For the Love of Gina: The President's Girlfriend (12 page)

Gina
leaned back.
 
She actually had a pen and
pad with her, as if, Roman thought, she was going to be taking notes.

“You’re
Brandy Clarke?” Gina asked her.

“Yes,
ma’am.”

“You
said downstairs that you were my husband’s mistress.
 
Is that correct?”

Brandy
swallowed hard.
 
Roman noticed her
hesitancy.
 
“That’s what I said,” Brandy
admitted, “but that’s not correct.”

Roman
glanced at Gina.
 
Gina was still staring
at Brandy.
 
“Then perhaps you can tell me
what is correct?”

“My
name is Brandy, that’s the truth.
 
But
I’m not your husband’s girlfriend.
 
I
wouldn’t be even if he begged me to.
 
I’m
your brother’s sister.”

Roman
frowned, and so did Gina.
 
“My brother’s
sister?” Gina asked.

“Yes,
ma’am.”

“You
mean you’re . . . Marcus Rance’s sister?”

“Marcus
Rance?
 
Oh, no ma’am.
 
I’m no kin to that fool.
 
I mean, my brother is kin to him because they
have the same daddy too.
 
Like you.”

Gina continued
to stare at the young woman. “Like me?”

“Yes,
ma’am.
 
My baby brother, DeAndre Clarke,
is your baby brother too.
 
He has a
different mother than you do, but y’all have the same father.”

Gina
was thrown.
 
She didn’t know what to
say.
 
This was about
her
?
 
About some brother she
never knew existed?
 
Roman, too, was
stumped.

“I
know it’s a shock to you, ma’am.
 
And I
wouldn’t have come, I know I was supposed to stay away.
 
But DeAndre, your brother, is in serious
trouble.
 
They’re saying he robbed and
murdered this store clerk, and because she was pregnant they’re saying he could
get the death penalty.
 
But he didn’t do
it, ma’am.
 
I swear to you he didn’t.
 
But he’s just another poor black kid to
them.
 
He’s just another thug, another
statistic to them.”

Gina
couldn’t even wrap her brain around what this woman was saying.
 
Her deceased father had another son, beyond
Marcus Rance, and this son was accused of murder, like Marcus Rance?
 
It was uncanny!
 
But that wasn’t the bombshell for Gina.

“He
should have told you,” Brandy went on.
 
“But I knew he wouldn’t.
 
He paid
us off and swore us to secrecy too.”

Roman
unfolded his arms.
 
Who was he?
 
Dutch
?

Gina
looked at the woman.
 
“What are you
talking about?” she asked her.

“I’m
talking about your husband.
 
When me and
my mama contacted this lady who worked at the White House, and we told her that
DeAndre was your brother, we didn’t hear anything else about it.
 
Then this doctor shows up at our house and
gets DNA from DeAndre, and I guess they secretly got some from you somehow, I
don’t know.
 
But then the next thing we
know the president himself pays us a visit.
 
At my little house!
 
And he makes
us sign all these documents that says we won’t tell anybody and that DeAndre
will have a trust fund for life after he turns twenty-one if we don’t violate
the terms of the agreement.
 
Then they
gave us this boatload of money and said if anything comes out about it, or if
we even think about contacting you or the president or anybody else, that
DeAndre won’t get a dime and our lives will become a living hell.”

Gina
couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
 
She stared at the woman. “Are you telling me that my husband knew that I
had a brother out there, and he paid you not to tell me?”

“We
couldn’t tell you or anybody else.
 
We
would lose everything if we told.
 
My
mama died three months ago, she had cancer, but I stuck to the agreement.
 
I want a better life for DeAndre too, and
when he turns twenty-one he’s going to get that better life.
 
He’s only eighteen now.
 
But then he was arrested, and that changed
everything.
 
I went to your husband, but
he blew me off.”

“You
went to him again?”

“On
Friday, yes ma’am. Just before the weekend.
 
I came to BBR, after I left Harber Industries, looking for you, but you
wasn’t supposed to come in on Friday.
 
At
least that’s what they told me.
 
So I
stayed in town and waited until today, Monday morning, to come and see you.”

Gina’s
heart was hammering.
 
She was completely
at a loss for words.
 
Roman was staring
at her.
 
What, he wondered, did she think
about that husband of hers now?
 
In many
ways, this had to be worse news than him having an affair.
 
This was a downright betrayal, and nothing
less, in Roman’s eyes.
 

And
then the door to the conference room opened, and Dutch stepped inside.
 
Gina looked at him as if, it seemed to Roman,
she was seeing him for the first time.
 
And in her anger, she found her voice.

“Is
it true?” she asked him as if she still couldn’t believe it.
 
“Did you know I had a brother out there, that
I had my own flesh and blood out there, and you hid it from me?”

That
look of disappointment, of fear, of distrust on Gina’s face, did something to
Dutch.
 
He felt as if he was going to die
where he stood when he saw that look in her eyes.

“Is
it true, Dutch?” she asked again, and all eyes were on him.

He
placed both hands in his pants pockets and let out a sharp exhale.
 
This was a long day coming, somehow he knew
it was.
 
But the burden was still there.
 
“Yes,” he said.
 
“It’s true.

CHAPTER TEN

The door
to Gina’s office suite burst open and Gina, with Dutch on her tail, walked in
and moved swiftly toward her office in the back of the room.
 
The support staff in the outer office were
stunned and delighted when the power couple came through in such silent
contentiousness, but their ringside seat was quickly squashed when the couple
entered Gina’s inner office and Dutch slammed the door behind them.
 
Now it was just he and Gina, and Gina wasn’t
trying to hear it.

“You
should have told me,” she was saying as she hurried behind her desk.

“You
don’t tell me what I should have done,” Dutch shot back as he walked up to the
front of her desk.
 
“I did what I thought
was best.
 
You don’t know a thing about
those people, Gina!”

“What
difference does that make?” Gina angrily blared, slamming her pad and pen on
her desk.
 
“That boy is my flesh and
blood and you had no right withholding that from me!
 
You had no right, Dutch.
 
No right!”

“I
was looking out for you, I had every right!
 
When those people came to me you had just been shot by Marcus
Rance.
 
Shot, Gina!
 
What did you think I was going to do?
 
Introduce you to another half-brother just
when you almost died at the hands of the other one?
 
No.
 
Hell no!
 
I wasn’t taking that
chance.
 
I made the right call!”

“But
that wasn’t your call to make, Dutch, how can you not see that?
 
That child is my flesh and blood!
 
That was my call to make!”

“You
were on your deathbed, Gina, and I’m sorry but I didn’t give a damn about any
out of the woodwork relative looking for a quick payday.
 
You were on your deathbed.”

“When
I got off of my deathbed, why didn’t you tell me then?”

“I
wasn’t putting you through any more pain.”

“Right,”
Gina said, and began stuffing papers in the briefcase on her desk.
 
“It wasn’t about Marcus Rance and you know
it.
 
It was all about you deciding my
life for me the way you’re always trying to do.
 
You decided.
 
You didn’t ask me
shit.
 
You decided.
 
You didn’t like the way they stepped to
you---”

“You
mean the way they tried to extort me?
 
The way they wanted me to pay them for their silence?”

“That
was the mother and the sister.
 
That had
nothing to do with my brother.
 
He was
seventeen years old, Dutch.
 
He didn’t
come to you like that.
 
That wasn’t his
fault!”

Gina
grabbed her purse out of her drawer, grabbed her stuffed briefcase, and then
began heading back toward the exit.

“Get
your plane ready,” she said to him.
 
“I
need to use it.”

“Use
it for what?” he asked, then he grabbed her by the arm as she was about to walk
pass him, and slung her back toward him.
 
“Will you stop walking and answer my question?
 
Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m
going to Georgia to see about my brother.
 
You heard his sister.
 
He’s being
railroaded---”

“Oh,
Gina, you don’t believe that nonsense!”

“I’m
going to see about my brother, whether I believe it or not.
 
Now you can get your plane ready to take me
there, or I’ll fly commercial if I have to.
 
But I’m going.”
 
She snatched away
from him and began heading out.

Dutch
knew that look in her eyes.
 
There was no
stopping her when she got in this kind of zone.
 
“When will you be back?” he asked her.

“When
I get back,” she said, and slammed the door as she left.

Dutch
just stood there, fuming with her and angry with himself.
 
He was only looking out for her, but he should
have known better than to keep this from a woman like Gina.
 
Now he was paying that price.
 
He therefore went behind her desk, picked up
the phone, and dialed his executive assistant’s private line.

“Yes,
sir?” she said as soon as she came onto the line.

“Contact
my pilot.
 
Tell him to get the plane
ready.
 
My wife will be using it.”

“For
immediate departure, sir?”

He
exhaled.
 
“Yes,” he said.

“I
will notify him right away, sir,” she said, and Dutch hung up the phone.
 
Then he placed his fingers to his temple, and
squeezed his eyes shut.

As
the plane prepared for takeoff, Brandy thought she was in heaven.
 
Here she was, on a private plane, sitting
across from Regina Harber, talking about her baby brother.
 
It was still surreal to her that the former First
Lady was going to Georgia to see about DeAndre.
 
And she was so nice and kind.
 
Nothing like the bitch Brandy thought she’d be.

“You
said he’s an honor student?” Gina asked, holding Brandy’s cell phone and
looking at the picture of DeAndre that Brandy kept as her screensaver.

“Yes,
ma’am,” she said.
 
“He even won a
scholarship to college.”

“Really?
 
Which one?”

“Florida
A & M.”

“I’m
impressed.
 
He seems like a sweet young
man.”

“He’s
wonderful.
 
That’s why I was so angry
with your husband.
 
He should have never
kept DeAndre out of your life.
 
I think
if you would have been in his life, and the world would have known he was your
brother, those cops would have never arrested him.”

“But
you said he was there when the shooting took place, did you not?”

“He
was there, yes, ma’am, but he didn’t do anything.
 
He was there to buy some candy, not to shoot
or rob somebody.”

Gina
looked out of the plane’s window when she caught sight of a Cadillac Escalade
arriving.
 
She knew that was Dutch’s
SUV.
 
And sure enough, Addison, Dutch’s
assigned Secret Service agent, opened the backdoor, and Dutch stepped out,
looking like the impressive man she knew he was, as he buttoned his suit
coat.
 
Then he and Addison began heading
toward the plane.
 
Gina watched him, with
a mixture of emotions.
 
Brandy, seeing
Gina’s attention diverted, looked out of the window too.
 
And when she saw Dutch, she frowned.

“What’s
he doing here?” she asked.

Gina
looked at the younger woman with surprise in her eyes.
 
“Excuse me?”

“I
said what is he doing here?
 
He’s gonna
try to convince you not to help DeAndre, watch what I tell you.
 
He’s done enough damage already.
 
If it wasn’t for him, DeAndre would have
never been arrested.”

“Okay,
now,” Gina said, and sat upright in her seat.
 
“Let’s get one thing straight,” she said.
 
“There’s not a universe that has ever been
discovered where you get to denigrate my husband, on his plane, in front of
me.
 
I understand you love your brother
and you’re concerned about him, I get that.
 
But don’t think for a second that you have my permission to disrespect
my husband.
 
You don’t.
 
Nobody does.”

“But
how can you defend him?” Brandy boldly asked.
 
“He lied to you.”

“He
did not lie to me, all right?
 
Don’t get
it twisted.
 
But no matter what he did to
me, Brandy, that’s between him and I.
 
That’s our business.
 
And nobody,
especially some female I just met, get to have a say in our business.”

Brandy
was stunned by Gina’s venom.
 
So much for
nice, she thought as she requested her cell phone back and gave up on any kind
of conversation with this woman.
 
She
used to see her on TV when she was First Lady, and at first she was proud of
her.
 
But when she wouldn’t show the
American people her baby boy, and when she was accused of sleeping around on
the president with some man, she turned on her too.
 
She heard that there was no truth to those
allegations, but she believed them anyway.
 
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,
or fire done been there
, was always what her mother taught her.
 
Why else, she wondered, would those allegations
be out there if there was absolutely no truth to them?
 
Besides, a beautiful black sister like Regina
Harber with a white husband?
 
Hell yeah
she was probably sleeping around.
 
Every
girl, in Brandy’s view, had to have them some Mandingo dick every now and then.

So
Brandy clammed up and despised Gina all over again as that husband of hers
boarded the plane.
 
She, instead, kept
her focus on DeAndre and getting him help, even if the help had to come from a
bitch like Regina Harber and a dog like Dutch Harber.
 
But at this point in Brandy’s life, and given
her lack of power and resources, any fool offering help would have to do.

When
Dutch entered the area where Gina and Brandy were seated, Brandy could hardly
contain her disgust.
 
Gina, however,
looked up at him.

“Hey,”
he said.

“Hello.”

“I
wanted to make sure you had everything you needed before you pulled off.”

Gina
didn’t respond to that.

“Spoke
to Walter?”

“I
did. I told him I’d see him tonight.
 
Of
course he was so busy during some school project that he wasn’t thinking about
me.
 
I also spoke with Nanny and gave her
some instructions until I get back.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll
call you,” Gina added, “if I don’t make it back in time.”

Dutch
nodded.
 

Then
they fell into a kind of awkward silence.
 
Then Dutch spoke up.
 
“I contacted
William Bates.”

“You
did?” Gina asked, surprised.
 
“When?”

“Last
week, when Miss Clarke paid me a visit.
 
He went there and looked into the case.”

This
interested Brandy.
 
Who, she wondered,
was William Bates?

“And
what was his verdict?” Gina asked.

“He
seems to think the police got it right.”

“That’s
a lie!” Brandy yelled, and Dutch looked at her as if she had lost her
mind.
 

“Who
do you think you’re talking to?” he asked her.

“My
brother didn’t rob anybody and he didn’t shoot anybody,” she responded.
 
“I don’t care what that man told you.
 
My brother is innocent!”

Gina
looked at Brandy.
 
She was a feisty woman
who probably had to fight to be heard her entire life.
 
When Gina used to be an advocate for BBR,
long before she married Dutch, she used to have that same kind of fire.

“I’ll
look into it myself,” she said to Dutch, “and hear what DeAndre has to say
before I reach any conclusions.”

Brandy
was pleasantly surprised by Gina’s response.
 
She expected her to defend her husband, the way she had done just before
he boarded the plane.
 
Instead, she
seemed to be withholding judgment.

“Don’t
get your hopes up, is all I’m saying,” Dutch said.

Gina
nodded.
 
“Fair enough.”

Dutch
exhaled, and looked at his wife.
 
He
loved her so much that it tore at his soul to have her so upset with him.
 
And he could tell she was still upset.
 
Mightily.

“Are
you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

Brandy
looked at Gina.
 
She couldn’t bear him
going with them.

“I’m
positive,” Gina said, to Brandy’s inward relief.

Dutch
knew it would have been something near impossible for him to get away from the
office right now anyway.
 
But he would
have if Gina would have wanted it.
 
“We’ll talk, then,” he said, “when you get back.”