She nodded again. “Thank you.”
She supposed he’d seen the column and realized they had to keep up appearances at least until all the states in play voted on their typic-rights legislation. They couldn’t afford to drown the effort in sordid drama.Moresordid drama.
He fell into step with her and slipped a hand into hers. All the rationality in the world was not enough to tamp down her reaction—thezipin the stomach, the dreadful hope that she no longer believed. There was only one way out of the building. They had to go past a phalanx of reporters and photographers who’d staked out spots there. Of course he took her hand.
She forced a neutral expression onto her face as they stepped over the threshold, two cameras going off, five reporters shouting questions.
“Omnimancer! What’s your reaction to?—”
“—just got word?—”
“—do you think?”
“Fellows, I’ve barely seen my fiancée all week,” Peter said. “We’re going to dinner. Come by my house tomorrow morning if you’re still burning to ask those questions.”
“But West Virginia’s Senate just voted down their amendment bill,” one of the men said. “We were hoping to get a quote.”
Beatrix stared at him. “But … it wasn’t scheduled for a vote until next week.”
“Rescheduled at the last minute. It’s the first state to get to a full floor vote, so—we’d really like to know what you think.”
She swallowed a groan. The head of the League’s West Virginia state chapter had been sending them positive reports. The sponsor thought he had the votes.
“Why do you think it was rescheduled?” Peter asked.
One of the reporters offered a cynical snort.
Exactly. She asked, “Do you know the vote tally?”
“Twelve for, thirteen against, nine absent.”
Nine. On a close vote, that would make all the difference.
The youngest-looking reporter in the pack cleared his throat. “So how do you feel?”
Peter glanced at her, eyebrows up—giving her first crack at it.
What would Lydia say? She exhaled. “It’s terrible for West Virginians that their opportunity to weigh in was cut short. It’s terrible for the senators who supported the bill but weren’t able to vote on it. I challenge opponents—I challenge Washington—to make this a fair fight and see what Americans truly want.”
The reporters were madly scribbling this into their notebooks. Then several of them said, “Omnimancer?”
“I can’t put it better than that,” he said.
And that was it. No questions about their relationship. He walked her to his car and off they went. Beatrix closed her eyes, grateful for the respite from the train—the reporters who looked for her there were all writing “Romeo and Juliet” stories.
“Beatrix?”
She opened her eyes to find the car stopped, but she hadn’t felt it happening. “What?—”
“You fell asleep. Are you sure you’re all right?”
She considered telling him the truth, but this was not a conversation they could have without spells. His two weeks would be up on Sunday. She needed to wait another day and a half.
“Just tired,” she said.
He nodded, accepting that. If the Vows were still in force, he would know how she really felt.
Of course, if the Vows were still in force, he would also love her.
