“He’s suggesting I wrap it up. I guess we need to get to the World Trade Center. But I’m not leaving without an answer.”
“Okay, yes.”
“That’s great. I’ll pick you up at six? I’m not sure where you live…”
“And here I thought you knew everything.” Chessa teased him with a gleam in her eyes and he laughed. “I’ll still be here at work.”
The President’s black limousine pulled up at precisely six o’clock in front of Safe Horizon. Only a dozen people worked at the women’s center and, sworn to secrecy by Chessa, they all remained late to watch as the President, Secret Service agents in tow, picked up their famous coworker.
They clapped as he walked in the door. Only a few lucky reporters had caught wind of the secret plan and snapped pictures outside once the President and Chessa Richards exited and climbed into the back of the limo.
They went to a very tiny restaurant which had been cleared of other patrons and reserved just for the two of them. Following an intimate dinner, Leif had the limo take Chessa to her house and he walked her to her door, the bodyguards doing double duty keeping an eye on both of them.
“Thank you for a lovely evening,” Chessa said demurely. She would have liked to have asked him inside for dessert and coffee but knew it would look inappropriate.
“You’re welcome. Can I call you…and see you again soon?”
“Yes…and yes.”
Leif kissed her on the cheek, a shot that was captured by some lurking photographers and displayed prominently in the news the next day.
Chessa’s heart thudded in her chest as she sipped her coffee and read the news online the next morning. Wait until Amy sees this, she thought with a smile.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind then her cell phone rang.
“I can’t believe it!” Amy was nearly shouting. “You’ve been holding out on me again!”
“I take it you saw the news this morning.”
“Only on every single network, in every major newspaper and on every online news source. You sure do have a thing for powerful men don’t you?”
Chessa knew Amy was teasing but she took her question to heart for a moment.
Maybe I do, she thought. Maybe that’s not a good thing. Perhaps it had to do with her parents getting divorced, or her father not being there for her much as a child and leaving when she was twelve. Maybe I’ve been looking for a father figure. After all, although the age difference was not as vast as it had been with Darren, Leif was still several years older. Perhaps she was just blindly ambitious to make a difference in the world. Or maybe it’s my destiny. God has a plan, she reminded herself.
And then her phone rang again, relieving her of her overactive mind.
It was Leif. He asked her if he could see her again the coming weekend.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Winter arrived, colder and harsher than usual in the Mideast states.
President Mitchell was cooped up that next January at Camp David to work with a few staff members on preparing his State of the Union address.
Leif asked Chessa to join him at the camp after he and his advisors were finished their work, and had one of his most trusted drivers bring her to the camp that Saturday afternoon. The presidential retreat was heavily shielded by woods, guarded by armed security guards and could not even be found on a map, so they would have complete privacy.
With its stone retreat house, acres of woods and surrounding mountains, Camp David was beautiful in any season but it held a special magic in winter, especially after a snowfall. Chessa gasped in delight as they drove up to the entrance. Snow had clung to the branches of the trees, making the scene before her look like a picture postcard.
Even the Secret Service agents took a break that evening, leaving the President and his new girlfriend to enjoy a candlelit dinner that had been prepared ahead of time by the White House chefs.
After dinner, they sat side by side on the overstuffed couch in front of the lodge’s fireplace, enjoying the warm glow of a roaring wood fire that Leif himself had started.
They had agreed Chessa could spend the night in one of the many guest suites and they would return home separately the next day, he to Washington DC, she to New York City.
Leif got up to stoke the fire as Chessa smiled contentedly.
Instead of sitting back down next to her though, Leif knelt on the big bear rug before her.
“They say behind every great man is a great woman,” he said, looking boyish for a moment despite the fact he was the president of the United States. “And I know of no greater woman in all of the world who I’d rather have behind me—no, beside me—on this wild and crazy journey I’m on.” Chessa blushed as he took her hands in his. “Chessa, I knew from the moment I saw you ride up to me on that horse, hair flying and eyes wild with delight, that you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And I don’t want to waste a minute more not being with you. I love you.” Leif reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He held the box out toward her, and opened it. Inside was a ring bearing a rose-colored diamond cut in the shape of a budding rose. Chessa felt her heart leap and time stand still.
“Chessa Reynolds, will you marry me?”
Her eyes blurred with tears, but she could still see the sincerity and love shining in his. She didn’t trust her voice, which stuck in her throat, so she blinked away her tears and nodded as he put the ring on her finger.
He got back up on the sofa next to her and kissed her tenderly, with abandon, sealing their fate in that kiss with all of the wondrous facets of a love God meant for them to share.
Chessa decided she wanted to convert to Catholicism and marry Leif in the Catholic Church. He hadn’t asked her to convert; rather, she had decided she wanted to share in his faith, and if they had children, to bring them up in that faith together.
So she began the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process and would become Catholic that following Easter at the Vigil Mass. Then they could hopefully get married.
But first, they had to wait to see if Leif would be granted an annulment by the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. Since he had been married to Wendy Greene, he had to ask the Catholic Church to annul the marriage, or declare it to be null and void—as in, it never should have taken place. According to his Catholic faith, based on the teachings of Jesus, marriage was considered a lifelong commitment before the eyes of God that could not be dissolved through divorce, though it could be annulled if invalidly entered into. An annulment would allow Leif to marry Chessa, not only lawfully, but sacramentally.
The ensuing year went by quickly. Of course Leif was busy from morning until night running the country.
And Chessa kept just as busy at her new job at Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States headquartered in Baltimore. She had moved into a luxury apartment in downtown DC across the street from the Metro station so she could take a commuter train to work and back. More importantly, it was located just two blocks from the White House so she could see Leif on some weeknights and weekends. Since he was the president, she realized she needed to revolve around his schedule if she wanted to see him at least once a week.
The more she learned about Catholic Relief Services, the more she was amazed at how far-reaching their programs were. She discovered that the agency, founded in 1943 by the US bishops, employed five thousand and provided assistance to 130 million people in more than ninety countries and territories in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, helping victims of war, natural disasters, poverty, disease, social injustice, ethnic conflict, and abuse.
Because she was poised to possibly become the First Lady, Chessa became a spokesperson for the organization and began flying out to its satellite offices to see their services firsthand and help where needed. She had set up a two-year tour schedule to eventually visit Bosnia and Serbia in Europe, Kenya, Uganda, a
nd the Sudan in Africa, Afghanistan and Indonesia in Asia, Guatemala, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic in South America, and Egypt, Jerusalem, and Iraq in the Middle East.
Often Chessa was moved beyond tears seeing those sick and suffering with AIDS, children dying of malnutrition, people who had lost loved ones to violent murders, and young women who were victims of rape, torture, and abuse.
But she realized she was finally serving God’s purpose for her life, and while she was often exhausted emotionally, physically, and mentally during and after these trips, she could sleep at night knowing that, having been blessed with so many riches, she was giving back in some small way to a weary world.
Chessa started with a campaign to help young women who were victims of human egg trafficking, and she had helped Leif draft federal legislation that would illegalize the practice of human egg harvesting in the United States and toughen once again the laws governing stem cell research.
She hadn’t intentionally sought out to focus on this issue, but, she believed, God had not relinquished her from it. There are no coincidences in God’s world, she knew now.
Almost a year after Leif had proposed, he received a letter in the mail from the Archdiocesan Tribunal stating he had been granted an annulment of his marriage to Wendy Greene.
Chessa and Leif had prepared for their wedding, having faith that God hadn’t brought them this far not to see them through. Once they received the good news, the only thing left for Chessa to do was send out invitations.
Needless to say, Stephanie was the only member of the Richards family invited to the wedding. And Jordan was the only representative of the Greene family.
Through extensive therapy, Wendy Greene had eventually healed emotionally, psychologically, and physically. She had moved back home with her parents to their new house in their native Savannah, Georgia, where the weather was usually warm and days seemed to move a bit more slowly there than the rest of the world.
For a short time, the defeated yet still energetic Martin Greene made the rounds like other ex-presidents, being paid handsomely at first to give speeches and make appearances to various organizations across the country. But after several months of harping on the same subject during those speeches—namely that his son-in-law had been his undoing and that he, Martin Greene, should have stayed in office, a subject no one really wanted to hear—he was increasingly seen as a disillusioned, bitter old man and was invited less and less to speak until, eventually, he was not invited at all.
Martin had regressed, his old resentments toward Leif resurfacing. But he was older and had no power anymore. So he, his wife and their youngest daughter mostly stayed home on their plantation-style grounds, and Martin took up writing a book about all of the trials his ex-son-in-law had brought upon him. Meanwhile Carol hosted various book and bridge clubs and other such socials for her friends, and Wendy worked at the local insurance agency.
Jordan visited his family occasionally, about once every two or three months, having reconciled with his father and forgiven him for all he had done to his best friend, although his visits were normally kept very short. Jordan had to always get back to work with the administration.
When he learned of his father’s book, coming across part of the manuscript on one of his visits—a part that depicted Leif as a deceitful, backstabbing son-in-law out to take the “kingdom” from his father—Jordan’s trips became fewer and further between.
No other members of the Greene or Richards families were in attendance at the wedding. Martin and Carol Greene had respectfully declined their invitation in deference to their daughter Wendy, while Donald, Dorothy, and Deborah Richards weren’t invited.
Nor were they missed, as Leif and Chessa had many obligations to fill when it came to the guest list. The pews of the massive church were filled with dignitaries from around the world, resplendent in their native garb including Israeli Prime Minister Abel Rozen and his family, ambassadors, soldiers dressed in military uniform, the president’s staff and cabinet, Chessa’s coworkers and many friends the couple had gained. Selected members of Congress and the media rounded out those invited, while members of the general public who managed to camp out for the remaining general seating filled the back dozen pews that weren’t reserved.
Approximately three thousand people filled “America’s Catholic Church,” the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, that first Saturday in April. Leif and Chessa had chosen the date because it was during the predicted “peak season” of DC’s famous cherry blossoms. Thousands more spilled out onto the grounds outside where Jumbotrons were set up to show the proceedings. And millions more watched the Mass from the comfort of their living rooms.
Chessa was naturally a little nervous; she would be walking the same steps traveled by innumerable holy people including Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.
The towering Byzantine-Romanesque architecture, stained-glass windows, and mosaics of the largest Catholic Church in America were adorned further with thousands of red, white and blue roses.
The wedding was set for four p.m.; Leif and Chessa had also invited seven hundred guests to a reception gala immediately following in the Atrium at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, a magnificent glass-enclosed ballroom featuring a contemporary grand staircase, marble floors, and a magnificent skylight soaring to 125 feet.
Chessa had asked both Amy and Stephanie to be her attendants, and Leif had asked Jordan and Logan to stand up for him. All had gladly accepted.
Amy and Stephanie kept Chessa relaxed prior to the wedding, although Amy had a hard time remaining calm herself as the three girls worked on last-minute touches to their hair and makeup in Chessa’s apartment while the limousine waited to take them to the church.
“Whoever thought in a million years that my college roommate would be marrying the president of the United States?” Amy nervously chattered away, making Chessa laugh despite her own nervousness. “And that I’d be in the wedding! I mean, this is bigger than any Disney fairy tale movie…bigger than the Academy Awards…bigger than…well, I can’t think of anything that tops this!”
“You’re doing a really good job of calming me down, you know,” Chessa said sarcastically. “Stephanie, can you shut her up?”
“That’s beyond my control.” Stephanie sprayed Chessa’s hair, telling her to close her eyes, count to ten, take deep breaths, and pray.
“Great, now I have one of you totally out of control and the other talking Al-Anon program to me.”
“I can’t believe all of his brothers are already married. You’d think God would have saved one for me.” Amy frowned at her reflection in the mirror, smoothing her dress.
Chessa laughed. “I forgot it’s all about you.”
Amy stuck out her tongue at her friend, and Chessa did the same back to her.
“Now, children, if you can’t behave, I’ll have to sit you in separate corners.” Stephanie clucked her tongue, pretending to keep them in line. “I for one am grateful just to be part of it all. And I absolutely love my dress.”
The three of them, now ready, looked at themselves in the full-length mirror they’d set up in Chessa’s bedroom. Amy and Stephanie were dressed in floor-length satin gowns that were a shade of pink slightly darker than that of the cherry blossoms they would carry, with burgundy sashes and shoes dyed to match.
Chessa was dressed in a flowing creamy satin gown with a beaded brocade bodice and stunning lace train.
She chose to wear her hair down around her shoulders with waves cascading from a beaded tiara. Chessa had never felt more beautiful and fought to hold back tears, thinking, I don’t deserve all this happiness.
“Yes, you do.” Stephanie replied to Chessa’s words, which she hadn’t even realized she’d whispered out loud. “Now don’t start crying, you’ll ruin your makeup. Plus, it’s time to go.”
The whole world watched as Chessa strode elegantly down the aisle, following Amy and Stephanie to a string qua
rtet playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” When her eyes finally found Leif’s, she could see he was fighting back tears and saw him mouth the words, “I love you.”
Making love to Leif that night was an act so totally opposite to that which Chessa had become accustomed to with Darren that she felt like she was experiencing it for the first time.
Leif was gentle, reverent of her body and her soul. He didn’t like to drink, believing it clouded his judgment and took away from experiencing the wonders of God, of life—and especially something as wondrous as love.
After the reception, they managed to sneak out a back door to a waiting limo, which took them to Air Force One, on standby to fly them to an undisclosed location on Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, where they planned to honeymoon for five days before President Mitchell needed to return to his affairs of state.
If heaven could be found on earth, Chessa thought, lying in her husband’s arms in a hammock on the white sand beach and gazing out into water a shade of indescribable blue, it would be here.
Their time was all too short, but they would remember forever their days on the island, spent swimming, sunning, snorkeling, laughing, talking, dreaming, caressing, and loving.
And they thanked God together each morning and night for all the blessings He had bestowed upon them.
Epilogue
May had arrived, and with it, the Kentucky Derby. Lil’ Phil wasn’t the favorite to win the Derby. He wasn’t the long shot either, but rather, his odds fell in the middle of the pack of three-year-olds running for the roses at Churchill Downs that mild spring Saturday evening.
He had grown strong and beautiful with a dark-red coat and a white marking on his muzzle inherited from his sire, Phillip’s Pride, the colt borne of Little Sally and named after the man who had saved his life.
While he didn’t win, Phillip’s Pride had run a good race in the Derby several years ago, finishing sixth. He had also gone on to win several other purse races throughout the country before being put out to stud at Little River. Now it was his son’s turn.
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