Chapter Twenty-Nine #3
“But when it’s the vice president he chose… That makes it worse, doesn’t it?”
“It does. He’s quite upset about it all.”
“I hate to hear that. I wish I could hug him.”
They had loved Nick like a son from the first time their John had brought Nick home from Harvard for a weekend visit.
And seeing him now in the Oval Office was among the most satisfying things in their lives.
They knew he’d give it all up for one more day with John, who he missed as much as they did.
“Who’s he got in mind for a new VP?”
“Funny you ask.”
“Why is that funny?”
“He asked me.”
The expression that overtook her face defied description—a combination of shock, horror and, finally, when she caught herself, a bit of wide-eyed pride. “He asked you.”
“He did.”
“What did you say?”
“I thanked him for the honor and said I’d need to discuss it with my wife.”
She stared at him as if meeting him for the first time. “You didn’t immediately say no?”
“I did not. He’s in a tight spot, and he made a case for how my experience would be a huge asset to him at this fraught moment in which his youth, inexperience and unelected status will again become the talk of the town.”
“I feel for him on those things. He was approved by the Senate to be David’s vice president, so none of that should matter.”
“What should matter and what does are often two different things in Washington.”
“How well we know that, right?”
“Indeed.”
After a long silence broken only by the crackle of the fire, she said, “What’re you thinking about this?”
“That depends exclusively on what you’re thinking, my love, and before you share those thoughts with me, let me add that Nick said he’d be fine if we didn’t move and you could do or not do whatever you wanted as second lady.”
Her huff of laughter contained an edge of disbelief. “Second lady. What in the world?”
“I know. It’s surreal, but Nick was dead serious, and he made a case that has me interested. It’s two and a half years and an opportunity to work side by side with my son and a man I love as a son, to help make his presidency successful. So yes, I’m intrigued.”
“And excited. I can hear it in your voice.”
“From the morning we woke up to the news that David had died and Nick had become president overnight, I’ve wished there was more I could do to make things easier for him, but my role as a senior advisor who’s called in as needed is limited.
As the VP, my very presence would extinguish some of the worst criticism.
Not that I don’t think he’s fine without me, because he is, but it’s the people who don’t know him like we do who need to be convinced. I could help with that.”
“Yes, you could. For sure.”
He looked over at her, trying to gauge her meaning.
“Is it what I want at this juncture in our lives? Absolutely not. But that we wouldn’t have to move, and my role could be limited to whatever I wanted it to be, is… doable.”
“There’d be Secret Service crawling all over the place.”
She shrugged. “That wouldn’t bother me. Being driven through DC traffic has its perks. And I’d probably see more of my very important—and very busy—sons.”
“That’s true.” He could feel her coming around to the idea, but he’d learned to let her get there in her own time. Especially when he was asking so much of her.
She turned in her chair, curling her legs under her. “Tell it to me straight. When you say I could do or not do whatever I wanted, is that legit? Because you know what I most want to be doing is riding and picking up the kids from school.”
“It’s legit. Terry reminded me how Sam held down a full-time job while she was second lady and did the bare essentials in her official role, and everything was fine.”
“Are we really going to do this?”
“That’s entirely up to you, sweetheart. If you want to think about it and decide it’s not something you can handle at our advanced age—”
Her brows furrowed. “Who are you calling old?”
“Only myself, of course.”
“Of course,” she said with a smile.
“What does Terry think?”
“He’s excited by the idea and eager to hear what we decide.”
“You’d be working with both of them. Every day.”
“I know,” he said with a giddy laugh. “How cool would that be?”
“It’d be too cool to pass up, but you have to promise me that Sundays are ours. Unless there’s a crisis, that’s your day off to be with us.”
“That’s a promise I can make because Nick values his family time as much as we value ours. He would never stand in the way of that unless he really needed me.”
“Well, then, Mr. Vice President… Shall we share the good news with the guys?”
“Before we do that,” he said, standing to lean over her chair for another kiss. “Thank you for always being there for me, for understanding me like no one else ever has and for seeing the many facets of this situation without me having to spell them out for you.”
“I get it, and Nick needs you.”
“I might need him a little bit, too. You know how I’ve missed it.”
“I do know, but you’ll need to pace yourself. No stress-induced health issues allowed, you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“Make that call, love.”