Triumph (The Bellator Saga Book 6)

by Cecilia London

  “Go get some sleep. Take care. Au revoir, mon amie.”

  Caroline hung up the phone. “So you’re a grandmother, huh?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Can I call you grandma?”

  “No, you may not.”

  Dammit. She’d have to work it in anyway. “Are you sure? Just think about it.”

  Christine wiped her eyes. “I am too young to be a grandmother.”

  “Oh, come on. You’re the perfect age. You’ve got enough energy to enjoy it once we get this mess figured out.”

  “She has twins,” Christine said.

  Caroline laughed. “Oh, wow.”

  “Identical boys.” She cleared her throat. “She named them Desmond and Spencer.”

  Tom’s middle name. Her maiden name. “That’s nice.”

  “It’s more than nice. I wish we could have chatted longer. It was less awkward than I thought.”

  Short and sweet. Caroline suspected Christine would be back soon to make another call. She wouldn’t be able to stay away for long. “Susannah sounded pretty good on the phone after she got over the shock.”

  Christine sniffled. “She was pretty upset about Tom and Jessie.”

  “She’ll need time to accept it. But you’re still here.”

  “What did she say to you?”

  Caroline grinned. “None of your business.”

  “No, really.”

  Was she worried it was something bad? “She thanked me for taking care of her heart. In French. She meant you.”

  “Well.” Christine picked up her purse. “That was nice.”

  That was either a way to keep her shaking hands occupied or a social cue that she was ready to go home and cry in private. “I told you she’d be happy to hear from you,” Caroline said. “She also said to tell you she loves you. But she said that in English.”

  “That was nice.” Christine laughed. “See, she has a hard time saying it too.”

  Caroline squeezed her shoulder. “Hey, when this is all over maybe we can all move to the south of France.”

  “I’d much rather that Susannah come home where she belongs.”

  They should all be so lucky. Caroline gave her another hug. “Do you feel better now?”

  Christine smiled at her. “Much, much better.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Christine sank into the couch in Jack and Caroline’s apartment. “Are all of our briefings that dry?”

  “Yes,” Natalie said. “At least, they are when I’m in the room.”

  “Why were you there again?” Caroline asked.

  She shrugged. “Dunno. Jack asked so I showed.”

  “Maybe he’s trying to diversify his staff,” Christine said.

  Dammit, he probably was. What a lame effort. “I hope not. If he thinks that putting the two of you in the mix makes up for all the testosterone in the room, he’s wrong.”

  “Good to know we’ll have a few representatives from foreign allies here soon,” Christine said.

  “Miss having all that power up north?” Caroline asked.

  “No.” Christine looked offended. “But they have much better military infrastructure than we do. Should we need to fight, they’re far more likely to accomplish something.”

  Caroline shook her head. “I get the feeling we won’t have to do anything large scale. Santos is too paranoid. Too private. He’s going to do something irrational and we’ll have to respond.”

  “Like launching nukes?” Natalie asked.

  “Bite your tongue.” Caroline pressed her fist into her palm. “We’ve already heard rumors about that. I’m hoping the prospect of mutually assured destruction is keeping him from doing anything stupid.”

  Christine slid her jacket off. “If he’s not acting or thinking rationally, does logic really matter?”

  She didn’t want to sink into that pit. Not when they had so little intelligence about Santos’ day to day behavior. She’d much rather escape for a few hours. Maybe more. Caroline pulled a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen cabinet. “Wanna get drunk?”

  Natalie clapped her hands. “Oh, lets.”

  “Chrissy?”

  “Why not?”

  Caroline found three highball glasses and filled them almost to the top. They sat in the living room sipping the smooth whiskey, their glasses magically refilling again and again. The effect of the hard liquor drove them to laugh like old friends. A key turned in the lock and Caroline straightened up.

  “Shit,” she said.

  “What?” Christine asked.

  Caroline looked at the almost empty bottle. “Uh, this is Jack’s.”

  “What, you have to get permission? Isn’t California a community property…republic?” Natalie asked.

  “Great.” Christine grabbed the bottle. “Should I pour another one while I can?”

  Jack stopped short when he saw the three of them. “Hello there.”

  “Hey, Monty,” Caroline said.

  Natalie frowned at Christine. “What did she just call him?”

  Christine took a sip of whiskey. “I don’t know but it’s definitely something to pursue later.”

  Jack glanced at the coffee table. “Is that my booze you’re drinking?”

  “Didn’t see your name on it, Commander,” Caroline said.

  He chuckled. “I see we’ve had a few already.”

  Caroline saluted him. “Indeed we have, sir.”

  Jack laughed again. “Planning on having a party, or is it just the three of you?”

  “Isn’t three enough?” Christine asked.

  “I see you’ve gotten Christine drunk too.” He turned to Natalie. “I assume you’re not sober either?”

  Natalie tipped her glass at him. “You have good taste.”

  He picked up the bottle. “Almost gone. You ladies have been busy. That briefing ended thirty minutes ago.”

  Caroline rose on shaky legs. “Maybe there’s more.”

  Jack pushed her back down. “Let me, sweetheart.”

  “He’s so considerate,” Caroline said in a stage whisper.

  “He just shoved you onto the couch,” Christine pointed out.

  “He can hear you both,” Natalie said.

  “I don’t care.” Christine polished off the remainder of the first bottle. “I doubt Caroline cares either.”

  Jack returned from the kitchen, placing another bottle of whiskey on the table. “Try not to demolish this one, all right? Take it easy.”

  “We know how to hold our liquor,” Caroline said.

  “Yes. I can tell.”

  His amusement drew stern scrutiny from Christine. She put her drink down. “Governor, there’s something I’ve always wanted to tell you.”

  Dammit. Christine’s tolerance had always been notoriously low, and when she went past the point of sobriety she’d often let her snark slither into stereo. Caroline looked back and forth between the two of them, concerned any heated exchange might bring the evening to a screeching halt. “Chrissy-”

  “It’s fine, Punky. This is-” She took a moment to collect herself, slurring slightly. “Tremendously important.”

  Jack sighed. “What would you like to say, Christine?”

  She lifted her glass up, toasting him. “You have a really, really nice ass.”

  Natalie spit out her remaining whiskey as Caroline tried not to choke on her own drink.

  “Well.” He picked up the full bottle, twisting the cap and refilling her glass. “Thank you for that. Perhaps you should drink more often, Senator.”

  “I just might.”

  Jack ruffled Caroline’s hair, moving behind the couch. He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t stay up too late.”

  “We won’t,” she promised.

  Natalie dabbed at the whiskey on the table. “That was priceless.”

  Caroline grabbed a handful of napkins from the kitchen. “I have to say, that was the last thing I expected you to tell him.”

  Christine took a large sip of her
drink. “You know it’s the truth.”

  Of course she did. “It looks ten times better when he’s in the buff.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  Caroline poured herself another glass. “Should I be worried that both of you are lusting after my husband?”

  “Not hardly,” Christine said huffily. “I appreciate the male form. Thomas had a spectacular rump.”

  Caroline giggled. “Rump? Men aren’t pieces of meat, Chrissy.”

  “Thomas definitely was.”

  “So much objectification,” Natalie said.

  “It’s why she never embraced feminism.”

  “Are you contending that my husband was not easy on the eyes?” Christine asked.

  “Oh, he was,” Caroline agreed. “All those football workouts. We snagged ourselves a couple of tasty men.”

  “A couple of good men,” Christine corrected.

  Christine’s formerly snarky alcohol consumption had transformed to magnanimity. Maybe Caroline would foist booze on her more often. “Whatever you say.”

  “What about you, Natalie?” Christine took the liberty of refilling the younger woman’s glass. “Got a crush on the commander?”

  “I know better than to get on Caroline’s bad side.”

  “You’d have to worry about Chrissy coming after you now, too,” Caroline said. “Although she may join you in your pursuit of…whatever it is you want.”

  “I just like to look,” Christine said.

  “You could do more than look. Go cougar on one of the enlisted men.”

  Christine snorted. “I definitely won’t be doing that.”

  Caroline turned to Natalie. “Did you see Major Ballard making googly eyes at her during this afternoon’s meeting?”

  “Oh, he was not,” Christine scoffed.

  “He was.”

  “I’ve seen him at the gym,” Natalie said. “He’s got nice arms. You should go after him.”

  “Not going to happen,” Christine said.

  “You’re pretty hot, Chrissy. You could totally have a fling.”

  Christine sobered somewhat. “I’m not ready for that. Although it’s nice to know the option is there.”

  Caroline squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll make you a bad girl yet.”

  “You’re not a bad girl, either. You just think you are.”

  She’d have to tell Christine some stories. She’d learn, oh so quickly. “I definitely am.”

  “I bet Jack loves that.”

  “He does.”

  Christine gave Caroline an impish grin. “I’ve got to know. Is Jack really that good?”

  “Whoa.” Natalie laughed. “That was a quick shift.”

  “Oh my God,” Caroline said. “Did you just ask me to tell you about my sex life?”

  Christine took another slug of whiskey. “All these years I’ve been dying to know.”

  “You’re a nosy drunk, aren’t you?” Natalie asked.

  “We’re lucky she hasn’t started throwing things. Usually she’s a pissy drunk,” Caroline said.

  “Not tonight,” Christine asserted. “I want to know all the stuff you’ve been holding back. Free range session.”

  Caroline grinned back at her. “You used to get uncomfortable when I’d try to tell you about our adventures.”

  “Now I want to live vicariously.”

  She wanted to know? Oh, she’d know. “He. Is. Spectacular.” Caroline traced an idle finger around the rim of her glass. “Holy Christ is he amazing. He’s like some sort of savant.”

  Christine finished the rest of her glass before refilling it. “Well,” she said. “Good for you.”

  “Like you didn’t already know the answer.”

  “I suspected. Especially after you two practically had sex in public.”

  “That night at the Fairmont was a fluke,” Caroline said. “I don’t like to share that sort of thing with other people. Not even you. I can talk to you about it but I’m not giving you super intimate details, if you know what I mean.”

  “Get a couple more drinks in you and you might,” Natalie said, giggling.

  “That entire elevator affair was scuzzy,” Christine said. “The media coverage of the video, not the fact that you and Jack did it. It was dreadfully unfair.”

  Caroline smiled. “I’m touched that you’re still so pissed about it.”

  “I will always defend you, Punky.”

  “I was so drunk that night. Came close to doing something that would have gotten one of us charged with indecent exposure.”

  “Yes, Caroline. I know.”

  Of course Chrissy knew. She knew everything. “Do you think everyone else knew too?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s one minor event in the course of your life.” Christine turned to Natalie. “You should have seen how Jack reacted when she covered that awful dye job. I thought he was going to rip her clothes off in front of all of us.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Caroline said.

  “Oh, it was,” Christine insisted. “Honestly, it’s adorable in a weird, somewhat awkward for the rest of humanity kind of way.”

  Caroline frowned at her. “Adorable? I don’t think you’ve ever used that word in your life.”

  Christine downed the rest of her whiskey. “Liquor loosens my tongue.”

  “That’s for damn sure,” Natalie said.

  “For a long time I thought he was just about sex,” Christine said. “But it’s more than that with the two of you, isn’t it?”

  Wasn’t she a nosy little thing. “Are you getting all reflective now?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “At first I thought that was what he was about.” Caroline glanced at the closed bedroom door and lowered her voice. “That was all he was used to, like he didn’t think he deserved anything else. Something changed in him the longer we were together. Things might be better now than they were before, and they were pretty hot in the early stages of our marriage. Aside from the whole fearing for our lives and the country collapsing thing.”

  “You made him that way,” Christine said quietly. “You affect him deeply.”

  “I don’t think it was all me.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was inside him but he needed help finding it.” Christine wrapped her arms around herself. “Tom had the same effect on me.”

  Caroline scooted toward her. Inebriated Christine could still go downhill, depending on how the conversation shifted. “Chrissy, we don’t have to talk about this now.”

  Christine gave her a wobbly smile. “I want to.” She turned to Natalie. “If that’s all right with you.”

  Natalie sat down next to the two of them on the couch. “Fine with me.”

  “It’s funny how other people help shape who we are. Good or bad, that’s what they do. You’d think it would be within us, that we’d develop our personalities independent of the outside world. But so much of it is determined by those who come into our lives.” Christine leaned back against Caroline. “I wish you could have known Tom,” she said to Natalie. “And Nick. Wish you could have met Caroline and me when we were first elected. I’d be curious to see what you thought of us back then.”

  “I assume I would have liked you both,” Natalie said.

  Christine shook her head vigorously. “You wouldn’t have liked me. I was a complete bitch.”

  Caroline wrapped her arms delicately around her shoulders, hugging her from behind. “That first night we met, Nicky told me on the car ride home that she was stone cold.”

  “Did he really?” Christine asked.

  “He changed his opinion rather quickly,” Caroline said. “Mostly because I told him I liked you.”

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me this before?”

  “Didn’t want to tarnish your memory of him.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “How did you two become friends?” Natalie asked.

  Caroline laughed. “I totally stalked her.”

  “You did not,” Natalie said.
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  Christine squeezed one of Caroline’s hands. “She did. I had a feeling about her. I knew she’d help me become a better person. Not have a bigger heart or do good deeds or be more spiritual or esoteric, but help me like myself more. Tom told me to let her in, so I did.”

  “Smart man,” Caroline murmured.

  Christine sniffled. “Sharp as a tack.”

  Caroline leaned forward until they were cheek to cheek. “I really miss him, Chrissy.”

  Christine let out a shaky breath. “I miss him too.”

  “He was a better person than all of us put together,” Caroline said. “I’m not kidding.”

  “I believe you,” Natalie said, patting Christine’s knee. “I think we’re getting too mopey here. Want to watch a movie?”

  Christine straightened, wiping her eyes. “That depends on whether Caroline is looking to have drunken sex with her husband tonight.”

  “Oh, he’s okay with me waking him up later. Go get something totally cheesy. Like Grease or Soapdish or something.”

  Natalie stood up. “Ooh, let’s be Pink Ladies tonight. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Marguerite’s eighteenth birthday celebration was joyful but subdued. Sophie’s fourteenth birthday two months later was equally reserved, mostly because they felt the crush of the inevitable descending upon them. Alliances were forged, details hashed out. The intelligence funneled through their contacts in Washington became increasingly bleak. Each briefing was more depressing and disheartening, and all of them were growing uneasy. Tempers flared, arguments almost came to blows, but Jack and Caroline did their best to repair any rifts among their advisors before closing every meeting.

  The Hague occasionally sent them correspondence, keeping them apprised of the status of their investigation. Indictments had been issued but not unsealed, and Murdock and Edwards would remain in custody until trial. With Santos still at large, the ICC was taking its time, waiting. U.N. officials knew as well as the rebels that he would not go down without a fight.

  Spring drifted into summer. The days got warmer. A few recruits trickled in. The U.N. offered their official support, and would send peacekeepers if necessary. Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom all had resident advisors on the base, with scores of other nations willing to provide weapons or warm bodies if their ranks became depleted. But if that were to happen, it would mean they had sustained heavy casualties. Caroline didn’t want to think about that.