Page 69 of Jackie

“And Cuba. A plan developed by Eisenhower and his CIA. They want me to back a strike against Castro eight weeks from now. Exiled Cuban leaders trained by our military.”

“For what?”

“To incite a civilian uprising.”

“What about the UN?”

“There’s that.”

“Your address was about peace and cooperation, global understanding. Overthrowing another government doesn’t quite align.”

“The Cubans want this,” he says. “They’re depending on it.”

“What does Adlai think? He’s your UN ambassador.”

“Adlai doesn’t know.”

“He doesn’t know what he thinks, or he doesn’t know?”

He just looks at me. They haven’t told Adlai Stevenson.

…

By early February, Caroline’s room and the nursery are finished. The solarium on the third floor has been turned into a schoolroom. I’ve arranged for Caroline’s playgroup to move to the White House. Some of the mothers, I tell Jack, are concerned. He’s come home for lunch and a rest.

“Their kids will never be safer than when they’re here,” he says.

“I’ve told them that, and now I’m trying to woo them with guinea pigs.”

“Good,” he says.

I look past him to the molding by the bed table, studying it.

“You’re going to need to be discreet, Jack. Here. You know that, don’t you?”

“Don’t mix that up with the children.” His voice is sharp.

I look at him then. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“I’ve got to get back to work.” He reaches for his watch.

—

John and Caroline are flying in from Palm Beach. As we drive to the airport, Jack tells me the press will expect photographs.

“Of course,” I say. “That will be fine. We can get on the plane and get them ready.”

He smiles. “You mean you’ll wrap the baby in so many blankets they can’t see his face?”

“It is winter.”

—

The White House gardeners have built a massive snowman for Caroline—twice her size, with a panama hat, a carrot nose, a red ribbon bow tie. She flies out of the car and pokes at the coal buttons at its portly waist, then looks back at me. Her hair has grown longer in the last weeks, past her shoulders now, stripped lighter by the Florida sun. So beautiful, her shy, thrilled smile.

—

Jack asks me to go for a walk that afternoon. He throws a stick for the dog. Charlie bounds away from us, tripping on a crust of deep snow.

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