Chapter Ten
Election Night
Well, it’s not Florida cursed by bad weather this time—it’s Texas. Ice and rain sweep through the state, and ahead of the bad weather the governor orders polls to stay open later, plus extends the deadline for absentee and provisional ballots to be filed.
The three of us flew to Florida in the pre-dawn hours so we were the first at the polls, voted,and flew back to DC for the wait at the campaign headquarters until we move to the hotel where the party will be held. The kids will be brought over after school lets out, and if it looks like we’re going to win, they’ll stay with us until we know for certain. If not, Yasmine will take them back to the White House early to distract them and play with them until putting them to bed.
I wouldn’tsay I’m confident, but ever since the morning I gave Shae her “pep talk,” she’s been a different woman.
Also, that same night of the pep talk, I sat with Kev in Lauren’s office and helped him pack everything, holding him as he cried, and then he spent the night with me and Shae in the residence. Since then, there’s been so much traveling that he really hasn’t had a choice about where he sleeps.He sleeps where he can. Sometimes, it’s on Air Force One during the day and then he’s up all night helping run poll numbers.
It’s been non-stop trips across the country for Shae, some with me, some without, but with Kev at her side for all of them. She kicks David Ignacio’s ass in the last two debates, including flustering the guy so badly in the final one that even Fox and FNB commentators saidhe deserved to lose the election if he folded so easily under stress. Then they started ripping GOP leadership that they weren’t able to field a more competent contender.
By six p.m. Kev finally closes his laptop and we head to the hotel. It’s out of our hands, totally. There’s still three hours on the West Coast, but we’ll know once the East Coast starts reporting. California is ours, withouta doubt. Exit polling shows that the GOP voters really didn’t even bother turning out. The last debate pretty much sealed his fate, but no election is over until the votes are counted.
Ignacio concedes at nine p.m., leaving the kids screaming in joy and Prophet wearing a wide, pleased smile as Shae hugs me. Then she starts laughing as, still hugging her, I walk her backward toward Kev and thengrab him, too, smooshing Shae between us and making her laugh as the kids join in, throwing themselves at us in a huge family hug, where we wave in Elliot, Leo, Yasmine, and Hudson and Shawna Harris.
That’s the picture the next day, a joyful family portrait of all of us hugging and smiling.
And one of them, captured perfectly, shows me and Kev looking at each other.
That one’s going on thewall in our bedroom.
That night, before we go downstairs, we all grab a beverage of some sort and raise our glasses.
“To Lauren,” Shae says.
“To Lauren,” we all echo as we take a sip.
* * * *
Motherfucking West Virginia.
What kind of goddamned self-loathing do you have to keep sending Edwin Markos back to Congress?
I take some small measure of satisfaction knowing it was his smallest marginyet. But with Shae’s election guaranteed, she’s going to spend the next one heavily stumping for whoever the Democratic candidate is in that district. Also, for Susa’s lieutenant governor, Ethan, who will be making his own run at the bigGin Florida.
On January 20th, I have a demand of my own. It’s not just us and the kids and Elliot walking the route—I want Leo and Kev there, too. Leo doesn’tknow I caught sight of him leaving Elliot’s office late one night, lips puffy and pink and looking like a man who’d just had fun.
When I walked down there, Elliot emerged—also looking like a man who’d just had some fun.
When he saw me, his eyes went wide, and he stammered, but I smiled and placed a finger over my lips and said, “I didn’t see a damn thing.” Then I headed on to Shae’s study.
We all have secrets. Now the ones weighing on Portia, Priest, and Prophet are a little less smothering, but we don’t want to do anything that would rebound on Elliot in four years. And now we can start looking for the perfect house, too.
I can fully focus on the kids, on my initiatives as the First Spouse, and on actually enjoying life for a change. Leo and I helped Kev go through Lauren’s townhouseand clean it out. There were more tears, but cleansing ones, this time. Then he put what he wanted in storage, and donated or sold the rest. She’d left her parents two different life insurance policies Kev didn’t realize she had, and they didn’t begrudge she’d left him the house and contents, other than a couple of family items he carefully packed and shipped to them.
It had, after all, beenhis house, too, at one point.
With that off his mind, I see my boy return, sadder in some ways, but healing, as are we all. He still goes to our townhouse a couple of nights a week, but never two nights in a row.
We’ve started planning our family vacation, and I’m thinking Florida is going to win out. Life is good, and it can only get better.
Right?
* * * *
This May morning, I stare intothe mirror as I tie my tie. It’s fighting me tooth and nail today, for some stupid reason. I think I’m on attempt five or six, and it still looks like shit. It’s supposed to be ungodly warm by DC standards, so I’ve made the call to not wear body armor today. I’ll have a short walk from The Beast inside today’s event venue, where I’m giving a speech to businesses about supporting exercise programsin schools to help produce healthier kids who can do better in academics because their entire bodies are being supported.
