President's Girlfriend 06 - The Sins of the Fathers (18 page)

“What about
LaLa?” she asked again.

Dutch held
out his hand.
 
Gina walked over to her
husband and placed her hand in his.
 
“What’s wrong?” she asked him.
 
“And who’s Elvelyn Rosenthal?”

Dutch looked
at Crader.
 
So Gina did also.
 

“She’s
somebody with whom I had a relationship.”

Gina
furrowed her brow.
 
“You?
 
Then why was the press . . . Okay, I’m
sufficiently confused.
 
At that press
conference her sister was apparently running around telling reporters that
Dutch is the father of Elvelyn’s child,
which
is
ridiculous,” Gina added.
 
“
But.
. . are you saying it’s
your
child, Cray?
 
That you
have an eight month old baby?”

Crader’s
eyes fluttered.
 
“That’s what I’m saying,
yes.
 
That child could be mine.”

Gina’s heart
dropped.
 
“Oh, Cray, what have you
done?
 
You and La were married---”

“Engaged,”
Crader corrected her.
 
But if he thought
that would lessen the impact of his indiscretion, he was sadly mistaken.
 
Gina fumed.

“The point
is, Crader, as if you don’t already know, you had promised to be faithful to
her.
 
After what happened with you and
Liz Sinclair, you had promised LaLa, Cray!”

“I know I
promised her, Gina.
 
I know I promised
her.”

“Then what
are you talking about?
 
How could you
father an eight month old?
 
What, you
asked LaLa to marry you, she gladly said yes, and then you went off to be with
this Elvelyn person?”

“It wasn’t
like that,” Crader said almost too low to be heard, his fight almost completely
gone.

Gina shook
her head.
 
“Poor LaLa,” she said.
 
“How could you do that to
her, Crader?”

“I know,
Gina.
 
I know, all right!”

“Careful,
Cray,” Dutch warned about his friend’s tone toward Gina.

“I don’t
mean to raise my voice,” Crader assured her, “but don’t you think I realize how
bad this is?
 
I get it, G.
 
LaLa may leave me, I understand that.”

Gina stared
at him.
 
Was he that far gone?
 
“She
may
leave you?” Gina asked.
 
“Are you out of
your mind?
 
You asked her to marry you
and then proceeded to screw some woman and have a baby with her, and you’re
saying to me that she
may
leave
you?
 
She
may
?
 
She’d better leave your
ass!
 
Ain’t
no
may
in it!”

“Okay, babe,”
Dutch said, pulling Gina’s back against his front, and rubbing her arms to calm
her back down.

Crader ran
his hand across his already rumpled hair.
 
“I know I’ve done a terrible thing,” Crader insisted.
 
“And I know I deserve everything I’m going to
get.
 
I can’t feel any worse than I
already do.”

“Who gives a
damn how you feel?”
 
Gina responded.
 
“What about LaLa?
 
What about
her
feelings?
 
Because you
obviously didn’t give a damn about how she felt or you wouldn’t have done what
you did to her.
 
Again!”
 

Disgusted,
Gina moved away from her husband and began to leave.
 
But Dutch pulled her back.
 
Gina looked at him.
 
“What are you doing, Dutch?
 
I need to go see LaLa.”

“Where is
she?” Crader asked.

Gina
couldn’t even say another word to that man.

Dutch,
however, looked at her.
 
“Where is she,
Gina?” he asked.

Gina
exhaled.
 
She knew she had to speak up
now.
 
“She got the baby and headed back
to Blair House.
 
She thought this Elvelyn
Rosenthal was some new drama they were cooking up about you and me.
 
So she decided to give us some space.”

“Where is
she?” Crader asked anxiously.

“Oh, you’re
so concerned now?”

“Gina,”
Dutch said in a warning voice.

Gina exhaled
again.
 
“She got Nicole and went back to
Blair House.”

Crader
immediately hurried for the exit, his heart like a torrent of pain that hadn’t
even seen the half of it yet.
 
LaLa, he
knew, was going to be devastated.

“Why did you
pull me back?” Gina asked her husband.
 
“I should be there for La.
 
I’m
her best friend.
 
I’m the one who cares
about her.
 
I should be the one to tell
her.”

“No, you
shouldn’t,” Dutch made clear.
 
“Crader is
her husband.”

“Some
husband.”

“I know, but
he’s her husband.
 
He has to tell her.”

“Did you
hear that fool?
 
She
may
leave him, he said.
 
I
wanted to kick his cheating ass.”

Dutch pulled
her closer against him and wrapped his arms around her.
 
“Get in line,” he
said,
his disappointment in Crader like a pang in his heart.
 
And the thought of what this could do to
Loretta made him even more disgusted.

“How could he do that to her?”
Gina asked again.

Dutch knew
how, he just couldn’t understand why.
 
Why would Crader risk so much for some piece on the side like that?
 
Why would he do such a thing to their sweet,
kind, never would so much as harm a flea LaLa?
                  

CHAPTER NINE

Later that evening, Dutch and Gina were back in the
Residence.
 
After having dinner and
putting Little Walt to bed, they sat together on a lounger out on their private
patio, a blanket covering them and keeping them warm.
 
The wind was blowing mildly across the White
House grounds, creating a cool breeze that made them feel eerily peaceful.
 
Although Dutch knew Gina was concerned.

“I haven’t
heard from LaLa,” she eventually gave voice to her concern.

Dutch sipped
from the glass of wine in his hand.
 
His
other hand was undercover, inside Gina’s panties, gently rubbing the outer
edges of her folds.
 
Other than their
excursion to Virginia, he rarely got to spend a quiet evening with his
wife.
 
There were always more meetings to
attend.
 
But tonight, he knew, he
couldn’t allow her to be alone.

“She’ll call
when she’s ready,” he said.
 
“You have to
give her some time.”

Gina shook
her head.
 
“The idea that Crader would do
something like that to her again, after losing her over this same shit the last
time, just blows my mind.
 
And now a baby
is involved, Dutch.
 
A
baby.”
 
She shook her head
again.
 
“What is wrong with some of these
men?”

Dutch kissed
her on the forehead, leaned her closer against his hard frame.
 
They both were lightly dressed in shorts and
t-shirts, but both felt burdened.
 
“Yes,
some men think with the wrong head.”

“But you
were out there, just like Crader.
 
You
haven’t been sleeping around and bringing home babies to me.”

Dutch
smiled.
 
“I did bring a baby home to
you.
 
She was a grown baby, but still.”

Gina had to
smile at that one, too.
 
Speaking of grown.
 
“Miss Jade,” Gina said.
 
“That
girl just loves her daddy.”

Dutch
hesitated.
 
“Yes,” he said and sipped
more wine.
 
Then he hesitated again.
 
“I may get her an appointment with Dr. Katz.”

“Dr. Katz?”
Gina asked.
 
“That same therapist you
made me sit down with?”

“That’s
right.”

“You think
she needs therapy?
 
Why would you think
she needs therapy?
 
Because of that
mother of hers and the way she raised her?”

“And the fact that this father of hers wasn’t a part of her life when he
should have been.”

“Oh, come
on, Dutch.
 
You didn’t even know she
existed until she was twenty-three years old.
 
It wasn’t your fault.
 
I don’t
even blame Sam.
 
She was young and she
was scared.
 
I can’t even blame her.”

“Understood.
 
I don’t blame her, either.
 
But that doesn’t mean damage wasn’t done.”

Gina
understood that.
 
“Jade isn’t going to
want to talk to any therapist, I can tell you that right now.
 
Not Miss Jade.”

“You didn’t
want to talk to one either.”

“Yeah, but
you made me talk to her.
 
I don’t know if
anybody can make that daughter of yours do anything.”

Dutch
snorted at that.
 
But then he dismissed
the thought of that daughter of his and concentrated on this wife of his,
instead.
 
And specifically her folds that
were getting wetter with every poke of his finger.
 
He slid it inside and began to massage her
more aggressively.

Gina leaned
back and relaxed into his massage.
 
It
was nights like this, when she had Dutch’s undivided attention, that she loved
the most.
 
Although it
was tempered.
 
Because
LaLa wasn’t far from her thoughts, too.

 
“What about Marcus?” Dutch asked.
 
“You heard from him?”

Gina closed
her eyes, the effect of Dutch’s unique massage beginning to take control of her
concentration.

“Yes.
 
I invited him to my birthday bash next week.”

“He
accepted?” Dutch asked.

“Gladly.
 
Why wouldn’t he?”

“He wasn’t
exactly thrilled when I told him he couldn’t stay here at the White House.”

“Oh, Dutch,
he understood that.
 
We don’t really know
him yet.
 
You’re out of town often.
 
You couldn’t just leave him with me and
Little Walt like that. It’ll be like leaving a stranger in your home.
 
And yes, we have Secret Service protection,
but they aren’t in our bedrooms like that.
 
I think he understands it’ll take some time for us to get to know him,
and for him to get to know us, too.”

“So you
don’t think he resents me?”

“Oh, he
resents you big time,” Gina said to laughter from Dutch. “He resents me, too.”

This
pronouncement, however, concerned Dutch.
 
He stopped massaging her.
 
“He
resents you?” he asked.

“Yes, me,
and don’t stop.”

“Why would
he resent you?” Dutch wanted to know, as he began massaging her clit.
 
“After all you’ve done for him?”

 
“When I was with Block by Block Raiders, I
worked with guys like Marcus all the time.
 
They get all of this help, and you and I would expect them to be
grateful, and initially they are.
 
But
then they start believing that they’re your family, and if you even think about
treating them like the strangers that they really are, then they get seriously
offended.
 
They feel disrespected and
they really do resent and hate you, I’m serious.
 
I mean, it’s as if you become their lightening
rod.
 
When you said Marcus couldn’t stay
at the White House with your wife and son, because you didn’t know him like
that, which was the truth by the way, that did something to Marcus.
 
I don’t think we realize just how slighted he
felt.”