Election Day

by J. A. Armstrong

  Candace chuckled. She pulled away slightly and placed a kiss on Jameson’s cheek. “Is that your politically correct way of telling me I look like shit?”

  “Nope.”

  Candace raised her brow.

  “You can fool the masses, Candace; you don’t fool me.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  The door opened and David walked back into the room. “Sorry,” he apologized, feeling a sense of intrusion.

  Candace pulled her focus to her brother. “Don’t be. Jameson was just letting me know I look like shit.”

  Jameson rolled her eyes. Already at it.

  “I’ve seen you look worse,” David teased.

  Candace laughed genuinely. “Thanks.”

  “Are you going to be okay coming back here this afternoon?” he asked.

  Candace sighed. “No,” she admitted. “Are you?”

  “Not really,” he said. He handed Jameson and Candace each a cup of coffee from the tray he carried. “Carol called while I was downstairs. The kids are here.”

  Candace peeled back the lid on her cup and took a sip. “We need to talk about arrangements.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “Why don’t you let me take care of that?”

  Candace nodded. “We can have the reception at the house.”

  “Candy, you don’t have to do that. You’ve been on the go for months. We’ll just get a banquet room.”

  Candace shook her head. “No. Who feels comfortable in a banquet room? Other than Mom?”

  David laughed. “Are you sure?”

  Candace nodded again.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Jameson offered.

  Candace opened her mouth to protest.

  “I will take care of it,” Jameson repeated. She looked at David. “I’m sure Pearl will help.”

  “I’d count on it,” he said. “Are you going to head back to Schoharie?”

  “No,” Jameson answered before Candace had the chance. “The kids will meet us at the Governor’s Mansion. It’s closer. In fact…” She looked at Candace. “I took the liberty of getting some food delivered later. It’ll be there whenever—well, whenever anyone needs a break from this place or when…”

  David smiled. “Thanks, JD. I’m going to head home. See you in a few hours?”

  Candace made her way to David and hugged him. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too,” he said. “See you in a bit. Take your time, Candy.”

  “Promise.”

  “I mean it,” he said. “Don’t rush back here. We’ll wait for you.”

  Candace watched her brother leave and sighed.

  “Candace,” Jameson stood and placed her hands on Candace’s hips.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Sure you are.”

  “I am.” Candace turned in Jameson’s arms. “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jameson said.

  “I know you are. I am too. I’m okay. At least, I will be.”

  “Let’s go home so you can sleep for a bit.”

  Candace cupped Jameson’s face in her hands. “I’m not sure that’s in the cards for me.”

  “I figured as much. Mom should be there with Coop by now.”

  Candace smiled. You always know what I need. “Thank you.”

  “It’s what I do.”

  Candace laughed and took Jameson’s hand. “Get me out of here.”

  “At your service.”

  “You really are a lunatic; you know that?”

  Jameson shrugged. If it makes you smile.

  ***

  “Is Mom here yet?” Jonah asked Marianne.

  “Nice to see you too,” Marianne teased.

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Marianne said. She handed her daughter a sippy-cup of juice and directed Jonah to have a seat. “Where’s Laura?”

  “In the other room with Grandma and Maureen.”

  “They commandeered that baby, huh?” Marianne guessed.

  Jonah grinned.

  “Figures. Want some coffee?”

  “Have any beer?” Jonah asked.

  “At ten in the morning?”

  “Why not?”

  “You okay?” Marianne wondered.

  “Worried about Mom.”

  “JD called about half an hour ago. I’d guess that they’ll be here any minute.”

  “How is she?”

  “JD?”

  “Mom!”

  Marianne smiled. “I didn’t talk to her. I’m sure she’s exhausted. They drove through the night to get to the hospital.”

  “This sucks,” he groaned.

  “Yeah, it does.” Marianne handed her brother a beer. His eyes widened. “What? You’re of age.”

  “You seem to be taking this well,” he noted.

  Marianne took a seat across from her brother. “What can I do?” she asked rhetorically. “Grandma hasn’t been well for years, Jonah. I guess—if I’m honest—I see this as a blessing.”

  “I guess. I just wonder how Mom is. I mean, Grandma was never all that nice to her.”

  “One thing I have learned over the last few years, don’t be too sure you know what exists between two people, no matter what you think you know or who they are to you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means exactly what I said. We all view people through our relationship with them to some degree. Grandma is who she is. Mom is who she is. That doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.”

  “Your sister’s right,” Pearl’s voice agreed as she stepped into the room. “Drinking already?”

  Jonah shrugged.

  “Don’t worry so much about your mother,” Pearl advised. “Just be there for her.”

  “How do we do that?” Jonah said.

  “Same way you always do, I’d imagine.”

  “You mean keep our crap off her plate,” he guessed.

  “Nope. I mean just the opposite.”

  “Huh?” Jonah looked at Pearl as though she’d lost her mind.

  Marianne snickered.

  “I mean just what I said—just be you. That’s what your mother needs more than anything right now. Everything else is changing around her. You fools are the consistency in her life—craziness and all.”

  “What about you?” Jonah asked.

  “Takes a crazy person to run this asylum as your mother would say.”

  “Yes, I would,” Candace agreed as she walked in through the back door. “And, I learned from the best.”

  Marianne immediately reached her feet. She embraced Candace. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

  “I know you are,” Candace said.

  “Sneaking in the back?” Pearl teased.

  “Something like that,” Candace admitted.

  “Where’s JD?” Jonah asked.

  “She’s outside talking to Scott,” Candace answered. “He pulled in behind us.”

  Jonah nodded and looked down at the beer between his hands.

  Candace met Marianne and Pearl’s gazes without comment. Both understood the silent request.

  “I think I’ll go find Coop. I know he’s been waiting for you,” Marianne said.

  “I’ll go with you,” Pearl offered. “God only knows what those two boys are into up there.”

  “Let’s just hope they haven’t made any modifications to the upstairs in the last hour,” Marianne laughed.

  Candace waited until she and Jonah were alone and took the seat Marianne had vacated. “Jonah?”

  “I’m sorry, Mom.”

  “I know you are. We all are.”

  Jonah sighed.

  “Jonah?”

  “I just don’t get it,” he said.

  “What’s that?” Candace wondered.

  “Why this shit has to happen just when things are going great.”

  Candace smiled at her son. “I think it just feels that way sometimes.”

  “Feels that wa
y a lot if you ask me.”

  “I guess it does. It’s just life, sweetheart. I wish it wasn’t.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  Candace nodded.

  “Grandma… I mean, she was always kind of—I don’t know—mean to you?”

  “Mean? Oh, I don’t think Grandma was mean to me.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No,” Candace replied honestly. “And, she was never mean to you.”

  “No,” Jonah agreed. “But she wasn’t like Grandma Pearl.”

  “Not at all.” Candace chuckled. “But I’ll bet you have some fond memories of her.”

  Jonah thought for a minute. “She used to tell Marianne and Shell to stop behaving like monkeys and act like ladies.” Jonah laughed. “Then, once? She made Shell put on this pink dress to go to church when you and Dad were away. That pissed Shell off.”

  “I’ll bet it did.”

  Jonah laughed at the memory and then grew quiet. “She used to sneak us cookies when you weren’t around.”

  Candace’s brow arched. “Did she?”

  “Yeah. Macaroons.”

  Candace laughed. Well, well, Mom, you are full of surprises.

  “She said you hated them.”

  “I never hated them.” Candace kept laughing. “She loved them. I swear, if it hadn’t been for Pearl the only dessert we ever would have had were those damn macaroons. Ask your Uncle David if you don’t believe me. He hated them—still does to this day.”

  “I love them.”

  Candace watched Jonah closely. Her mother had always gravitated to Jonah. Jonah was quiet. He was also patient and he excelled at listening. It hadn’t been a frequent occurrence that Candace’s children spent alone time with her parents. Most of the time when Candace traveled, Pearl had stepped in and stayed with the kids. There had been a few times that Candace’s father and mother had taken the three for a long weekend. Candace had never heard any of them speak about those times with either affection nor with antipathy. She wondered as she listened to Jonah if they had avoided discussion with her because of how they perceived her feelings for her mother.

  “I never knew you loved macaroons,” Candace commented.

  “Yeah. Grandma used to let me eat them in bed.”

  Candace’s laughter filled the room. Jonah looked at her in astonishment.

  “She did,” Jonah said. “She would read Curious George to me and she said the closest thing she had to a coconut was a cookie. I never really got that.”

  Candace kept laughing. Jonah’s innocent admission filled her heart in ways she was sure she could never hope to explain. Every person had layers. Candace knew that. She sometimes lost sight of that fact where her mother was concerned. “Thank you,” she said as she took Jonah’s hand.

  “What is going on in here?” Jameson inquired. Scott followed her through the door. Jameson looked at the beer on the table. “Are you getting your mother drunk already?” she asked Jonah.

  “What? No!” he answered.

  Candace fell into another fit of laughter.

  “Mommy!” Cooper ran into the room.

  “Speaking of monkeys,” Candace said.

  “I’m not a monkey!” Cooper giggled. He climbed into Candace’s lap.

  “You sure about that?” Marianne asked.

  “Nana!” Spencer flew to Candace’s side and hoisted himself into the chair beside her.

  “Two monkeys,” Candace teased.

  “Yeah, just like Marianne and Shell,” Jonah agreed.

  “I am positive I don’t want to know what you are talking about,” Marianne said. “Where is my sister anyway?”

  “Probably practicing pumping her breast—or both,” Jonah guessed.

  Marianne and Candace both laughed. Michelle had been obsessing over the notion of breast pumping for months. Marianne understood that her sister’s antics stemmed from nervousness, but she couldn’t help that the obsession amused her. “Wouldn’t surprise me. She keeps going this way, those things will run dry before she delivers.”

  Candace burst out laughing at the blush that crept up Jameson’s cheeks.

  “Not so sorry you missed all that with me now, huh?” Candace whispered to Jameson.

  Marianne decided to step in and save Jameson. “Personally, I love that Jonah and Shell will have double diaper duty and I’ll be free,” Marianne said.

  “Yeah, well, just remember you’ll be in them sooner than either of us,” Shell’s voice echoed as she entered the room.

  Jameson rolled her eyes. “Welcome home,” she said to Candace.

  Candace pulled Cooper to her and kissed his head. Lunatics.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Hi, JD.”

  “Dana. Why do I think this isn’t a social call?”

  Dana shook her head regretfully.

  Jameson sighed. “She’s had enough today. Can’t this wait?”

  “I’m sorry, JD. It can’t—not this.”

  Jameson ran her hand over her face with frustration. By the time everyone had said their goodbyes at the hospital it had been approaching 7:00 P.M. Two hours later, Marjorie Stratton had quietly passed away with Candace and her brothers at her side. Now, everyone had descended on the Governor’s residence. It was nearly 11:00 P.M. and Jameson still could not see the end of the day arriving anytime soon. Candace was running on sheer will. Jameson took some solace in the notion that Candace needed to be surrounded by the people she loved. Dana counted in that equation. Unfortunately, Jameson knew that Dana’s visit regarded something more than condolences and friendship.

  “Now? Dana, can’t it wait until morning?”

  Dana shook her head.

  Candace caught sight of Jameson closing the door behind Dana and ushering her in.

  “What’s that about?” Michelle asked.

  Candace smiled. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

  “I’m worried about you,” Michelle said.

  “Don’t be. You should go home and get some sleep,” Candace advised.

  “Do I look that bad?”

  “No,” Candace chuckled. “You look tired, Shell. Have Mel take you home and get your feet up. It’s been a long day for you.”

  “Yeah, well, they seem to get longer by the day.” Michelle rubbed her belly.

  “It happens. Go on. I’ll call you in the morning.”

  “Mom, we can stay.”

  “Go,” Candace ordered. She kissed Michelle on the cheek and made her way to Dana and Jameson.

  “Dana.”

  “I’m sorry to intrude,” Dana apologized.

  “You’re never an intrusion.”

  “You might want to hold that thought until later,” Dana said.

  Candace winked. “Come on; I could use a diversion.”

  “You might want to hold that one too.”

  Candace led Dana out of the room and toward her office. She closed the door behind them and directed Dana to sit. “Okay, let’s hear the dire news.”

  “It’s not dire. It’s just… I tried, Candy.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “The story about Klein and Rusnac is running tomorrow.”

  Candace nodded her understanding.

  “That’s all? You don’t have anything to say?”

  “We both knew this was inevitable.”

  Dana pursed her lips. “I tried, Candy. I know Laura is…”

  “Laura knows.”

  Dana was shocked. “Laura knows about her father and Rusnac?”

  “She knows that the story is going to run at some point.”

  “I didn’t think you…”

  “I sat down with her and Jonah before I left for Pennsylvania.”

  “You knew it was going to run.”

  “No. I’m not surprised, though.”

  “What do you want me to do? And, Candy? This time they have a classified FBI report. The timing of this—not just the campaign. There are already calls for you to testify. You know there will be assertions
that you leaked it.”

  “I would think so.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Let it run like the wind.”

  “What?”

  “Keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

  “Are you serious? Don’t you want to know who leaked this? And, why now?” Dana questioned.

  Candace reached into the cabinet behind her desk. She retrieved a bottle of scotch and two glasses. She continued the task of pouring scotch into the glasses without comment. She walked to Dana, handed her a glass and took a seat on the edge of the large wooden desk. “You look like you could use that,” she said. She sipped from her glass and set it aside.

  “I don’t understand why you’re not more concerned,” Dana admitted.

  “I never said I wasn’t concerned. You asked me if I want to know who leaked this new FBI document. I do.”

  “I also asked why now?”

  “What do you think?” Candace challenged.

  “Glenn thinks it’s to compromise the campaign or maybe to get a favor from either you or Wolfe down the line.”

  Candace grinned. “He would.” She picked up her glass, took another sip and set it down again. “I didn’t ask what Glenn thinks. I asked what you think.”

  “I’m not sure. The timing? Candy, besides taking the wind out of your sails after last night, you know they are probably going to call you to testify in front of the Intelligence Committee.”

  “No probably about that.” Candace stood and began to pace the room to gather her thoughts. She took a deep breath and turned back to Dana. “Why now? You’re thinking like Glenn and Doug. Not everything is about this campaign.”

  “You don’t think this is about influencing the election?”

  “I’m sure that would be a bonus for some people. But which people, Dana? This story doesn’t do anything but fan the flames of our most ardent supporters and detractors. Wolfe’s will say this is an assault on Klein by me and my surrogates to discredit them all and strip funding. Mine will say this proves that Klein and the entire crowd he runs with are corrupt hypocrites. It’s nothing new.”

  “Okay, but people on the fence about either of you…”

  “How many people do you suppose that is?” Candace challenged. She shook her head. “The ones who are undecided now? They’re not the ones reading these stories, Dana. Will it have an impact on the campaign? Everything does. Why now?”