Dutch went back into the bathroom to discard the cloth. When he returned he lifted Gina into his arms, pulled back the covers, and put them both to bed.
He pulled Gina into his arms and just held her there. They were face to face, and he kissed her nose.
“What have I missed while I was gone?” he asked, looking at her hair and running his fingers through it.
“Not much,” Gina said after little thought. “I’m volunteering now over at a community center and Marcus is helping me.”
“Really?”
“He’s surprisingly good at it, too. The people love him. They see him as one of them. They see me as the president’s wife.”
Dutch smiled. “Good. Because that’s exactly what you are. You’re mine.”
“I’m also Gina from the block. As in Block by Block Raiders? Remember BBR? Hell, I used to work with gang bangers, drug dealers, prostitutes, you name it. The good people from that center would cringe if they knew the clientele I used to serve. Now all they see is this dainty little First Lady. Dutch Harber’s wife.”
Dutch stared at her. He always suspected that being his wife had taken a toll on Gina. “Do you ever feel as though you’ve lost something of yourself since being married to me?”
“Being married to you, Dutch Harber, no. Being married to Walter Dutch Harber, the President of the United States, yes. Of course. I’m walking in your shadow right now. And you cast a mighty big shadow.” Gina smiled. Dutch just continued to stare at her. “It’s temporary. That’s why I’ve been thinking.”
Dutch lifted on one elbow, the side of his face resting on his fist. “Go on,” he said.
“When you’re no longer president, and we’re private citizens again, have you thought about a place for us to live?”
“I told you about those properties I own across the globe.”
“Yes, I know about those. And they all sound brilliant. But . . .”
“I also know,” Dutch continued slowly, “that I’m a product of Nantucket, but you’re a Newark kind of gal.”
Gina smiled. “Right,” she said, amazed that he realized where she was going with this. She continued to stare at him, praying he would take it to the conclusion she was hoping for.
“That’s why,” he went on, slowly, “I thought we might start looking at some properties in the Newark area. To have a home there.”
“Oh, Dutch!” Gina said as she lunged into his arms. He pulled her over, on top of him. “You don’t mind?”
Dutch began running his fingers through Gina’s hair again. He loved the feel of her scalp. He loved her hair short and bouncy. “Why would I mind?” he asked her.
“Because,” Gina said as if it was obvious, “Newark is great, it’s a wonderful place, but it’s no Nantucket or Kennebunkport or any of those ritzy kind of places.”
Dutch laughed. He began rubbing her ass. “Understood.”
“But you’ll be willing to live there, to make a city that still has its share of issues your main home?”
“Absolutely. It’s your home. You love Newark. I never even liked Nantucket.”
“Really?”
“Really. I was born and raised on that Island, lived the good life there, but it never felt like home to me. I’ve never felt at home anywhere, to tell you the truth, not even here in DC, until you became a part of my life here. So why would I want to go back to Nantucket? No. Newark is your home, you love the place, so it’s going to become me and Walt’s home too.”
Gina stared at him with that sincere look he loved. “Thank-you,” she said heartfelt.
“I’ll get our attorneys to quietly arrange for a realtor to begin coordinating potential properties there. We may have to have something built.”
“That’ll be fine by me,” Gina said, getting excited by the possibilities. “I truly cannot wait until your term in office is over. Our real life will begin then.”
Dutch smiled. “Oh, so this life we’re living now is just what? The dress rehearsal?”
“Exactly that,” Gina said with a smile of her own. “When we get to Newark, me, you, and Little Walt, we are going to set that town on fire!”
Dutch laughed. Then the telephone began ringing. Gina looked at the nightstand.
“If it’s not the Red Phone,” Dutch said half joking, “we’re not home.”
Gina, however, was concerned. It was after two in the morning and was their direct line. She answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Let me speak to my daddy,” Jade’s voice bellowed out.
Gina was, at first, taken aback by her rudeness. Not that she was surprised by it. She wasn’t. That therapist Dutch had forced her to go and see last year had told her that she would be Jade’s natural enemy. Not for anything Gina would ever do to Jade. But because of Gina’s position in Dutch’s life. Jade didn’t know her father while she was growing up. Now she was overcompensating for his affections.
But it was three o’clock in the morning. Even affection-starved Jade wouldn’t phone this time of morning unless something serious had happened. Gina handed the phone to Dutch.
“Who?” he asked before he would take it.
“Your daughter,” Gina said.
Dutch was still peeved by the interruption, but he answered the phone. “What is it, Jade?” he asked her.
“Daddy, you’ve got to come over!” Jade insisted.
“And why do I need to do that?”
“It’s mom.”
“Sam?” he said, now concerned. Gina looked at him.
“Yes!” Jade said. “She’s acting so weird! She’s screaming and seeing people that’s not there and I don’t know what to do! You’ve got to come!”
Dutch’s heart began to pound. “I’m on my way,” he said, Jade voiced her appreciation, and then he hung up the phone.
“What’s the matter?” Gina asked as she moved off of him. He began to get out of bed.
“It’s Sam,” he said. “Jade says she’s behaving strangely.”
Gina frowned. “But Sam’s in South Carolina. How would Jade know how she’s behaving?”
“She’s here,” Dutch said as he headed for the walk-in closet, his tight ass making Gina long to squeeze it again. “She’s staying with Jade and Chris for a little while.”
“Really?” Gina asked, astounded. She was sitting up in bed now. “Since when?”
“She came to see me in Finland,” Dutch said from the closet, as he grabbed a pair of jeans off of the hangar and began to put them on.
“Finland?” Gina was saying. “Sam was in Helsinki with you?”
It was only then did Dutch realize his error. He hadn’t mentioned Sam to Gina. He peered out of the closet and looked at her. “She came yesterday. She needed to talk to me.”
This sounded incredulous to Gina. “So instead of waiting for you to come back to the States, she decides to hop a plane to Finland just to talk to you?”
“Probably more Jade’s decision than hers, but yes.” Then he stared at Gina. “Come slip on some clothes,” he said. “I want you to come with me.”
Gina wasn’t at all sure if she wanted to come with him, but she got out of bed anyway. Gina always inwardly felt that if anyone had the capacity to steal Dutch away from her, it would be Samantha Redding. She was odd as hell, sometimes off-the-chain odd. What woman, Gina often wondered, would give up a lucrative medical practice to open a struggling bookstore? And the way she was so gun-ho about Henry Osgood’s relationship with Jade when she knew that man was emotionally abusing her daughter, made her just plain weird in Gina’s book.
But Dutch still had a soft spot for Sam. She raised their daughter alone, being threatened by Dutch’s powerful mother to get rid of the child. Sam didn’t get rid of the unborn child, but she told Dutch that she had had an abortion. When he found out the truth some twenty-three years after that lie was told to him, he never recovered from it. He didn’t blame Sam. She was fighting for her life against forces she was rightly fearful of. He blamed his now decease
d mother. And, it seemed to Gina, he felt as responsible for Sam as he did for Jade.
Gina began putting on her clothes. Sam Redding. She was worrisome to her on many levels. And it had nothing to do with her gorgeousness, although she was drop-dead gorgeous. But she mainly worried Gina because, of all the other women Dutch had ever had in his life, only Sam, like Gina, shared that bond of procreation with him. Only Sam, like Gina, could carry that special mantle of being Dutch Harber’s baby mama.
CHAPTER FOUR
Christian, Jade, and Marcus were in the living room by the time the dark SUV pulled into the home’s garage and Dutch and Gina, under full Secret Service protection, stepped out. The door leading into the home from the garage was designated as the Secret Service entrance and was never to be locked, was opened by an agent and Dutch and Gina entered the mud room that led into the home’s living area.
As soon as they entered the living area, Jade broke away from the two men and ran to her father. Dutch pulled her into his arms.
“Thanks so much for coming,” she said to him.
“You okay?” he asked her, rubbing her hair.
Jade nodded her head. “I’m better now that you’re here,” she said. She glanced at Gina, who, like her father, was dressed in jeans and a jersey. “Oh, hello,” she said to Gina, putting on a smile. “I didn’t think you’d come too.” Jade, in fact, was counting on Gina not coming.
Gina figured as much by her reaction. “Yes, I came,” Gina said, refusing to play any games with anyone this time of morning.
Dutch had his arm around Jade’s waist, but he was extending his hand. “Hello, Chris, Marcus,” he said as the two men approached and they shook his hand.
Marcus and Dutch didn’t get along, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them. They themselves never so much as mentioned it, and were always cordial toward the other. But Dutch had taken the measure of the man after he helped to get him released from that Texas prison. And he didn’t like what he saw. Gina was angry with him, but he made it clear that Marcus could not stay at the White House with his wife and son.
Marcus, of course, insisted that Dutch was prejudiced against him. He believed that it was because of his background as a reformed drug dealer and the fact that he had been in prison for murder, even though he was wrongfully accused, that had Dutch so put-off by him. He was reformed, and had cleaned up his act years ago, but Dutch seemed unconvinced.
But for Dutch it went far deeper than that. He believed in redemption as well as any man. It wasn’t a question of that. But he was taking no chances with his wife and young son. Gina didn’t know Marcus Rance to be offering up any character assurances. She’d only seen him a few times in her entire life by the time he was released from prison. No way was Dutch allowing this virtual stranger, a stranger who may or may not be reformed, to stay under the same roof as his wife and child. Especially as often as he was out of town. He even protested Marcus staying with Jade and Christian. But they were grown and they insisted. They, in fact, moved him right into their DC home despite Dutch’s verbalized misgivings. And now, against Dutch’s advice, they had Sam with them, too.
“Hello, sir,” Christian said. “Hello, Mrs. Harber.”
“Hi, Christian,” Gina said with a smile. “Hey, Mark.”
“What’s up?” Marcus said. Although he faulted both of them for kicking him out of the White House and making him feel like tossed-out garbage, he knew he had to stay on good terms with his sister. When it all came down to where the rubber meets the road, Gina, even he understood, was all he had.
“Where’s Samantha?” Dutch asked.
“In the bedroom,” Jade said. “It was scary, Daddy.”
“She’s still in a state?” he asked. Christian knew she was never really in any state to begin with, but he didn’t know how to say it without setting Jade off.
“It was so scary,” Jade said again.
Dutch kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be back,” he said as he headed down the hall. Jade immediately moved to follow him, but Christian grabbed her arm. “Let your Dad handle it,” he said.
“It’s my mother, Christian,” Jade snapped, snatching her arm away from him. “What are you talking about?”
“Jade,” Marcus said in that deep, cool delivery of his. Jade looked at him. He shook his head, his attractive face revealing nothing. But it revealed enough, because Jade backed off. Christian looked at Gina, to see if somebody else saw the influence Marcus was beginning to have on Jade. Apparently she did because Gina, he noticed, was staring at Marcus.
Dutch walked down the hall to the second of the two small guest rooms. As soon as he entered the open door, he saw Sam. She was standing at the window, her back to the door, in a pair of sheer pajamas. Dutch walked to her.
“Hello, Sam,” he said to avoid scaring her.
But when she turned her small body toward him, and he saw the confusion, the pain, the anxiety on her face, his heart plunged. Poor Sam, he wanted to say, but knew she would hate him if he did.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, surprised to see the president standing there.
She looked more like Jade’s sister than her mother, it seemed to him, as she stood there in her skimpy bed wear. “Our daughter gave me a call,” he said.
“I don’t know why Jade does that,” Sam said. “I told her I was fine. I just have rough nights sometimes. I woke up talking to myself from some dream and she blows it all out of proportion. She knows I have nights like this sometimes.”
Dutch was now standing beside her at the window. He leaned against the frame. “You weren’t seeing people?” he asked.
Sam turned slightly sideways, her braless breasts jiggling. Dutch looked back into her face. She smiled. “I was joking with her. I told her I saw dead people, yes, I told her that. But I also told her that she was going to be one of those dead people I saw if she didn’t get out of this room and leave me alone.”
Dutch would have smiled. But he was concerned about Jade. “And she knew you were joking?”
“Of course she knew! She knows how disagreeable I can be when she makes a fuss. I hate that with a passion.”
That sounded exactly like Sam. “Understood,” he said.
Then she turned again slightly, and one of her sizeable breasts almost spilled out over her top. “And here you come running. You have really spoiled her, you know that?”
Dutch looked slightly alarmed. “Spoiled her? Me? I wouldn’t think so.”
“You don’t have to think so. It’s a fact. Jade has you wrapped right around her little finger.”
Dutch didn’t know what to say to that.
“Anyway,” Sam said, “how are you? You look tired.”
“I’m okay.”
“That wife of yours treating you right?”
Dutch remembered just how right Gina had treated him not that long ago. “Yes,” he said.
“Good,” Sam said. Then she smiled. “You’re a good guy, you know that?”
Dutch stared at her. He’d had his issues with Sam in the past, especially the way she seemed so enamored with Jade’s ex-boyfriend, that asshole Henry Osgood. But he always had this romantic view of Sam as odd, yes, disagreeably so. But a good woman in the end. “You’re a good girl,” he said.
Sam smiled. “My compliment sounded like a statement,” she said. “Yours sounded like a question.”
Dutch laughed, and then placed his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. He liked her.
Gina walked down the hall and stood at the door just as he pulled her against him. They seemed to be laughing at some joke. They seemed to be old friends from way back sharing an innocent joke.
Close old friends.
Jade walked gingerly up the hall behind Gina. When she peered past her into the room and saw her father with his arm around her mother’s waist, and she saw that Gina saw the affection her parents were demonstrating, she smiled grandly. This was what she was talking about, she wanted to shout.
When Gina turned her way, realizing she was behind her, that smile of Jade’s, that grand, conniving smile, was gone.
Later that same morning, Dutch woke up far later than his usual early rise. He knew it was Gina. She had undoubtedly refused to allow any wake-up calls given his exhaustion. Which he appreciated. But it was a new day and world events weren’t about to stop churning because he was tired. He sat on the side of the bed, completely naked and still heavily sleepy, picked up the phone, and checked in with Allison.
Overnight there had been a crisis in Iran, she said, with violent protests erupting there that may require some covert resistance support by the U.S.. The Secretary of Defense was requesting an emergency meeting of the principals, and Dutch agreed. “Within the hour,” he said, and hung up the phone.
He dragged himself out of bed, brushed his teeth, showered his body, and shaved his face. With his groomer’s assistance he was soon dressed immaculately in a double-breasted suit, and his hair was freshly cut and styled, not a strand out of place.
He stood in the mirror and stared at himself. Even though he was hardly some young stud, he was still being voted, year in and year out, as the sexiest politician in Washington, with Crader McKenzie always close behind. But Dutch was beginning to feel his age, and the burdens of all those years of edge-living behind him. Now he wanted the quiet life, with his wife and his children. No more lights, cameras, or action for him.
But Gina was right, he thought with a smile. Don’t turn on the light, she once told him, and then complain when it gets too bright.
And just thinking about Gina, and the way they made love not all that many hours ago, began to give him yet another hard on. And just like that he wanted to taste her again. Which was amazing. But he craved her whenever she wasn’t in his sight. Sometimes, late at night, he’d wake up with his fingers deep inside of her. And more than once Gina jokingly said that her clit was going to frizzle up into nothingness if he didn’t stop fondling it so much.
DUTCH AND GINA: THE SINS OF THE FATHERS Page 5
