“Good Afternoon, Roz. I hope you are feeling better today?” Peter asks. I notice that he doesn’t look well at all. It looks as though he has aged overnight and hasn’t slept since I last saw him.
“I am; thank you. I hope you are all well.” Everyone just smiles tightly back.
“The reason why we called you back in today is because after much debate and thinking, we have re-voted and come to a different conclusion.” This perks me right up until I thought that he may be talking about lifting the ban.
“You mean you aren’t lifting the ban?” I ask, worried.
“No, the ban will still be lifted; however, it is a known fact that I have been ready to retire for some time now. We have had a hard time finding and keeping a replacement long enough for them to vow in so that I can retire. I had a few of the Council members approach me with the question of my vote. Would it have been different if I wasn’t so tired and ready to retire? If I was young again and had more in me, I’m pretty sure I would be on board with your plan. But it’s going to cause a huge uprooting of all we've ever known and with it, problems will arise that frankly I’m too old to deal with. However, when age starts becoming an issue on voting, it is past time for another Council member to take my place. So as my last contribution to this Council, I am changing my vote to a yes.”
I can’t believe what I am hearing. He is passing the vote. That means I can start changing United America to make it united again! But who is going to take his place? There can’t only be nine members, can there? And who talked him into retiring? I look over at Samuel and see him watching me with a smug grin on his face. I should have known.
“Once you step down, will there only be nine or do you have someone in training?”
“Unfortunately, finding Council members is very difficult and when we do, the training process is long, so no, we don’t have someone in training coming up. We do, however, have a new replacement.” He uses the intercom to call who I’m assuming is his assistant.
“Please send Mr. Vaughn in right away.”
Vaughn? Why on earth will they be bringing him back? If he was such a bad President, why would they possibly be bring him on Council? Being a Council member must be so much more demanding than even President is. Good lord, if they are doing this all to pass my Act, it is crazy. I open my mouth to say so when Mr. Vaughn walks in, but not Conner Vaughn. This man looks somewhat familiar but I have never seen him before. He has short, close cut black hair, and he is wearing a nice suit. I am completely confused until he turns to face me and locks his deep brown eyes to mine. Dex.
“Roz, this is Dexter Vaughn.”
“Dexter VAUGHN, as in the President’s son!?”
Peter has mistaken me for being upset probably thinking that I think being the President’s son is negative because it makes him like his father and not because Dexter Vaughn is a lying rat. He couldn’t have told me last night? He should have at least given me a heads’ up!
“I assure you that he has been thoroughly trained and is ready for this step. He is nothing like is father and he will be a great addition to this team. It has taken a lot of convincing but we are very happy to have him back. He has also been living in the O.C. for the last few years so he will be a great asset for your new adventure,” Peter informs me.
“I bet.” I can feel Dex’s eyes burning a hole through me, but I refuse to look at him. How can he set me up like this and not tell me that he was going to accept the Council’s offer? I have to get out of here.
“Thank you so much Peter for letting me know and for passing the Act. I am looking forward to bringing Unity to our country again. Also, thank you for doing what is best for the country. I’d like to see you again, but I really must go. Forgive me for being rude.”
I quickly stand up and run out of the room. I don’t take time to look back and I curse my short legs when Dex catches up with me quickly that I haven’t even made it to the corner when he grabs my arm. “Roz, wait, let me explain.”
“Explain? What is there to explain, Dexter Vaughn? That you are a liar?” He looks like I slapped him in the face. I wish I had.
“Roz, I never lied to you. Everything I ever told you was the truth. I might have left off my last name or who my father was, but I never once lied to you.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me, Dex?”
"I have no good memories of him, Roz. Everything he has ever done has been out of selfishness and pride. He killed my mother and he abandoned Grace. You wanted to know how I got these scars, Roz? Well, I will tell you. He pushed my mother until she couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t take the neglect, the impossible expectations, the accusations. He actually accused her of having an affair with Samuel and said he wouldn’t claim Grace as his own since I was such a big baby and looked exactly like him, but Grace was blonde and so tiny and frail. He actually said that he wished Grace and my mother would have died in birth. So she killed herself, Roz. She was obedient, even in death. She gave something to Grace to make her fall asleep and then she lit the house on fire. I jumped through a window to save Grace, and that’s how I got the scar on my face. The ones on my back were from when I went back in to get my mother, but I was too late. She was already gone. I don’t talk about it, but I never meant to lie to you.”
I am openly crying now, for everything he has been through, for poor wonderful Grace whose father and mother never wanted her and tried to kill her, and for Dex who has fought for her. But who's ever fought for him? I hug him now as tight as I can. I know it is impossible, but I have to try to absorb some of his pain.
“I’m sorry, Dex. I didn’t mean to get so angry; I just felt so deceived when you didn’t tell me and I had to find out this way. You cut your hair, and you are wearing a suit, I didn’t even recognize you. Why didn’t you tell me?” He gives me a shy smile.
“I wasn’t expecting Peter to announce it today, I swear. After spending a few days with you and seeing how happy Grace was and how well she fit in, I knew I could solve both of your problems by accepting the job. If I accepted, I knew Peter would agree to the vote, and you would get your chance to change the country, and Grace would be here with two people who love her.”
“But why didn’t you try finding Ed first? Surely, Samuel would have told you?”
Sadness washes over his face again. “I asked about him, but he’s not doing well, Roz. They gave him only a few weeks to live and that was a month ago. Samuel said he’s in the last stage of cancer and he couldn’t put him through this, not now. That’s probably what Amira was going to do, but she’s right, Samuel would have stepped down over it. This was the only way.”
“And you did it for me?” I can’t believe it. After all his talk about never coming back to the Ministry and leaving his ghosts behind, he did it all anyway.
“I did it for us. I did it for you, Grace and I,” he answers with a warm smile.
“Where is Grace?”
“Aspen took her for me. I think they are down by the pond by now or getting ice cream or something for a while until I can break away and find her a nanny and get her signed up for school.”
“You know Aspen?” He had lived here before and they are around the same age. I guess with him training for the Council and her training to work with the Council, they may have met, but there is something he isn’t telling me. I can tell by his face that there is more to it.
“Yes, I know her. We sort of…dated for a while.”
Ding, ding, ding! That would be it! He’s got to be kidding me. Supermodel gorgeous, funny, amazing Aspen? THAT Aspen? Of course they dated. I must have groaned out loud.
“You have nothing to worry about, Roz. We broke up a while ago,” he assures me.
After all, he has just told me about his mom. I know I am being ridiculous but honestly, I’m sick of always feeling like the last to know everything. And I may be the President and getting ready to completely change America, but I’m still a sixteen-year-old girl who has just found out that her boyfrien
d’s ex-girlfriend just so happens to be perfect in every way. Maybe they only dated for a few weeks when they were younger; I guess that wouldn’t be too bad. I need to stop jumping to conclusions.
“How long were you together? When did you break up?” He starts looking uncomfortable and nervous again. This can’t be good.
“We dated a little over three years, and um…well, we obviously broke up when I left.”
“WHAT? Three years? Three years, Dex? And you broke up when you left or you just left and assumed she knew that you are over?” His non-response pretty much gives me his answer.
“And now she is happily doing you a favor, and you don’t think she just assumes that now that you’re back, you are back together as well? Does anyone even know we are together? Are we even together?” Nothing. Silence.
After several minutes he finally sighs and says, "Roz you know how much you mean to me, obviously it's a lot after what I just did to be here with you. Nothing has changed as far as me not being good enough for you though."
What? Is he insane? He does all this so we can be together but doesn't want to be together? I can't deal with his brand of crazy right now!
“I have to get out of here. I can’t do this right now,” I tell him.
And just like that, I have gotten everything I have been working so hard for in my career in less than an hour. In that same hour, I also just had my personal life take a major hit. I realize now why Wesley is so smart to put relationships on the back burner. We are so young and there is plenty of time for romance when I’m older. It’s time to leave the drama behind and prioritize now that I have a country to re-build.
###
About the Author
Jaci Wheeler is an Up and Coming Author in the Young Adult Genre. Her combination of believable worldly scenarios and relatable characters make her a must read.
She has several other projects in the works and is relentlessly researching and writing.
Jaci is a very active advocate for Autism Awareness in her local community as both of her children are affected. She resides in the San Joaquin Valley of California and loves the fact that travelling 75 minutes can take you to the ocean or the mountains.
She loves to receive feedback and comments from readers and is known to randomly select reviewers on Amazon to win special prizes.
Other books by this author
Search Amazon to find these books, as well as the Kindle versions, by Jaci Wheeler:
The United Trilogy:
United
Divided
Aligned (Coming This Fall)
Connect with Jaci Wheeler
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Divided (The United Trilogy Book 2) Page 18