Page 147 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

Natalya gasped.

Dimka said: "You should have said something . . . before . . ."

"And if I had?"

He shook his head. "There is no point in discussing it."

"No," she said. "I see that."

"Well," said Dimka, "at least we avoided a nuclear war."

"Yes," she said. "We're alive. That's something."

CHAPTER TWENTY

The smell of coffee woke Maria. She opened her eyes. President Kennedy was in bed beside her, sitting upright with several pillows propping him, drinking coffee and reading the Sunday edition of The New York Times. He was wearing a light-blue nightshirt, as was she. "Oh!" she said.

He smiled. "You sound surprised."

"I am," she said. "To be alive. I thought we might die in the night."

"Not this time."

She had gone to sleep half-hoping it would happen. She dreaded the end of their love affair. She knew it had no future. For him to leave his wife would destroy him politically; to do so for a black woman was unthinkable. Anyway, he did not even want to leave Jackie: he loved her, and he loved their children. He was happily married. Maria was his mistress, and when he tired of her he would discard her. Sometimes she felt she would prefer to die before that came to pass--especially if death could come while she was at his side, in bed, in a flash of nuclear destruction that would be over before they knew what was happening.

She said none of this: her role was to make him happy, not sad. She sat upright, kissed his ear, looked over his shoulder at the newspaper, took his cup from his hand, and drank some of his coffee. Despite everything, she was glad she was still alive.

He had not mentioned her abortion. It was almost as if he had forgotten about it. She had never raised it with him. She had called Dave Powers and said she was pregnant; and Dave had given her a phone number and said he would take care of the doctor's fee. The only time the president had spoken about it had been when he phoned her after the procedure. He had bigger worries on his mind.

Maria thought about raising the subject herself, but quickly decided against it. Like Dave, she wanted to shield the president from care, not give him additional burdens. She felt sure this was the right decision, though she could not help feeling sorry, and even hurt, that she was not able to talk to him about something so important.

She had feared that sex might be painful after the procedure. However, when Dave had asked her to go to the residence last night, she had been so reluctant to decline the invitation that she had decided to take the risk; and it had been fine--wonderful, in fact.

"I'd better move," the president said. "I'm going to church this morning."

He was about to get up when the bedside phone rang. He picked it up. "Good morning, Mac," he said.

Maria guessed he was talking to McGeorge Bundy, the national security adviser. She jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom.

Kennedy often took calls in bed in the morning. Maria assumed that the people who phoned either did not know or did not care whether he had company. She saved the president embarrassment by making herself scarce during such conversations, just in case they were top secret.

She peeped out of the door in time to see him hang up the phone. "Great news!" he said. "Moscow Radio announced that Khrushchev is dismantling the Cuban missiles and sending them back to the USSR."

Maria had to restrain herself from shouting for joy. It was over!

"I feel like a new man," said the president.

She threw her arms around him and kissed him. "You saved the world, Johnny," she said.

He looked reflective. After a minute he said: "Yeah, I guess I did."

*

Tanya was standing on her balcony, leaning on the wrought-iron parapet, breathing deeply of the damp Havana morning air, when Paz's Buick pulled up below, completely blocking the narrow street. He jumped out of the car, looked up, saw her, and yelled: "You betrayed me!"

"What?" She was astonished. "How?"

"You know."

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