Chapter 4- My Life Before This
October 2001
In had been a short four months since the President had announced he had MS. The press had begun to lose interest in Sam and Cassie. Things were moving forward. They were in Manchester, in a few minutes the President would announce his bid for reelection.
Jed looked around the room. "Bruno, Connie, Doug, could you give us a minute."
"Yes sir." Bruno ushered his staff out of the room.
Jed stood in front of his staff, hands buried in his pockets. "It occurs to me that I haven't said I'm sorry. I am." He glanced around the room at the people who had gone the distance with him. "I was wrong and I apologize." He clasped his hands together. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have an announcement to make." He took Abbey's hand and walked out into the sunlight.
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It was on Air Force One, on the way back from Manchester, that Josh finally cornered Sam. He flopped down in the seat next to his friend.
"Sam the speech was great, you guys did good."
Sam had been staring absently out the window of the plane. "Thanks." He turned to look at Josh. "How did we do?"
"CJ thinks it went well, but that's not why I wanted to talk to you."
Sam looked desperately at him. "Can we not do this now?"
"You and Cassie are really through?" Josh ignored his request.
"Yes."
"Just like that?"
"It wasn't exactly a rash decision. There was no way in hell it was ever going to last." He took a deep breath. "We're both better off this way."
Josh gave him a pointed glance. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"
Sam went back to staring out the window.
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"Cassie."
She looked up from her laptop. "Hey Charlie. When are we landing?"
"In about half an hour." He shifted nervously. "The President wants to see you, he's in the main conference room."
"Why?"
Charlie shrugged his shoulders. "He didn't tell me, I was just sent to get you."
"Fine." Annoyed, she got to her feet and picked up her work. "I'm going." She walked down the hall and opened the door. "You wanted to see me."
"Yes, sit down." He watched her warily. This wasn't going to be easy.
She sat down across from him. "I'm listening."
"This is way overdue." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about the way I acted. I was wrong and you didn't deserve that."
"Are you apologizing because you're sorry or because mom told you to?" Cassie gave him a hard stare.
"Both." He admitted. "I've always been too hard on you."
"Yes, you have."
She wasn't making this easy for him. "I was wrong! I admit that." Jed began to raise his voice. "Why do we keep coming back to this? I made a mistake, one of thousands. Damn it, I'm your father..." He got to his feet.
"And you know better than anyone, even me, what's best for me. Is that it?" They were both yelling now. "You barely spoke to me for two years because you didn't like the man I married. Was that really what was best for me?"
Jed dropped heavily into his chair. "No." His voice had dropped to a whisper. "I'm sorry, I was wrong about so many things.... I love you kid."
Her voice began to soften. "I know you're sorry...and don't call me kid, you know I hate that." She let out a breath. "I was wrong too.... I have to find a way to fix this. I never meant to hurt anyone."
"I know." He got up and pulled her into his arms. "Everything will work out."
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Part 2
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She is twenty- one, it is three weeks before graduation and she and her roommate are crammed into the tiny dorm bathroom waiting for the timer to ring. It had started over a week ago, the nausea and the dizziness. She knew right away, but hadn't actually gotten around to buying a test until that morning. The timer buzzes and she reaches down to open the test, she pulls off the case and reveals blue, the test has come up positive.
Her roommate is considerably more stunned than she is. "Oh my God! You're pregnant."
She smiles softly to herself and rubs her stomach. "Yeah. I am."
"Man is your dad gonna flip!" Her roommate gives her a serious look.
She knows her roommate is right, but she is unwilling to let this spoil her happiness. "Yeah, he is." She continues to smile. She turns to her roommate and hugs her tightly. "I'm going to have a baby! I've got to call Rich." She runs out of the bathroom and grabs the phone. After a long pause she begins to speak. "Rich, hey it's me. We really need to talk, can you come over after work? Great, see you then.... I love you too.... Bye."
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She is twenty-two and looking down at her son, sleeping in her arms. The doctors say they aren't ready to give up entirely, but she knows he is dying. Nearby her mother watches helplessly as she begins to cry, outside snow is falling.
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He is twenty-five when he meets Lisa. It is the Spring of his second year at Duke law school. He is running across the campus, late for his constitutional law class, when he runs into a beautiful girl with short blond hair. She is a journalism student from New York visiting her brother. They have dinner after his class and he falls in love with her over the course of the next year.
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She is twenty-five and kneeling in the front pew of the almost empty church making a deal with God, begging him to let her baby live. She expertly crosses herself before standing up. She briefly considers going to confession, but decides against it. She isn't ready to confess her sins, she probably never will be.
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She is still twenty-five when she nearly dies. She nearly bleeds to death, her heart stops twice during the surgery.
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She wakes up in another hospital room. She opens her eyes and sees her mother standing next to the window her hands are shaking and she looks like she has been crying.
"Cassie." Abbey softly says her daughter's name.
She knows then that her baby is dead. She can see it in her mother's red eyes and trembling hands. "Was it a boy or a girl?" She hadn't know ahead of time for this one, her husband had wanted to be surprised and she had agreed to wait and see.
"A girl." Her mother knows that she knows, they've always been able to read each other's faces and now is no exception.
"How long did she live?"
"She didn't. She was stillborn."
As she looks at her mother she can feel the hot tears on her cheeks, stinging her eyes. She makes no attempt to brush them away, what would be the point; more would just take their place. She had hoped and prayed so hard, she'd even bargained with God. Was one live baby too much to ask for, she didn't think so, but maybe it was? Is this punishment for her sins, she can't help but wonder.
"I called Richard, he's on his way back here. He should be in tonight."
"Ok." She tries to adjust her position in the bed, but is stopped by the pain along the fresh incision in her abdomen. She yelps involuntarily and her mother reaches out to her.
"Don't move, I'll get the nurse to give you something for the pain."
"Thanks...didn't hurt this much last time..." She is stopped by a fresh wave of tears. She glances at her mother's back as she walks out of the room in search of a nurse. She can see at least two secret service agents in the hallway outside the room, looking very somber.
Abbey comes back into the room followed by a nurse holding a syringe full of something. The nurse pulls the cap off the syringe and injects the liquid into the IV. "This should work pretty quick."
Abbey turns to the nurse. "Thank you."
"Yes ma'am." The nurse turns and walks out of the room.
Abbey lightly touches her daughter's shoulder. "Lay back, you need to get some rest."
She can feel the drug working its way through her body and she doesn't have the strength to fight the exhaustion that is overtaking her. She reaches for her mother's hand. "Stay with me."
She kisses Cassie's forehead. "Of course."
"Allison Marie...that's her name." She grows more tired by the second.
"Where did that come from?"
"Richard's mother Allison, and your mother, grandma Marie."
"It's a beautiful name. Go to sleep."
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He is twenty-six when he graduates from law school. He takes a job in New York to be close to Lisa. Finally, after a year of a long distance romance they begin to make a home together.
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She is twenty-six and watching in horror as her father and Josh are shot as they leave a town hall meeting in Virginia. She spends the rest of the night on the phone with Leo and her mother or transfixed to the television, scared out of her mind.
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She is still twenty-six when she leaves her husband and takes a job at the White House. She is different when she comes back to him. She has another scar, a second rough white line marring her smooth skin.
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He is thirty-four when Lisa breaks off their engagement. Suddenly New York seems suffocating so he follows Josh to New Hampshire lured by the promise of the 'real thing', a good man who will make a great president.
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He is thirty-six when she comes back to him. The love of his life returned.
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Part 3
"CJ and Oliver think they're going to issue the first round of subpoenas tomorrow." Leo lay in bed with his arm around Margaret's shoulders.
"Senior staff?"
"And the President's family...well at least the ones who are old enough to talk."
Margaret laughed lightly. "When will you have to testify?" She lifted her head off his chest and looked at him.
"It will probably be a while." He traced his fingers over the ring on her left hand. "As soon as this is over, one way or another, we are getting married."
She smiled at him. "Before the kids are old enough to remember they were at their parents wedding."
Leo let out a small laugh. "Exactly." He leaned down to kiss her. "I love you."
"Mmmm, me too." She kissed him again as she slid her hands under his T-shirt. He finished pulling the shirt off over his head and rolled them over. Leo began to kiss his way down her neck. He was opening the first button on her pajama top when a loud cry sounded from the monitor next to the bed. Leo rested his forehead against her chest as Margaret began to laugh. "Leo, your children are asking for you."
"I really think they want their mother."
She laughed again and pushed him off her. "Let's go."
He groaned and followed her into the nursery. "Yes dear."
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As predicted the special prosecutor issued the subpoenas the next day.
End Chapter Four...