A Revolutionary Romance
Page 16
“Yup.” He brushed more tunnel debris off his clothes and into his hand. He dumped the handful out the window. “I found a way into the White House.”
“So I gathered,” T.J. said, pulling through the green light and making a right toward the beltway again. “Ham, Lee and I pieced all that together. Of course I didn’t tell them how you knew.”
“We don’t know how I knew,” Jack said. “Anyway, I gave the list and everything with it to the London Times … and another dozen major world newspapers and media outlets. I figured that was the only way to put out the fire.”
“Jack,” T.J. said, “do you know how bloody, goddamn, fucking dangerous that was?”
“Yeah, I do now. I had a bunch of men in black pointing their mighty phallic symbols at me. As soon as I got there, Walker had already heard from the London Times. He let me in. In exchange for my not affirming the stuff in the list is true, and therefore not ruining their lives, marriages, and further political careers, they’re resigning and not throwing me in the hoosgow.”
T.J. slammed his hand against the wheel. “Don’t you ever take a chance like that without me again!”
“Like you’d have let me take that big a chance with you?”
“That was my point.”
“It was too important to gamble on your hindering me, Tommy.”
“Gay marriage, yes, that might have been worth a gamble. Might have been. But, while I’m happy to be rid of the merchants of menace, that wasn’t the goal. I’d much rather have you here and alive. As it is, we can worry about working a deal on gay marriage later.”
“You are forgetting yourself, dear sir,” Jack said.
“What do you mean?”
Jack smiled with a good dose of self-satisfaction. “I am a Constitutional lawyer, as you may recall.”
“As if you’d ever let me forget it,” T.J. said. “How does that apply?”
“Presidential Succession Act, adopted in 1947,” Jack said. “What does it do?”
T.J. nodded. “Okay, I’ll play. It establishes the line of succession to the office of President of the United States if neither a President nor Vice President is able to discharge the powers and duties of the office.”
“You are correct, sir,” Jack said, grinning. “If Miss America cannot fulfill her duties then the first-runner-up will take over her role. But if neither the President or Vee-Pee can fill the post, to whom does the title go?”
“The Speaker of the House, of course,” T.J. said, scowling a little in his direction. “I still don’t get the – ” His eyes flashed open wide. “Oh, my God.”
Jack grinned even wider. “And who is the Speaker of the House?”
“Perry Malone. Holy Mary, Mother of God,” T.J. said, as he quickly swerved toward a curb to stop the car. “Our new President is gay.”
Jack laughed and nodded. “I told you I’d take care of it.”
T.J. stared over at him for a long moment. “I’d kiss you full on the lips, but you’d read too much into it.” He looked at him longer. “Oh, what the hell.”
He leaned over and consumed Jack’s grin in a kiss.
“I love you,” Jack said, as if from the soul of sincerity itself. “See, you didn’t die from the shock.”
“I love you back,” T.J. said. “You accept, don’t you, that you recalled the details about the Lobsterback Pass because of -- ”
“I accept no such thing,” Jack said strongly. “Obviously, I saw a film about it somewhere, at some time. I read a lot of books and saw a lot of documentaries about the founding fathers. Somewhere, in all of that, I gleaned the information.”
T.J. laughed a little sadly. He shook his head. “I guess I can’t expect perfection from you right away.”
“However,” Jack said softly, looking around as if someone else in the car might overhear him. “I have a question. The election of 1800. The whole argument. It was a plot, wasn’t it? A conspiracy between Adams and Jefferson to keep Pinkney and the pro-slavery south out of the Presidency. That’s why John Quincy was able to work so closely with President Jefferson, and why Jefferson’s deeds in office so perfectly fit with Adams’ own. Why they patched things up shortly after Thomas left office.”
T.J. smiled a little. “Read that in a book too?”
“I admit to nothing, as always,” Jack said, as he smiled out at the night. “Come on, let’s get going. I’m starving. And yes, I promise, no restaurants with friendly mascots.”
A few months later
Lee poured their champagne flutes full again. Jack picked his up from the table and handed the other glass to T.J., who leaned against him on the sofa.
Lee lifted his glass to the two men. “My dear friends, thank you for a blessed distraction from election night. And special thanks to Jack for enabling a weekend I thought I would never see, namely the occasion of your blessed union with Thomas. May you have a long and happy life together. And may you always get my own beloved and me as nice an anniversary gift as the wedding gift we got for you. And no, I’m not telling you what it is until you open it tomorrow, but it’s big.”
“Thanks, Lee, we’ll be sure to have it price checked at FriendlyMart,” Jack said, tasting the champagne and smiling favorably.
“You bitch,” Lee said, nudging Jack’s leg with his shoe. “Oh, and speaking of bitches, has anyone checked the election results lately?”
“No, why?” Jack said. “T.J.’s not running.”
“No, silly, but you are,” Lee replied.
Jack drank from his champagne again. “Yeah, which was my point.”
T.J.’s phone rang. He looked at it. “It’s Ham.”
“I shut my phone off,” Jack replied. “He probably wants to convince me to be nice in my concession speech. As if. Tell him I’m asleep or something.”
“Very well,” T.J. said, answering it. “Yes, hello, Ham. No, he’s sleeping, I’m afraid. Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say. I know we’ll be very happy. Oh, really? Yes, I will certainly extend to him your congratulations when he wakes up. You too. Good night.” T.J. hung up the line. “Lee, would you hand me that purple-wrapped package over there on the table?”
T.J.’s secretary conveyed the gift to him. He handed the wrapped package to Jack. “Here is a little wedding gift.”
“We agreed on not exchanging gifts,” Jack said.
“Yes, well, I lied. But this one is special.”
Jack shook it next to his ear. “Uh-oh, it’s ticking, should I be concerned?” he asked, pulling open the ribbon which automatically released the wrapping paper. “This is some magic trick the high end stores do. It must be expensive.”
“It was. And no, in this case, you should be concerned if it doesn’t tick.”
Jack opened the box. In it was a wristwatch. A gold one.
“It’s meant to replace the one you broke that night,” T.J. said gently. “Turn it over.”
Across the back it had been inscribed, ‘this time gold can stay.’
Jack smiled like he might never stop. He lifted the watch and slyly swiped away an escape tear. “This is an amazing gift. Thank you.”
“You’re most welcome, my love. That dispatched with, Ham wanted me to extend his congratulations to you.”
Jack smirked. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to tell anyone about our marriage but Lee and Taneesha for the time being.”
T.J. sipped champagne through his small mischievous smile. “Oh, he wasn’t congratulating you on our marriage. He was congratulating you on your reelection.”
Jack’s eyes grew dark and angry. “Ham should be ashamed. What kind of sick practical joke is that?”
“Not a joke,” T.J. said, trying to repress a grin. “I’m afraid it’s true. I heard Jill Hardesty’s concession speech in the background.”
“But it’s impossible.”
“Evidently not.”
“I demand a recount!” Jack said.
“You can’t demand a recount, love, unless you lose,” T.J. s
aid, losing his war with the giggles. “I’m afraid you must just resign yourself to your destiny. You’ve won. It would seem the majority of your voting constituents don’t hate you after all.”
“But I did everything wrong,” Jack said, as if condemned to a tragic plight.
“Perhaps they found it refreshing?”
“It’s just not fair.”
“I understand,” T.J. said, reaching over to pat his hand and then enclose it in his. “You just must learn to live with it. We all have these little unfortunate successes in life.”
The End
Chapter Last:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melody Clark has been writing professionally since the age of 18. She has authored numerous novels, two non-fiction titles, The Dark Shadows Companion from Pomegranate Press, Ltd and Guide to the Green Hornet by Toltec Press. She lives in southern California with her husband as well as two furbabies popularly known as dogs.