Page 40 of The Prez’s Daughter

Savage was in shock. “You know.”

“Oh, yeah, I know. You see, people seem to think I’m a bad parent. I’ve got a horrible reputation for being a pain-in-the-ass wife. I’m not putting myself into any kind of ‘best mom’ category, but I did happen to notice several years ago when my daughter began to sneak out of the house. At first, I assumed it was her attempting to meet a guy. That never happened, and I saw she snuck into the clubhouse and just slept there. Again, I’m not stupid. I’m aware that Doc and I have not made life particularly easy for our little girl. Life has dealt us some rough patches, and there is no making up for that. I get it. But I then noticed a change in Charlotte. Her little trips were getting more frequent. I figured she was trying to stay with Maeve. Instead, I find out she’s sneaking away to an apartment, your apartment, and then, yes, I did happen to see the two of you making out. I figured Charlotte would come to me when she was ready. However, we’re a few months in, and you two are still seeing each other? Does Doc even know?”

This was not the reason he came to see Nancy.

“No, Doc doesn’t know.”

“And you think what? Him stumbling onto that information is going to be ideal? Do you think that would be clever? He’s going to consider you taking advantage of your position and playing with his daughter. Trust me, Doc dotes on that little girl, even if he doesn’t show it enough, and even if I make it hard for him to show it.”

“I love her,” Savage said. “I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

Nancy’s eyes went wide, and she appeared a little taken aback. “Wow.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I know it’s a lot to take in, and I don’t even know how Charlotte feels.”

“She’s in love with you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know my daughter and she is in love with you. I can see it.”

“You’ve not talked to her,” he said.

“I don’t need to talk to my little girl to know how she is feeling. Call it a mother’s intuition,” Nancy said. “We know more than people will ever give us credit for.”

The kettle started to whistle.

“How do you like your coffee?”

“Black, two sugars.” Right now, he didn’t want his coffee diluted with any cream or milk. He was reeling from what had just happened. This was not what he expected. He was in shock.

“Are you okay there, son?” Nancy asked.

“I didn’t come here to talk to you about Charlotte. She doesn’t know how I feel.”

Nancy laughed. “Okay, so if it wasn’t my little girl you wanted to talk about, what was it?”

“Jimmy Guy,” he said.

“Ah, the real estate guy. What about him?”

“Is there anything you know about his past that would enable Andy Bernadette to blackmail him?” Savage asked.

She handed him a mug of coffee, and he took it, watching as she poured a splash of milk into her own. She put the milk carton back into the refrigerator and turned toward him. He noticed she didn’t bother to stir her drink.

“Are you not going to stir that?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I like it like this.” She pursed her lips and looked at him. “First of all, I thought Andy was a good guy. I just want to point that out.”

“Do you know anything about him that might suggest he’s not?” he asked.

“My daughter hated his fucking guts and told me she would never go on a date with a guy like that. I know Charlotte hasn’t exactly got any kind of ... experience when it comes to guys and dating, but I know she’s got sense on her shoulders. Although, I think right now, she is not really thinking straight.”

“I am going to take good care of her,” Savage said.

“You won’t be taking any kind of care of her, if you’re fucking dead and six feet under, will you?” she asked. She shook her head. “Doc is going to be pissed. I may not be a great wife, but I know what is good and bad, and trust me, right now, this is very bad. Very fucking bad. It stinks.” She ran fingers through her hair. “If Doc hurts you, it is going to shatter Charlotte. It’s one of the reasons I haven’t left.”

He didn’t want to talk about this. He would tell Doc when Charlotte was ready to tell her father.