your mother to lunch again, and I’ll work on her as well. It’s such a shame when couples can’t make it work.” Her eyes drifted to Henry, and my mother’s words replayed in my head once more. It wasn’t a dig at my parents’ marriage or mine. It was a fervent prayer about her own.
“Anna,” I said, and she turned her head to look at me. “Did my mother tell you why I wanted to come tonight?”
“She said you wanted Michael to make some connections that could help him.”
“That,” I agreed. “But I wanted to talk to you while he did that.”
“Me?”
“You,” I said. “The Post endorsed Sam Gibson last time around. We need you to endorse Michael now.”
“Darling, I have nothing to do with the business, you know that.”
“But it’s your father’s paper—”
“Was,” she corrected. “He gave control to Henry, not me. And that was how we all three wanted it.”
I took a long sip of my champagne for courage. “But you know everyone in the editorial department.”
“Socially.”
“If you just made a call—”
“If I just made a call,” Anna said smoothly, but she was looking me directly in the eye, “my husband would be furious. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to hope he charms him on his own.”
We both looked over as Michael said something that caused the group of men to laugh. A drink had materialized in his hand, though he hadn’t taken a cigar.
But Anna’s gaze was on her husband, watching him with thickly veiled concern.
“Mama told me once that behind every good man was an even better woman,” I said quietly. Anna turned to look at me. “You know full well he wouldn’t be anywhere without you. And Michael wouldn’t be here without me. It seems a shame to just let them make all the decisions after we put them in the room.”
For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she pulled out a gold cigarette case and opened it, offering one to me before taking one for herself. I refused, though I desperately wanted one to calm my nerves.
She lit the cigarette herself with a gold lighter, which along with the elegant case went back into her reticule.
“I always liked you,” she said. “Even when you were just a little thing.”
I felt my hopes lift.
“Tell me why I should work on Henry for this man of yours.”
I smiled broadly. My mother might have driven me insane, but there wasn’t much she didn’t know.