President's Girlfriend 07 - What He Did for Love (8 page)

“Dutch!  Dutch!” Gina cried from upstairs as Dutch jumped to his feet downstairs.  He saw Crader approaching them on a dead run, but he looked at Gina.  All he could think about was her and Little Walt.  Was she and Little Walt okay?  His heart began to pound.

“Dutch, stop him!” Gina screamed just as Crader was lunging at Christian, who had also stood up.  He cold-cocked Christian so hard that the young man’s body flew onto the coffee table, collapsing it, his blond hair flying wildly as he sailed down.

Crader then jumped on top of Christian but Dutch immediately grabbed onto Crader, pulling him back up.  The Secret Service agents suddenly appeared from outside, running toward the scene.

“What’s wrong with you?” Dutch asked angrily as he slung Crader to his feet.  Gina and LaLa were running down the stairs.  Lenora had moved over, toward Dutch.

“Did you fuck my wife?” Crader screamed at Christian.  “Did you fuck my wife, motherfucker?”

“Everything alright in here, sir?” the agent in charge asked Dutch as he surveyed the scene.

“Everything’s fine,” Dutch responded.  “You and your boys can go back out.  Everything’s fine.”

The agent looked over the scene again.  He could overrule the president if he perceived a serious enough threat.  He decided, given Crader’s question to Christian, that it was domestic and that the president had it well in hand.  He wouldn’t intercede, and he did order his men to go back outside.  But because the president was involved, he, as agent-in-charge, refused to leave.

“Answer me!”  Crader yelled at a now bleeding Christian.  “Did you fuck my wife?”

“Yes!” Christian screamed, his rarely displayed anger causing him to turn beet-red.  “Are you satisfied?  Yes!”

And that admittance seemed to take the life out of Crader.  He just stood there as if he couldn’t quite understand what Christian’s response meant.

And then LaLa and Gina arrived, with LaLa rushing to Christian’s aid, helping him to his feet.

“You’re going to run to him?” Crader asked his wife, astounded yet again.  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Let’s walk,” Dutch said to his friend before his anger forced him to do something he may not be able to undo.  Beating on Christian was one thing.  Mixing it up with LaLa would be something altogether different.  And if Dutch had to take sides, he would.  He would be on LaLa’s.

But Crader just stood there.  Staring at his wife assisting another man.  The man she just admitted she slept with.  And it was all a blur to Crader.

Dutch tapped him on his chest.  “Now, Cray,” he said and began heading toward the exit.  Crader stood there a second longer, still staring at LaLa.  Then he backed up and followed Dutch.  The agent, too, left the house.

“Take him to the bathroom, La,” Gina said when she saw that most of Christian’s problem stemmed from a bloody nose.

“I’m alright,” Christian said as he winced at LaLa’s touch.

“You’re not alright,” LaLa said.  “Come on.”  She held his head back as she walked him to the bathroom.

Gina looked at Lenora, the only person left in the room, and smiled.  “I am so sorry about this,” she said.  “This is not normally how we spend our evenings.”

Lenora smiled. “I sure hope not.”

Gina laughed.  And extended her hand.  “I’m Regina Harber.”

“Mrs. Harber,” Lenora said, shaking Gina’s hand.  “It’s an honor to meet you.”

“And you’re---”

“I’m sorry.  I’m Lenora Perry.  Lee Perry.”

“Oh.  Dutch’s financial guru.”

Lenora smiled.  “Something like that, yes, ma’am.”  It was obvious that Dutch hadn’t mentioned that he had invited  her to dinner, which was slightly disconcerting to her.  Usually when a man didn’t mention you, it bode well for you, but awful for his marriage.  “The president invited me earlier today,” she felt a need to explain.  “I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay,” Gina replied, although she would have preferred if he had mentioned it.  And mentioned the fact that this Miss Perry, whom she knew came to see him today, was this drop-dead gorgeous.

“You can have a seat.”

Lenora sat down and for a few minutes all they did was watch Franklin remove the pieces of the broken table.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said to the First Lady as he hoisted the mainframe over his head and walked it away, too. 

“He’s fast,” Lenora said.

“And efficient, yes.  So, tell me, Ms. Perry---”

“Lenora, please.  Or just plain Lee.”

“Lee, it is.  So tell me: how are things over at Harber Industries?”

“Good.  Productive.  Everything is going well.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“I was honored when Dutch asked me to keep an eye on things for him, but I never dreamed how challenging and also gratifying it all would be.”

“Will you stay on when Dutch returns to the helm?”

“That’s entirely up to him.”

Gina nodded.  She spoke with such familiarity.  “So how long have you known the president?”

“Oh, years.  We used to. . . be friends when I was just out of college.”

“So you’re from the Boston area too?”

“I am.  Born and raised.”

“And since H.I. is Boston-based, I take it you flew down for the meeting with Dutch today?”

“I did.”

“And will be returning tomorrow, or later tonight?”

“That’s entirely up to him,” Lenora said again and Gina nodded again.  Although she found that comment especially odd.

CHAPTER SIX

They walked across the grounds in a purposeful lumber.  Dutch and Crader both had their suit coats unbuttoned and both hands in their pants pockets.  With secret service personnel on either end of the huge estate reminding both men of the rarified air in which they traveled, the real night wind was like a breeze of fresh air across their faces.  For Dutch, it was a needed change.  For Crader, who couldn’t for the life of him understand what he had overheard, it was just another breeze.

He looked at Dutch as they walked.  “Did you know about it?” he asked him.

Dutch didn’t immediately answer.  He just kept walking.  “Would it make any difference?” he finally responded.

Crader exhaled and ran his hand through his hair.  “No,” he said.  “No, it wouldn’t.  I mean, Christian, Dutch.  Christian?  She decides to cheat on me with that child?”

“He’s hardly a child, come on.”

“But he’s . . . But he’s . . .”

“Just spit it out, Cray.  But he’s what?”

“But he’s not in our league, okay?  There. I said it.  He’s not in our
got
damn league!  He’s some kid.  Some aide.  He’s a nobody!  And she picks him?”  Then he hesitated.  “What?  Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Christian is an excellent young man---”

“I know that, Dutch. I’m not saying that I’m above him or anything like that.  That’s not what I’m saying.   I’m just calling it like I see it.  And I don’t see it, Dutch.  Not for a second do I see why La would have selected him of all people.  Hell, it would have made more sense to me if she would have told me that you and she. . . ” 

Crader and Dutch exchanged a glance, but kept on walking.

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s not possible.  Maybe we’re all kidding ourselves and it just can’t happen.”

Dutch frowned.  “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about fidelity.  I’m talking about a woman like La doing something like this.”

“Oh, leave it out, Crader!  You already knew she had had a one-night affair with a man.  You told me so yourself.”

“Yeah, with a man, yes, she admitted to me that she messed up one time.  But with Christian?  With a man I offered to hire as one of my assistants?  That’s who she sleeps with?  She’s worse than a whore for doing this to me!”

Dutch suddenly stopped walking.  Crader, at first, continued, until he realized Dutch had stopped.  He stopped, too, and looked back at Dutch.

“That’s how I feel, Dutch.”

“Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were.”

Crader frowned and walked back over to his best friend.  “A fool?  Why am I a fool?  Because I hate the fact that my wife cheated on me?”

“Ah, cut the bullshit, Crader, who do you think you’re talking to?  You cheated on that good lady more times than I can count, and you cheated before, during, and after your marriage!  So don’t you dare stand up here as if you have no sins to atone, because you have plenty, my friend.  And yes you’re a fool if you believe for a second that Loretta King is anything remotely resembling a whore.   All the shit she’s put up with you and you’re calling
her
a whore?  Call her that again,” Dutch warned.

Crader shook his head.  “You’re so above it, aren’t you, Dutch? You’re so over your womanizing ways?  Aren’t you, Dutch?  All those beautiful assistants that used to travel with you to all of those summits and on all of those out-of-town junkets.  All of those gorgeous ladies that you always have to have somewhere at your disposal.  How many of them did you fuck?  Hun, Dutch?  Hun, Mr. Perfect?  How many,
got
dammit?  Was that plump piece on the side you have in your house right now one of them?”  

Dutch stared at Crader.  Tears began to appear in Crader’s flustered eyes.  And he shook his head again.  “I can’t do it,” he said.  “And I’m tired of pretending that I can.  And if LaLa can’t even. . . Yeah, I know, I drove her to it, I know that’s what everybody’s going to say.  My cheating ways caused her to cheat.  But I say that’s bullshit, too!  I say she cheated because she wanted to cheat, just like I wanted to!” 

Crader settled back down.  “That woman in there.  That Lee Perry?  I wanted to fuck her, Dutch.  Just like that.  Just sitting up there talking to her and I wanted to find an empty room and fuck the shit out of her right while my own wife was upstairs with yours!  That’s why I can’t take it.  That’s why the idea that Chris had his limp dick up my wife’s ass is too much, okay?  It’s too damn much!   I do it to her, yes, I do it to her, but I never dreamed she’d. . .” 

He exhaled.  “How would you feel,” he asked, “if it was Gina he fucked?”

Dutch gave Crader an icy gaze.  “Don’t you dare put my wife in this.”

“But how would you feel, that’s all I’m asking?  We fuck up all the time, but we don’t expect our wives to fuck up too!  We married them because we knew they wouldn’t!  But now that LaLa did, what’s the point of the marriage?”

Dutch frowned.  “What’s the point of the marriage?” he asked with incredulity in his voice. “Are you serious?  Are you saying unless she’s perfect and make no mistakes at all then she’s worthy to be your wife?  But if she stumbles, as every human being will, she’s no longer worth it?  Is that what you’re telling me, Crader?”

“I’m just . . . When it was a stranger, some man with no name and no face, it felt different to me.  I didn’t have to deal with it right now.  But now that I know the man, and I know the face, it’s too much.  That’s what I’m telling you.  And I don’t know what I’m going to do about it.”

Dutch continued to stare at Crader.  He was one of the strongest men he’d ever met, but he was also one of the weakest when it came to matters of the heart.  He didn’t know what he wanted.  And at his age, a man in his forties, a man with two babies depending on him, that, to Dutch, was a shame.

“I love La, Dutch.  You know I love her.  But I don’t know how to love her!  I don’t even know why this makes me so angry!  Why am I so angry?”

“Hell if I know,” Dutch freely admitted.  “Because if anybody should understand cheating it’s you and your cheating ass.”

Dutch said this so deadpan that Crader burst into laughter.  Then the laughter died, and concern appeared on his face again.  “I guess I’m wondering how do we go on from here?”  He said this and looked at Dutch.

Dutch felt a pang of anguish for his friend.  “You go,” he said.  “That’s how.  Just as you were going before you knew it was Christian, you keep going now.  Because at the end of the day, you know you have a good woman who made an awful mistake.  A mistake you forgave her for.  Forgiveness, Crader, is still the word that needs to be remembered here.  She forgave you, and you’ve got to forgive her.  That’s how you go on from here.”

“Crader!” LaLa’s voice could be heard in the distance.  “Cray!”

Crader looked toward the sound.  “She’s heading this way,” he said.  Then he frowned.  “Dammit, what does she expect from me?  She slept with Christian!  That’s . . .”

Dutch could detect a sudden light of understanding in Crader’s eyes.  “That’s what?” he asked him.

Crader looked at Dutch as LaLa approached.  “That’s the same kind of shit I used to pull on her, and it’s now biting my ass.  And it hurts like hell.”

As soon as LaLa made her way over the small plateau and was upon them, Dutch could see Crader relax more.

“Didn’t you hear me calling you?” she wanted to know.

“Yes, I heard you,” Crader responded.  “What is it?”

“What do you think it is, Cray?  What was that about?  Why did you attack Christian like that?”

Why did I attack Christian?
Crader almost asked. 
Why did you sleep with Christian
? 

But he didn’t go there.  Because he knew, deep down, that her behavior was the monster that his behavior created.  She wasn’t faultless in this drama, but he wasn’t pure in it, either.

“Let’s go home,” he said to her.  “We need to talk.”

LaLa stared at him.  She wished she could change what she did.  But she couldn’t.  And that was the tragedy of it.  “Okay,” she said.

Dutch and Crader shook hands.  “Thanks,” he said to his best friend as they shook.

Then LaLa approached him.  “Tell Gina I’ll call her later,” she said as she hugged him.  Only her hug lingered.  She even found herself closing her eyes as tears began to appear.  Dutch pulled her tighter in his arms.  Crader looked away, with pain all over his face.  If he would not have slept with Evelyn and produced a child that was almost the same age as his child with LaLa, she would never have needed comfort from Christian.  She would have never cheated on him, never, if he had not hurt her so.  And he knew it.  That was why the pain and guilt was so searing.  What had he done to that good woman?