Page 44 of Celebrity

My temper hit an all-time high. This fucker was going to get it, but Carol placed a hand on my leg and squeezed.

“Richard, enough.” Carol’s face grew cold. “I suggest you think before you speak, or one of your sons may be the one to challenge you for your seat next election. And I will be more than happy to support them.”

“You’re on her side? Our son has turned his back on a possible appointment to the United States Supreme Court. He’s giving up his dream for her.”

“Dad, that was your dream, not mine,” Devin said from behind me.

“I have never asked him to give up anything for me.” I clenched my fists. “I’m the one who’s given up so much over the years for both of you.”

I stood. I wasn’t going to put up with shit from him, especially when I refused to do it for my own father.

“Let me make this clear to you, Senator. Your son chooses the path he walks. I’ve rarely been a factor in his decisions. I moved to another state for him.”

“Bullshit. If it weren’t for you, Devin would never have left Louisiana. Because of you, he lives halfway across the country.” He laughed. “Just wait. All your father’s money isn’t going to protect you from what you’re about to jump into. DC will eat you alive. Those pictures you allowed the reporter to take are the least of your worries.”

“Richard, how dare you?” Carol shouted.

“No, Carol. It’s okay. I’ve dealt with men like him and the games they play from the time I clerked for Judge Kerry. I’ve handled more than my share of male egos.”

It was hard enough trying to make a name for myself in the legal field, and then add in the fact I was barely out of puberty, a female, and small in size, made me learn how to assert myself in a male-dominated field.

I clenched my fists and then felt Dev at my side. He linked his fingers with mine.

“I never thought I’d see the day that you’d blame the victim for a crime committed against them. You’re the exact type of good old boy who needs replacing,” Jacinta said through clenched teeth as she rose from the sofa and joined Dev and me, threading her fingers through mine on the other side. “I’ve never been more ashamed of you than I am right now.”

Richard staggered as if Jacinta had hit him. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, Richard. She does. As do all of us. In the forty years we’ve been together, we’ve disagreed about many things, but I’ve never thought I didn’t know you. I truly have no idea who you are.” Carol stood and walked toward the door. “Ladies, I think it’s time for some fresh air. Care to join me?”

Chapter Twelve

“Will you answer a question for me?”Carol asked as she poured me a glass of iced tea.

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

After leaving the senator and his sons in the library, Carol, Jacinta, and I had decided to have a drink and snacks on the back deck of the house.

Jacinta and Carol had created a giant spread of cookies, tea sandwiches, and pastries, even laying out a white lacy cotton tablecloth on the patio table for our yummy fare.

I could tell both women were visibly shaken by what had transpired and needed something to take their minds off the argument.

I’d tried to help, but they only shooed me away, saying they had everything under control.

“Why do you want to run? Don’t pretend you haven’t decided. I know when someone’s put their name into the arena of politics.”

I had waited for someone to ask me that question and I could always trust Carol to go to the source for anything she wanted to know.

“I want to run because no one expects it of someone like me.” Carol pursed her lips at my response, making me clarify what I meant. “I don’t fit the mold. When it comes to spending, I’m conservative. When it comes to social issues, I’m liberal. There are a lot of incumbents who feel threatened by people like me because of my appeal to the centrists.”

Especially the man I’d go up against in the election.

Senator Anthony Sanders was a person who’d dismissed me the first time we’d met at a charity fundraiser. He’d barely paid attention to anything I had to say, and I happened to be the main speaker for the evening. He’d treated me like a cute, pretty face. Then had the nerve to turn to a junior attorney in my firm to ask his opinion of the very topic I’d brought up. It wasn’t until the emcee had introduced me that he’d realized his mistake in dismissing me.

That was the day I’d realized this man had to go.

“Aren’t you afraid about your privacy and how everyone will react to your relationship with Devin? I know your potential opponent. He views his job as a career and he will pull every trick in the book to keep it. What Richard said is true. I’m not saying it’s right, but your opponent will use your pain as a way to elevate his position. He’ll shame you into hiding.”

As a wife of a politician, I guessed Carol had seen and heard more than she would ever let on. Her insight wasn’t anything I hadn’t learned for myself.

---