Chapter Twenty-Six
Darcy
“Ican’t wait to be home and out of this wet heat.” Hayden fans herself as we walk into the Waldorf Astoria in D. C. I only offer a grunt, my mind preoccupied by the sheer amount of homelessness and people hooked on drugs a few blocks over from this massive, expensive, luxurious place.
That’s one of the reasons I need to win this election.
I’m going to do everything in my power to aid the homeless and reform the system.
I’m not na?ve enough to think I can change every city, but I am going to do what I can and try to persuade those who have more localized authority to follow my lead.
I want to save all the little children of the world from picking up drug needles disguised as pens and accidentally sticking themselves with them like my sister did.
“Look, Darcy. It’s Krissy Towers.”
My head snaps in the direction that Hayden nudges me, and I see the blonde-haired woman dressed like a Barbie slinking toward us. Hayden smiles and waves while I force my media mask into place. Hayden takes my hand and all is right in the world.
“Play nice,” Hayden whispers in my ear.
“Mr. Marshall, Mrs. Marshall, it’s so good to see you both. Last time we saw each other, you were telling the world you had found a woman. Little did we know it was your campaign manager. And the two of you arranged it.” Krissy extends her hand, and I give it a brief shake before replying.
“Yes, well, we had kept it on the down-low due to not knowing how people would receive us, but once we knew it would be forever,” I glance down at Hayden who is smiling up at me, “there was no reason to hide it. Political arrangements such as this happen all the time. Ours just happened to develop into so much more.”
Krissy grins, but unlike last time all those months ago, it isn’t forced and venomous. What is she after now?
“Since you two are here, do you have it in your schedule for a quick follow-up interview from March? Oh, the public would eat it up.” True excitement lights her eyes, and I have to admit that she’s right.
It would be fantastic for my image, and with the election so close, it could be like a last-minute effort to persuade pop-culture fanatics to get out to vote for me.
But I also want to confess my love to my wife tonight.
And that’s more important to me.
Hayden, however, speaks before I can deliver a kind dismissal. “You need to do this.” She cuts her eyes to Krissy. “Give us an hour to prepare?”
Krissy nods. “Let’s meet in the meeting room down the hallway from the lobby in an hour.”
“Perfect,” Hayden says, then she turns to me. “Let’s go to our room first.”
I bid Krissy farewell and follow my wife to the elevator.
Once we are inside the elevator, I press my back against the cold wall and cover my face with my hands. “Hayden. Talking to a snake wasn’t on my to-do list tonight.”
Hayden steps up beside me and kisses me on the cheek. Nerve endings explode as her lips touch my skin. “This will be good. Maybe it will secure a good opinion of our marriage from those who still have qualms from Loveless's attacks. Plus, she’s written pretty decent things about us lately.”
“She might ask me about punching him earlier tonight.”
Hayden shrugs. “Just repeat our statement that we said at the ball before we left. You’ll be fine.” She leans in for a kiss, but the elevator dings and the doors open.
Hayden slips out of my embrace and stands close to my side as a few people enter the elevator, giving us looks—one younger guy is smirking, one older lady is scowling, and one kid giggles.
I release a breath and catch Hayden’s movements from my peripheral vision. She covers her mouth with her hands, her shoulders slightly moving up and down like she’s laughing.
We ride up in silence, stopping to let the others off, but the old lady remains with us until we get to the top floor.
Once we are inside our room, she begins styling me for the impromptu interview and peppering me with questions such as what is her favorite color, her favorite food, her favorite show, etc.
I shrug my black suit jacket on while she fiddles with my red tie. “Yellow, ramen, and My Hero Academia. Why do I need to prove I know these things about you?”
“Because,” she exclaims, patting me on the chest. “This is a pop culture interview, and she will probably test our story. A married couple should know these things about each other.”
“Those were easy,” I reply, pulling her into a hug. “Try harder questions.”
She hums. “Okay, what is my greatest fear?”
I give it some thought and think about her past: She was left in a basket on the steps of a group home in New York City, was in and out of foster homes until she was old enough to age out, and while she was in the system, she ran with the wrong crowds at times.
“Being on the street again?”
She shakes her head and looks up at me. Her eyes are warm like melted chocolate. “My biggest fear is being abandoned by people I love.”
My heart cracks, and I squish her against my body. “I won’t leave you. Mother won’t leave you. Stella will never leave you. Heck, I’m pretty sure Ren will always stay by your side. You have so many people who care about you, Hayden. We will not abandon you. We will stay. I will stay.”
She sniffles into my jacket, and I try not to think of snot getting on it. I love this woman, but I also really like my suits.
But, of course, she can blow her nose into it and I’d let her. Love does that to people, it seems.
“Thank you, Darcy. I–I never dreamed I would have so many people in my corner. Much less someone like you.”
I squeeze her tighter, and she cries onto my shoulder.
I want to tell her everything right now, but I have to wait until after the interview because I’m fairly certain I will die a painful death if she leaves me after I tell her the truth of Ophelia.
After a moment, she straightens and pulls away. I don’t let her go, but I do give her a little of the space she is clearly wanting. With one last sniffle, she says, “I need to tell you something, Darcy.”
“What is it?”
“I—I think I was an unofficial accomplice in the death of a child.”
My body stiffens at the statement, the words “death of a child” have my mind to spiral down memory holes involving Ophelia and dark streets and drug needles.
“I’m listening,” I say, prompting her on. “Nothing will change my mind about you. Once I set my mind to something—to someone—I don’t go back.”
“You might retract that statement soon,” she mumbles. Hayden wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands, black mascara smearing across her face. She takes a deep, steadying breath, and I rub circles on her biceps with my thumbs.
“When I was nine, I ran away from the group home I was living in. I was upset and furious with Director Hoggs, the man who managed the place, because he had beaten one of my best friends when she snuck a cookie from the kitchen. Anyway, I ran away because I didn’t know what else to do.
Kerri, my friend, was taken away in an ambulance.
I found out later they told the medics that she had fallen down the stairs. ”
Hayden pauses, and something between raging anger and utter sadness passes across her features. She sighs again and looks down at her twiddling fingers. I give her arms a squeeze, reminding her that I am here.
She continues, “I was on a street in the middle of a classic dark and stormy night. I kept picking up rocks and throwing them at abandoned buildings, trying to sort through the big emotions I felt. That’s when I saw her.
A little girl who looked to be my age. She was wearing a pretty pink dress and her golden hair was tied in a matching pink ribbon.
I only saw the colors with each flash of lightning.
She was walking with a man, and as I sat and watched the two of them, the man caught sight of me.
I ran away because I didn’t know if he was dangerous or not.
Growing up with the older boys in the group homes, I grew to have a healthy fear of guys who were bigger than me.
Anyway, the man followed, which sounded alarms in my young brain, and I scaled the side of a building until I perched on the roof.
He never saw me there. As I caught my breath, I saw the young girl pick something up off the street and then, a few moments later, the man heard her scream and ran back to her.
He tried to calm her and figure out what was wrong, but it was too late.
Minutes passed and she fell to the ground. She never stood back up.”
With every little detail Hayden tells me, my stomach churns.
Blood rushes from my face, and I’m left frozen as a stone-cold statue.
Memories of cold, pouring rain soaking through my clothes as I hit my knees and tried to restart my sister’s heart swirl in my head, making me dizzy.
I kept looking back to see if the other girl was around, but she had disappeared.
And because I chased her, simply trying to help her, my sister paid the price. Hayden’s story is familiar.
Too familiar to be coincidental.
“She died. And I ran away,” Hayden finishes in a blank tone.
My emotions roar as realization sinks in. How twisted is fate! How intertwined our lives are! How God sees so much further into the future than we give Him credit for!
Silence encompasses the room as my mind screams and spins. I swallow, sandpaper coating my throat. “Hayden, I have to tell you something.”
“What is it?” She sniffles.
“That was me, Hayden.”
She meets my eyes, tears already running down her cheeks.
I tug at my tie, needing to find room to breathe in the midst of the thickness of the reality I’m facing. “I’m him. I’m the man.”