The Candidate's Wife (15 page)

She shook her head sternly as he tried to interrupt again. "Please, hear me out. I'll go back to the city with you. I'll even explain about the phone call, and the man in the park. I would have told you before, but you were so damn unreasonable."

"I know." Adam did look remorseful. "I'm always doing that -- overreacting. I'm sorry."

It was the last thing she'd expected him to say. "You're sorry?"

"Yes, I am. Really. When I found the source of the press leak, and realized I'd been wrong about you --"

"You found the leak?"

"The Times got hold of two more memos after you left. Tom was the only one who had copies of those particular documents."

Julia gave a sharp cry of surprise and dismay. "Tom Brannon? Your communications director? But why would he do something like that?"

"No, no." Adam shook his head impatiently. "It wasn't Tom. It turns out he was sleeping with one of our college interns. The girl stole the papers out from his files at home."

Julia nearly jumped up off the couch as realization dawned. She smacked her palm against her forehead. "Valerie. It was Valerie, wasn't it?"

It was Adam's turn to look surprised. "How did you know?"

"I should have guessed. Oh, Adam, she was always asking too many questions -- I thought she was just a terrible gossip, but -- a couple of days ago, when she asked me about the leak, she called the Times reporter by his first name. I just never put the pieces together."

Adam nodded glumly. "Well, Tom feels like a fool. He offered his resignation."

"You didn't accept it, did you?"

"Of course not. He's a single guy, and she was willing enough. I don't fault him in this. Tom had no way of knowing that Valerie was stealing documents and passing them on to the Times. Anyway, Phil and I confronted the girl. She broke down, cried, admitted everything. . . . She said it wasn't planned, that she did it on impulse, because it made her feel important."

Julia nodded, remembering what Valerie had said about hating her limited role in the campaign. "What will happen to her?"

Adam sighed and shrugged. "We threatened her with legal action, scared her a little, but the truth is that all we could really do is ask her not to come back. She was a volunteer, so we couldn't even fire her." He paused, apparently groping for the right words. His shoulders slumped, and Julia saw humiliation and defeat in his tawny eyes. "When Tom told me what Valerie had done, the first thing I thought of was -- Julia, do you think you can forgive me for all the angry things I said?"

Julia chewed on her lower lip as she listened to his confession and apology. The words were exactly what she wanted to hear, but they didn't quite wipe the slate clean. She felt bruised, vulnerable, delicate to the point of fragility.

"I want to get past this. But the past few days -- I can't describe --" To her horror, her voice broke and she felt tears start in her eyes. She swallowed hard and forced herself to go on. "I can't just forget what happened. I need a little time to figure this all out."

Adam reached across the coffee table and gently took both of her hands in his. "I understand, sweetheart. I really do. I've been such a fool, but I can do better, I know I can. We need to start over. We'll learn to trust each other again. How can I make this up to you, Julia?"

His question filtered through the fog of confused delight created by his touch. Julia found the answer on the tip of her tongue. "Listen to what I have to say from now on, Adam. Don't jump to your own conclusions without hearing me out. It amazes me that you're so attentive to you constituents, and even you staff, but when I try to explain you cut me off completely."

"You're right." He stared deep into her eyes, his expression solemn, his fingers warm against hers. "There's something about you, Julia. You get under my skin somehow. You destroy all of my defenses, and it scares me. If I don't push you away, I --" His voice faltered, and he cleared his throat. "You wanted to tell me something about the man in the park the other day."

Actually, Julia wanted to hear the end of that last sentence. But she knew this was her chance to tell the story of her first marriage, and to completely clear the air. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing her taut muscles to relax. "It began with the card," she said.

Quickly, she told Adam everything that had happened in the past week, including the phone call, the attempt at blackmail, and Frank's parting threats. "I haven't seen the man in ten years," she said, finally. "He walked out on me when Danny was just an infant."

Adam had looked angry, at first -- angry at Frank -- but now Julia saw only sympathy and understanding in his changeable green-gold eyes. "What exactly happened in your marriage? He hurt you badly, didn't he?"

Julia nodded. She felt Adam's fingers tighten around her own, and somehow the subtle pressure gave her strength. Adam gazed across the table at her face, and his mouth curved into an encouraging smile. "I want to know, Julia. Please."

"Yes, all right." She hesitated, unsure where to start, but already, as if she'd hit some hidden switch, the film of memory flickered to life and she saw the scenes from her first marriage unfold on the screen of her mind.

"Frank and I started dating our senior year in high school," she began, as her eyes traced one of the scratches on the glass-topped table. "After graduation, I went off to the university and he worked in his father's garage, but we always meant to get married when I finished school. Frank was. . . ." She paused as she struggled to reconcile the ruined man in the park and the boy she'd fallen in love with. "He was charming, sweet, charismatic -- everyone liked him. Then, about three months into my sophomore year at State, I got pregnant with Danny."

Julia glanced up at Adam's face, but she saw no judgment there, no disapproval. Adam merely waited for her to go on. "It wasn't what we'd planned," she said, "but it wasn't a disaster, either. My parents were wonderful about it. Frank and I got married and he moved in here, with my family. We decided that I'd try to finish out the next semester, then take a year off with the baby before I went back to school."

She stopped again as she came to the hard part of the story, the part that still left her with a dull, hollow ache, but she forced herself to continue. "As the months passed, Frank grew more and more secretive. He'd go out in the evenings and sometimes stay gone all night. I tried to talk to him, but he closed himself off from me. I knew he was drinking too much. I didn't know about the gambling, until he got himself into a hole he couldn't dig himself out of. One day in July he broke down and told me everything. He cried. He was terrified. He said the men he owed had threatened to kill him."

She gulped back tears. "I promised Frank that I'd stand by him, that we'd make things right. We had a family meeting and decided to use the rest of my college fund to pay Frank's debts." She
gritted her
teeth at the memory. "My parents had worked and scrimped all their lives to save that money, but they were the ones who suggested it. Frank said he'd get help, that he'd learned his lesson."

Sympathy shadowed Adam's face. "But it wasn't over, was it?"

Julia shook her head. "No. Oh, things were fine for a while. Frank got counseling. Danny was born at the end of the summer, and we were all thrilled by the new baby, Frank included. But then I was so caught up in the wonder of this little person we'd made that I barely noticed when Frank started sneaking off again. Danny was three months old when I realized what was happening. I confronted Frank, he broke down -- it was a replay of the same old nightmare, except that this time we didn't have the money to bail him out." She sighed. "Oh, I didn't know what to do. I was hurt, angry, disappointed. . .and I wasn't in love with him anymore. He'd just worn me out. I thought about leaving him, but we had an infant son, and I'd made a commitment, for better or for worse. Anyway, Frank took the decision out of my hands."

"How?"

"He disappeared. No note, no goodbye, just one day -- gone." She let out a rueful chuckle. "We'd have suspected foul play, except that he ransacked the house first. He took the TV, my mother's diamond earrings, my brother Sean's coin collection, everything he could cart away."

Adam scowled. If he'd aimed the dark expression at her, Julia would have shuddered with fear. Instead, she felt comforted, knowing that Adam was on her side. "And you never heard from him again?" he asked.

"Not until I received that card. Adam, what will we do? He could make a lot of trouble for you, if he makes a public fuss. And if he tries to get Danny from me, I -- I don't know what I'll do."

Adam's scowl faded. He stood, pulling Julia up with him. Adam stepped around the coffee table and wrapped his arms around her. Julia didn't resist. In fact, she pressed her cheek against Adam's chest, feeling safe and content for the first time in weeks. For a long moment, Adam said nothing. He simply
held her tight. Julia could hear the steady thump of his heart and feel his hands as they moved comfortingly up and down her back.

Finally, he spoke soothing words into her ear. "Don't worry, sweetheart," he murmured. "You know Frank will never get custody of Danny. As for negative publicity, well, we'll face that as it comes, but I suspect he's bluffing. Still --" and though he spoke calmly, she could feel the tension in his body, the rock-hard muscles tensing under her cheek "-- still, I'm going to hire extra security for you and Danny. This guy delivered the card to our apartment building. He knows where we live."

"Oh, I don't think Frank would hurt us," Julia said. "He was never physically abusive."

"It's been ten years, Julia. You don't know how he's changed, and I'm not taking any chances. Whenever you or Danny leaves our building, I want someone with you."

Julia remembered Frank's behavior in the park. He had appeared harder, more desperate, not like the unhappy but gentle man she had married so many years ago. She shivered. "You're right, Adam. It can't hurt to be careful."

He dipped his head and kissed her softly on the lips. A pleasant thrill tingled along Julia's spine, but she was glad when Adam didn't deepen the kiss. She relished the safety of his arms, but she wasn't ready for more. Before she could trust him, she needed to know that he wouldn't push her away again.

Reluctantly, she stepped out of his embrace. "I should pack and say goodbye to my mother. Then we'll have to get Danny."

"Yes, of course" Adam hesitated. "Oh, and Julia -- there's one more thing."

She tilted her head to gaze up at him.

"About the picture in the paper today." His lower lip pushed up a little, sulkily, and his tone was defensive. "I didn't go to that play with that woman. I went alone. She showed up and grabbed my arm. She practically ambushed me."

Julia had to lift her hand to her mouth to conceal her smile. Adam the air of a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but she sensed that he was telling the truth. Her anger and embarrassment faded, but she couldn't resist one more sharp-edged barb. "Explain it to the voters, not to me. I'm your wife in name only, remember?"

"But I wanted you to know that nothing happened last night. You believe me, don't you?" His eyes glinted with anxious anticipation as he waited for Julia's response. "You know I want nothing to do with any other woman, don't you?"

She shrugged, pretending a nonchalance she didn't feel. "If you say so."

At her words, Adam's broad shoulders relaxed. He looked like a man who had just set down a heavy burden. As Julia turned to go upstairs, she was frowning. Funny that Adam cared so much whether she believed him about the woman in the picture. Strangely enough, it was the public he needed to convince of his fidelity, not his wife.

Wasn't it?

Back in the city the next morning, Julia was
surprised
to find Adam in the kitchen when she woke. He was usually gone to headquarters before dawn. "Good morning," he said. "How would you like your eggs today?"

"Um, well, scrambled, I guess." She blinked at him as he began cracking eggs into a ceramic bowl. "Don't you need to campaign or something?"

He shrugged as he used a fork to break the yolks. "I'm taking the morning off to be with my family. Besides, it's past time you saw the family ranch. It's less than an hour's drive."

"Your ranch?" She raised her eyebrows. "Is this your mother's idea?"

"Nope. She won't even be there."

"Good." The word slipped out before she could stop it.

Adam chuckled. "Didn't hit it off with her, huh? Well, you wouldn't be the first. Anyway, her favorite mare is racing today."

Julia was still trying to figure out what Adam was up to. Another suspicion crossed her mind. "Will this trip involve a camera crew?"

He shook his head. "Such a suspicious mind! No, I just want to spend some time with you and Danny. Is that a crime? Maybe we'll have a picnic."

Danny slipped into the kitchen in time to hear Adam's last remark. "A picnic? Neat." He eyed the raw eggs with disdain. "Hey, can I have pancakes instead?"

"No," Julia said.

"Sure," Adam said, at the same moment.

"Mom?"

She threw up her hands. "I'm outnumbered here. Go ahead."