Scandalous: The Senator's Secret Bride (18 page)

“She made your favorite,” my dad said, patting me on the back. “Thought you might like it after you had some meat loaf and green beans. Canned ‘em this summer from the garden. She’s had ‘em cookin with some fresh sausage.” I laughed. My mom had gone all out and cooked a dinner with two meats.

“What’s the occasion?” My father sat my bag down in the hall and looked at me, taking me by the shoulders.

“She said you needed to be fed. And that you were home because you had some wonderful news that the TV would make into something not so wonderful.” Heat pricked at my eyes, and the tears rolled down my cheeks.
 

“Daddy, I’m sorry—”

“Hush, Sonia. Life happens, and ain’t nothin’ you can do to prevent it. We’re just so damn glad you’re ours. So pretty and so smart. Just so funny too. But you never needed much of anything. You always did it on your own. Your mama said there’d be a day you needed us, and well, I didn’t believe her. You still might not. But we’re right here.” He drew me into a hug, and I clutched him hard, sobbing against his shirt. My mom walked into the living room where we stood, my sobs loud and relentless. I felt her cool hand against my neck.
 

“We have a feast for you. Got all your favorite things. I have blueberries frozen from the spring, and we’ve got apples. So many apples.” She lifted my hair and leaned up to kiss my cheek. “Come now, no tears.” I reached out my arm and pulled her in to me.
 

I was far away from my big home in the city now, and it was love that had pulled me back here. And it was love that would sustain us, the little family that would be mine. Love would pull me and my baby through as I gave in and let my life be redesigned, as I imagined everything all over again. My mom and dad ushered me over to the dining room table, laid out with immaculately prepared food for a decadent midday feast. My tears turned to laughter as I took the first few bites and my parents joined me at the table.

“I never thought food could taste this good,” I said, the salted green beans bursting with flavor in my mouth.
 

“It’ll get even better ‘fore it’s all over with, Sonia,” my mom said, looking at my father and catching his eye. My father cleared his throat.

“Sonia, your mama said you have some news for us, like I said.” I took a sip of sweet tea and swallowed slowly, nodding.
 

“Mama, I guess you already told Daddy.” She nodded. “But he’d like to hear it.” I looked back and forth between the two of them. My father already had tears in his eyes.
 

“Mom, Dad... It’s not quite the way I would have wanted it to happen. And it’s not quite the way I meant for it to happen... but I’m having a baby. And I’m raising her. Maybe here, even.” I looked between the two of them and took a bite of meat loaf, grateful that I was finally able to sit down, to say it all, without shame, without fear. Without scandal following me at every turn. My mom put her hand on mine and took it in hers.

“Well, you weren’t ever much of one for doing things someone else’s way, Sonia,” she said.

“Guess not.”
 

“Whatever way you do it,” my father added, “You’ll be a wonderful mother.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I ate my meat loaf as my parents chatted on, each of them carefully avoiding the subject of John. After lunch, exhaustion took me over, and I went back to my childhood bedroom, throwing my bags on the old braided rug. Several of the pictures I’d painted in high school still hung on the wall by the door, placed alongside my diplomas from the University of Virginia.
 

“And to think, they’re still proud of me.” I looked at the bag that contained my laptop and phone. “Hell naw,” I said. “Not now.” A great weariness washed over me and I fell back into the twin bed I’d used as a little girl. I pulled the covers over me and stared at the wall until I fell asleep, finally resting after two months of anguish and anxiety.

Halloween, 2016

Eight Days until Election Day

I rolled over in my childhood bed and opened my eyes, bleary and full of sleep. The sunlight filtered in through the canted blinds, casting lines over the braided rug. I stretched and reached for my phone, clicking it on to see eleven phone calls from John and just as many from Kelly. It was eleven in the morning—I hadn’t slept that late in years. I put my phone back on the bedside table and turned back to the wall.

“Y’all can wait til I’m awake. And then
maybe
I’ll text you back. I quit my job, remember?” I closed my eyes again and buried my head in the pillow. My parents’ voices drifted down the hallway. My father’s voice was hushed.

“I know she told us not to look, Annette. But I did. We couldn’t stay away from this news forever...” His voice trailed off, and I heard my mother sigh.
 

“Honey, please don’t even show me. I can’t bear it for her.”
 

“It’s worse than it was. The first stories just say she’s pregnant and that’s why they were married in secret.”

“Herb, stop—”

“Annette, honey. Our friends, the church. Everyone will know, and everyone is going to be talking about it. Look, it says here that there’s proof he paid her off to leave. Says there are multiple deposits to her account, and some proof that that John man was having her followed.”

“Herbert—stop it right now!” My mother shouted. But my father kept on.

“And it says no one even knows where she is. ‘Foul play expected.’ What does that even mean? Do they think that man hurt her?” My heart pounded, whooshing in my ears. I bit my lip and pulled the covers over my head. I wanted to will it all to go away. I was so stupid—
we
were all so stupid—to think that Janice couldn’t do worse than she already had. I wished my parents could make it better, make it all go away. I sat up, my body heavy and tired. I sighed and put my face in my hands, my head swimming.
 

There was a soft knock at the door. “Sonia? Honey?” I could see the shadow of my mother’s feet reflected across the hardwoods.
 

“I heard, Mom. I heard. I’ll... I’ll come out later. I’m not feeling so great.”

“Sonia, you need to let that man know where you are.”

“He made his bed. He can lie in it now.” I sank back into the soft cotton sheets, my body desperate for the warmth, the comfort. For once, I wasn’t going to jump up and handle this situation for everyone. The press would eventually find me, yes. And it would be murder for John’s campaign. But if he wasn’t willing to step up and say to the world that we married for more than money, for more than secrecy... well, I wasn’t willing to help him out. Not this time.

Under the covers, I rested my hand on the growing bump. Soon, I would feel her moving. And already, she was the only thing in my life that held purpose. John was hot and cold, running to me and then retreating as fast as he could. I wouldn’t subject my child to a father like that—and I wouldn’t subject her to a mother who fell for any kind of bullshit. The media, Janice’s cruel attacks on my character... it was all just noise. The only thing that was real was the life inside of me.
 

The future was uncertain. But I knew, for the first time, that the future held a love far greater than anything I’d ever hoped or imagined. I held that bright and beautiful thought in my mind, wrapping myself in it like a cocoon. John hadn’t given me many favors, but I had this one.

“Jessie,” I whispered. I drifted back into sleep and dreamed of the girl with the golden-brown hair.
 

***

“Sonia. Sonia, wake up. You’ve been in this bed since you got here. You haven’t even opened your laptop. Baby, I’m worried about you.” My mother sat down on the bed and put a soft, cool hand to my cheek. I picked up my phone and checked the time. I’d been in bed for two days, getting up only to go to the bathroom and eat the sandwiches my mother had left at the door.

“Mama, I don’t have anything to do. No homework. No school.” She laughed and brushed my curls behind my ear.
 

“Honey, there’s a lot going on, and you’ve got to face it sooner or later.”

“I don’t want to. For the first time in my life, can’t I let someone else deal with it?” I buried my face in the pillow.

“I wish you could. It’s a mess, Sonia Bug. But it’s not just you now. You made a commitment.”
 

“That marriage was a lie, Mom.” I looked up at her, her warm brown eyes meeting mine.
 

“I wasn’t talking about the marriage, baby.” She put her hand on the tiny bump. “It’s about this little boy or girl who will need to know that you stood up for her daddy, even if he was acting like a fool. There’s probably no saving this election, but you can sit up, put some clothes on, and act like the lady you are.
Show
them that’s who you are.”

“Mama, I can’t. It’s too much.” I pulled her hand into mine. “Just let me go back to sleep, please. Just let me.”
 

“I can’t
make
you do anything, Sonia. You’re a grown woman. I’m just telling you what I think you
should
do.” My mother patted my hand and stood. I heard her footfalls across the floor, then the door closing behind her. I slid out of bed.

“Why’s she always gotta be so right?” I pulled on a pair of yoga pants and put my hair into a messy bun. My curls needed some attention, but they would have to wait. I picked up my phone and turned it on, then dialed out.
 

“Darling? Where in God’s name are you?”
 

“I’m in North Carolina, Kelly. I went home.”
 

“That’s where I thought you might be, darling. But the media won’t have any of it. The Post called your parents, and the phone is off the hook. Some people are concocting some sort of story with you disappearing at the center. Janice got ahold of your bank account and—”

“I know. I haven’t even looked at it. I’ve been asleep for the past twenty-four hours. We underestimated how much she could do, didn’t we?”
 

“Yes darling. We underestimated her... and we underestimated how interested the American people might be in all of this. Greg was this enthralling mystery, and now he’s even more interesting. First the girlfriend—that Sabrina woman is even talking to the press, saying that she supports Janice for Senator, telling everyone that John proposed and left her in the dust. I think Janice
hired
her, darling. And then there’s the secret bride, hidden pregnancy, disappearing wife. So very scandalous, the lot of it. It’s all anyone can talk about. I’m so sorry, darling.”

“I quit the campaign, Kell. I just want to lie low here and have this baby in peace.”

“Good luck with that darling. I think it might be better if you get away from your parents’ place. The media has likely found out exactly where your parents live. I’ll be surprised if they don’t show up soon.”

“I know. I’ll deal. Maybe after the election, after John loses...”

“That’s the thing, darling. Janice is still down in the polls, even after all of this. And God knows Maisy doesn’t look good for a win. John could still
win
, my love. If only I had you at my side, like the good old days.”

“The pregnant, disappearing wife? I don’t think I’d get much done.” I paused. “I’m keeping the baby, Kelly.”

“Your ‘John’ might want to know that.”

“Is... he okay?”

“Don’t know darling. He ran off this morning without a word. I have an inkling that he’s desperately trying to find you. That man... It’s like all the wind had been knocked out of him. He’s positively wild about you, my dear. You’re both fools, you know. You should have acknowledged it ages ago. You know that, don’t you?”

“I don’t know, Kell. He was... horrible when the pictures came out. Said it was all an ‘arrangement.’”

“He’s afraid. And yes, he was horrible. He doesn’t deserve someone like you, and I should have seen that at the beginning. You know you lash out at people you love the most…”

“Right, well, I’m not sure. I think he loves the campaign a whole lot more than he loves me. I’ll figure out a way to let the world know I’m alive. And I’ll work on the money piece. Is there a way to prove that Janice did it?”

“Working on it presently, darling. I’ll speak to you soon, yes?”

“Of course.” I heard a click on the other end and then a car pulling up in the driveway. I went to the window and peered out. A news van came to a halt in front of the garage. My father ambled up to the man and pointed to the street. The van backed up, parking on the street by my parents’ driveway. I walked out of my room and greeted Daddy at the door.
 

“What’s this all about?” I rubbed my eyes. A blast of cool air came into the house as the door closed behind my father.
 

“People looking for you. We had to take the phone off the hook.”

“I’m causing all kinds of trouble, aren’t I?” My father drew me into a hug.
 

“It’ll all die down, Sonia. I promise you that. But I’m pleased as punch to see you up and out of bed, sweetheart.”

“Had to get up sometime.”

“I guess so. I’ll put out some lunch for you, if you like if you want to wash up.” I nodded and hugged him tight again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another news van pull up at the end of the street. My mother pulled the curtains closed on the bay windows that looked out to the road.
 

***

After I’d showered, I put on a gray maxi skirt and a blue t-shirt. For someone with my expanding proportions, it would have to do the moment. I had crossed into thirteen weeks pregnant, and my body took up more and more space in the world. I sat down at my old desk and opened my laptop for the first time since I’d arrived in North Carolina.
 

“Three hundred and twenty-six unread messages. Fantastic.” I took a deep breath. “Woosah, girl. We can do this.” I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment before opening my browser. “Alright, Bank of America. Whatcha got for me?” My eyes widened. In the savings account, I saw a longer number than I ever had--Janice had somehow gotten two million dollars and moved it into my account from John’s. And just like my parents had said, there were multiple deposits, dating back into August. How was that even
possible
?