Chapter 34
So this is a media frenzy.
Jackie waited in the arrivals area of Dulles Airport, Selena and Sloan’s plane already at the gate. In had been twenty-four hours since the convention, time she’d spent in the comfort and safety of Jax and Jessa’s house in the suburbs of DC, impatiently waiting for her daughter.
Sloan was well enough to travel after being hospitalized overnight for observation, thank goodness.
Jackie owed him an enormous debt of gratitude for protecting Selena.
Her daughter had also told her about Bill guiding her out of the forest and to the authorities who freed Sloan, a miraculous story she didn’t doubt for a moment to be true.
Levi Ludlow was arrested for attempted murder, for forcing her car off the cliff.
He couldn’t be charged for SVX’s attack in Mexico, but the murder rap was enough to disgrace him and take him out of public life for good.
Jackie had caught a glimpse of him with a towel over his face on his way from the arraignment, and heard he’d been released on bail shortly after.
Doug was already making the rounds on every talk show imaginable, weeping and trying to “make amends to the American people,” which told Jackie he hadn’t completely kissed off politics just yet and wasn’t likely to do so.
Do what you do best.
A flash went off in her peripheral vision and she resisted the urge to scowl at the photographer.
It was pointless. She needed to wait for the public’s interest to die down—something that wasn’t going to happen until they got their fill, and a good look at Jackie’s daughter.
There had already been speculation in the tabloids that the girl could be Doug McGrath’s, and while it would have been easier to refute those claims with Razorback by her side, she would be able to handle it alone with the documentation he’d signed.
That was his gift to her.
She hadn’t decided what the future should hold for her and Selena, whether they should stay in America or go back to Mexico permanently, but she was in no hurry to make up her mind after everything they’d been through.
Jessa and Jax had said they could stay as long as they liked, and that open door was exactly what they needed right now.
Sloan’s head appeared above the crowd of people walking toward the gate, and he and Jackie smiled at each other down the long corridor.
Happy tears once again fell from Jackie’s eyes.
When they got closer, she could see Selena, and the waterworks really got out of hand.
They embraced, the chaos, camera flashes, and time they’d spent apart all seeming to blow away like dust on the wind.
There was just Jackie and her daughter, the way it was meant to be.
She’d hugged Sloan as tightly as she’d dared, though he was clearly in pain, and thanked him profusely. He’d scheduled this short layover in DC before returning home to New York, and they parted with promises to get together again soon.
Selena rested her head on her mother’s lap. “Where’s Razorback?”
“He went home, sweetie.”
“But I wanted to see him.”
“Sorry, baby. Not this time.”
“How far away is New York?”
“Too far.”
They arrived back at Jessa’s house. Selena was exhausted, and Jackie tucked her into bed before settling in front of the eleven o’clock news featuring Frank Gough, the reporter who’d helped her get into the convention.
“Levi Ludlow was found dead this evening of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Former campaign manager to disgraced presidential candidate Doug McGrath, Ludlow had been accused of hiring a hitman to kill McGrath’s estranged wife, who’d been living in Mexico since her disappearance eight years earlier. ”
Jackie frowned. “Poor Levi,” she said, more for the person he’d once been than for the person he turned out to be. It wasn’t a shock after all that had transpired, but it was still sad to see how his life had played out. He was hungry for power, and he always had been. That was his downfall.
Jackie sighed. While there was a peace that came with having her daughter back, she still felt unsettled. It would be so much nicer to have Razorback here with her on the couch. She longed to talk to him about Ludlow, about Selena and Sloan, about the future.
A future of which he wants no part.
She wouldn’t have thought he could have become so important to her in such a short time, but he had. Even Selena cared for him, that was clear. Jackie had been alone for years, but this was the first time she could remember truly being lonely, and it hurt more than she would have expected.
“Mama?”
She turned to find Selena out of bed and lifted her arm in invitation. “Come here.”
“When are you coming to bed?” asked Selena, coming around the couch.
“Soon. I just want to watch the news for a bit first.” The girl cuddled against her side, and Jackie wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulders, kissing her head.
The newscast came back from commercial break.
“Speculation has been running high around the country about the paternity of Jackie Desjardins’ daughter.
” Footage of Jackie and Selena at the airport rolled on screen.
Jackie’s eyes went wide, the temperature in the room feeling a hundred degrees hotter than it had just moments before.
She frantically looked around for the remote control, already knowing it was too late to prevent the inevitable revelation.
“Tonight, News Channel 13 has exclusive access to Selena Desjardin’s birth certificate, and has the answers you’ve been looking for.
Selena Desjardin’s father is not Douglas McGrath, but a former United States Navy SEAL named Ian Rhodes.
He and Jacqueline Desjardins can be seen in this footage from the Democrat National Convention taken yesterday. ”
Selena sat up slowly and turned wide eyes to her mother. “Razorback is my dad?”
Jackie opened her mouth, not sure what she wanted to say. Lying was bad, almost always the worst choice even in times like these. But in light of the developments of the last few days, the truth felt cruel. “Uh…” Jackie hedged, still floundering for the clicker.
A female newscaster said, “They’re a handsome couple, too, Frank.”
“That they are,” said Gough. “We wish them all the best.”
Jackie found the remote and turned off the television. “This wasn’t how I imagined telling you this.” She sighed heavily. “Let me start at the beginning.”