THE PRESIDENT 2 (9 page)

“Were you in love with her?”

Dutch shook his head.
 
“No.”

Gina frowned.
 
“I still don’t understand.
 
Why are you so concerned if it was nothing to you?”

“It was something to me; I’m not saying it wasn’t.
 
It was mainly a sex thing, but I also cared for her.”

“But I still don’t see why this old news is bothering you.
 
What are you not telling me?”

Dutch exhaled.
 
“She could pose some difficulty for me.”

“But how?
 
Because you used to bang her?”

“Because I used to bang her even after she was married.”

This stopped Gina cold.
 
She stared at Dutch.
 
Dutch knew there was nothing he could say to sugarcoat a truth like that, so he remained silent.
 

Gina looked back down at the board, remaining silent too.
 
What in the world, she sometimes wondered since marrying Dutch, had she gotten herself into?
 
She knew Dutch used to have that playboy thing going.
 
Wham Bam Harber, after all, used to be his nickname.
 
But somehow she thought he would have been more honorable than that.
 
Sleep around, yes, she knew he did that, but why a man with his obvious gifts in the bedroom would need to sleep with a married woman?
 
The only answer, that he couldn’t get enough of that particular woman, troubled her.
 
And now he wanted her to meet this woman?
 
What kind of town was this, she wondered.

“Regina,” Dutch started but Gina immediately moved her Rook on the chess board.
 
It was the wrong move, even she knew that, but at least, she thought with a kind of nervous sadness, she made a move.
 

“Honey, listen to me.
 
Please.”

Gina reluctantly looked at him.
 

“It was a terrible mistake,” he said, “and we both knew it was.”

“A mistake?”

“Yes,” Dutch said.

“No,” Gina insisted.
 
“Spilling a drink on the carpet is a mistake.
 
Forgetting to say I’m sorry when you bump into somebody is a mistake.
 
Sleeping with another man’s wife is no mistake, Dutch.
 
You knew what you were doing.”

“I didn’t know she had gotten married initially.”

“So when you found out,” Gina asked pointblank, “did you then call it off?”

“No,” Dutch had to admit.
 
“Not right away.”

“Why, Dutch?”

“Because we were already involved.”

“Then why did she marry somebody else if y’all were so tight?”

“Because she’s a shameless gold-digger and she knew I wasn’t going to let her dig into any of my gold.
 
All right?”

Gina looked so flustered that Dutch wanted to pull her into his arms.
 
But she stood up before he got the chance.
 

“Gina,” he said as he reached for her arm.
 
But she pulled away from him.

“Gina,” he called again.
 

“I’m all right, Dutch.
 
I just need, I’m just going to go to bed,” she said, leaving as she said it.
 

And Dutch watched her as she sashayed out of the billiards room, her entire body seeming to sag before his very eyes; sag with the weight of being his wife.
 

And because of it, because of his part in her pain, he didn’t try to stop her.
 
He let her go.

FOUR

It was a tough night all around.
 
Dutch had to spend most of it in the Situation Room with his national security team, while Gina retired to the bedroom and stayed there.
 
She was so emotionally drained, so unsure what to make of Dutch’s “confession” that she just wanted to sleep it off.
 
It was one thing when the press accused her husband of being a womanizer, but it was something entirely different when he confessed that he was.
 

It happened before she became his woman, and she understood that.
 
It wasn’t about that for her.
 
What concerned her was the fact that he would continue to fool around with a woman after she had married somebody else, and this woman would let him continue to bang her, was what Gina couldn’t get over.
 
For this woman to continue their illicit affair after she was newly married, meant that she either didn’t give a damn about her new billionaire husband, or that she had some mighty strong feelings for Dutch.
 

And although Dutch insisted it was just a sex thing for him, he also admitted that he cared for the woman.
 
And now he wanted her to meet this woman?
 
She fell asleep thinking about that, and wondering if there was more to this story than Dutch was letting on.

She, in fact, wouldn’t see her husband again until that following night, just before the meeting was to take place.
 
He slept in the guest room because he had stayed so late in the Situation Room, and by morning, when she did wake up, he had already gone to the Oval Office to begin his jam-packed day.
 
Now it was evening again and she was relaxing with LaLa and Demps in the East Sitting Hall of the second floor residence.
 
Christian was there too, but he was mostly on his Blackberry.
 
Although she didn’t share with them what Dutch had shared with her, they could tell that something mighty was bothering her.

“I’m okay,” she insisted.
 
“Just a little tired I think.”

LaLa looked at her friend.
 
She’d known Gina too long to believe that.
 
“Yeah, and I’m Beyonce.
 
What’s going on, kid?”

“She said she was just tired, LaLa,” Demps said.
 
“I don’t know why you’re trying to make a federal case out of it.”

“I know G, that’s why.
 
And I know something’s bothering her.
 
She may not want to share it with us, but it’s there.
 
It’s sho’ nuff there.”
 

Dempsey rolled his eyes.
 
Christian grinned.
 
“Mrs. Harber told me about your psychic powers, LaLa,” he said.
 
Demps laughed.

“Very funny,” LaLa said with a smile.
 
But she continued staring at Gina.
 
Christian, understanding, stood to his feet.

“I’d better call it a day, ma’am,” he said to Gina.
 
“Unless you still need me for anything?”

“Chris has a hot date tonight,” Demps said, standing too.

LaLa looked at Christian.
 
“Really, Christian?
 
Who?”

Christian was suddenly shy.
 
“Just a girl,” he said.

Gina smiled.
 
“Renita?”

Christian blushed, and then nodded his head.

“Good for you,” she said. “And you are free to go and enjoy your evening.”

“Thank-you, ma’am,” he said, and hurried out.

“Hold up, man,” Demps said, following behind him, “I want details.”

When they were gone, LaLa looked at Gina.
 
“Who’s Renita?”

“She’s one of the president’s assistants.
 
Really nice, attractive girl.”

“Now back to you.
 
What’s brewing kido?
 
And don’t tell me nothing’s brewing because I know it is.”

Gina stood up and walked over to the fanlight window and looked out at the US Treasury building, the Jacqueline Kennedy Gardens, the East Colonnade.
 
She folded her arms.
 
“We have a meeting tonight.”

“You and the president?”

Gina nodded.

“Who with?”

“Jennifer Caswell.”

“The billionaire’s wife?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Why would you need to be in that meeting?
 
It’s going to be about securing her husband’s release, right?”

“That’s my assumption.”

“Then why you’ve got to be there?”

Gina exhaled.
 
“Dutch wants me there.”

“But why, Gina?
 
Work with me, sister.”

“Because,” Gina said, turning her back to the window and facing LaLa, “she and he used to be an item.”