The Prodigal Daughter (66 page)

“Now listen and
listen carefully. The Vice President took on too much responsibility in my
absence and I must now find a way out of this mess without egg landing on all
our faces. I’m sure you agree, General.”

“Anything you
say, Mr. President, but in the circumstances I’d stick with it.”

“There are wider
considerations that go beyond the military. So I want you to-”

A shout went up
from the far side of the room from a hitherto unknown colonel. For a moment he
stopped even the President from speaking.

“What is it?”
shouted Parkin.

The colonel now
stood at attention. “The Russian fleet has turned back and is now heading
south,” he said, reading a cable.

The President
was speechless. The unknown colonel continued: “The MIG 25s and SU 7s are
flying northwest to Moscow.” A cheer went up, drowning out the rest of the
colonel’s pronouncements. Telexes buzzed out confirmation all over the room.

“General,” said
Parkin, turning to the chairman, “we’ve won. It’s a triumphant day for you and
America.” He hesitated for a moment before adding, “And I want you to know that
I’m proud to have led my country through this hour of peril.”

No one in the
Situation Room laughed and Brooks quickly added, “Congratulations, Mr.
President.” Everyone started cheering again, while several personnel walked
over to congratulate Florentyna.

“General, bring
youi boys home. They*ve carried out a fantastic operation. Congratulations -you
did a great job.”

“Thank you, Mr.
President,” said General Dixon. “But I feel the praise should go to-”

The President
turned to Ralph Brooks and said, “This calls for a celebration, Ralph. All of
you will remember this day for the rest of your lives. The day we showed the
world America couldn’t be pushed around.”

Florentyna was
now standing in the center as if she had had nothing to do with what had
happened in that room. She left a few minute~, later because the President
continued to ignore her. She returned to her office on the second floor and put
away the red file and slammed the cabinet closed. No wonder Richard had
never
voted Democratic.

“A gentleman’s
been waiting for you since seven thirty, were the first words the butler said
when she returned to her home on Observatory Circle.

“Good God,” said
Florentyna out loud and rushed through to the drawing room where she found
Edward, eyes closed, slumped on the sofa in front of the fire. She kissed him
on the forehead and he woke immediately.

“Ah, my dear,
been rescuing the world from a fate worse than death, no doubt?”

“Something like
that,” said Florentyna, pacing up and down as she told Edward everything that
had happened at the White House that evening. Edward had never seen her so
angry.

“Well, I’ll say
one thing for Pete Parkin,” Edward said, when’she had reached the end of her
story. “He’s consistent.

“He won’t be
after tomorrow.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Precisely
that.
I’m going to hold a press conference in the morning to let everybody know
exactly what happened. I’m sick and tired of his devious and irresponsible
behavior, and I know that inost people who were in the Situation Room tonight
will confirm everything I’ve told you.”

“That would be
both rash and
irresponsible ,
said Edward, staring
into the fire in front of him.

“Why?” said
Florentyna, surprised.

“Because
America would be left with a lame duck president.
You might be
the hero of the hour, but within days you would be despised.”

“But…” began
Florentyna.

“No buts. On
this occasion you’ll have to swallow your pride and be satisfied with using
what happened tonight as a weapon to remind Parkin of his agreement over the
one-term Presidency.”

“And let him get
away with it?”

“And let America
get away with it,” said Edward firmly.

Florentyna
continued pacing and didn’t speak for several minutes. “You’re right,” she said
finally. “I was being shortsighted. Thank you.”

“So might I have
been if I had experienced what you went through at first hand.”

Florentyna
laughed. “Come on,” she said and stopped pacing for the first time. “Let’s have
something to eat. You must be starving.”

“No, no,” said
Edward, looking at his watch. “Although I must confess, V.P., you’re the first
girl who’s kept me waiting three and a half hours for a dinner date.”

Early the next
morning the President phoned her.

“That was a
great job you did yesterday, Florentyna, and I appreciate the way you carried
out the earlier part of the operation.”

“You hardly
showed it at the time, Mr. President,” she said, barely controlling her anger.

“I intend to
address the nation today,” said Parkin, ignoring Florentyna’s (omment, “and
although this isn’t the time to tell them I shall not be seeking re-election,
when the time does come I shall remember your loyalty.”

The President
addressed the nation at eight o’clock that night on all three networks. Other
than a passing mention of Florentyna he left the distinct impression that he
had been in complete control of operations when the Russians turned back.

One or two
national newspapers suggested that the Vice President had been involved in the
negotiations with the Russian leader, but as Florentyna was not available to
confirm this, Parkin’s version went almost unchallenged.

Two days later
Florentyna was sent to Paris for the funeral of Giscard d’13--staing. -By the
time she returned to Washington the public was worked up about the final game
of the World Series and Parkin was a national hero.

When the first
primary was little more than eighteen months away, Florentyna told Edward that
the time had come to start planning for the 1996 Presidential campaign.
To.
that
end, Florentyna accepted
invitations to speak all over America, and during the year she addressed voters
in thirty-three states. She was delighted to find that wherever she went the
public took it for granted she was going to be the next President. Her
relationship with Pete Parkin remained cordial, but she had had to remind the
President that the time was drawing near for him to make the announcement about
his intentions to serve only one term in office, so that she could officially
launch her campaign.

One Monday in
July, when she had returned to Washington from a speaking engagement in
Nebraska, she found a note from the President saying that he would be making
those intentions clear in a statement to the nation that Thursday. Edward had
already started work on a strategic outline for a 1996 campaign so that as soon
as the President had announced that he would not be running again, the Kane
effort would be ready to move into high gear.

“His timing is
perfect, V.P.,” he said. “We have fourteen months before the election campaign
and you needn’t even declare
You’re
the candidate
before October.”

Florentyna sat
alone in the Vice President’s office that Thursday evening waiting for the
President to deliver his statement. The three networks were carrying his speech
and all of them had talked of the rumor that, at sixty-six, Parkin was not
considering a second term. Florentyna waited impatiently as a camera panned
down from the faqade of the White House and into the Oval Office, where
President Parkin sat behind his desk.

“My fellow
Americans,” he began, “I have always believed in keeping you informed of my
plans as I do not want any speculation about m) personal future as to whether I
shall be running again for this onerous office in fourteen months’
time”Florentyna smiled-1 therefore wish to take this opportunity to make my
intentions clear so that I can complete this session without involving myself
in party politics.” Florentyna nearly leaped out of her seat in delight as
Parkin now leaned forward in what the press referred to as “his sincere stance”
before continuing. “The President’s job is here in the Oval Office serving the
people and to that end I announce that although I shall be a candidate for
President at the next election, I will leave the electioneering to my
Republican
opponents
whil6 I continue to work for your
best interests in the White House. I hope you will allow me the privilege of
serving you for another four years. God bless you all.”

Florentyna was
speechless for some moments. Finally she picked up the phone by her side and
dialed the Oval Office. A woman’s voice answered.

“I’m on my way
to see the President immediately.” Florentyna slammed down the phone and walked
out of her room toward the Oval Office.

The President’s
private secretary met her at the door. “The President is in conference right
now, but I expect him to be free at any moment.”

Florentyna paced
up and down the corridor for thirty-seven minutes before she was finally shown
in.

“Pete Parkin.
You’re a liar and a cheat,” she said, spitting out the words even before the
door had closed.

“Now
just a minute, Florentyna.
I feel for the good of the nation-”

“For the good of
Pete Park-in, who can’t keep his end of any
bargain.
God help this country. Well, I can tell you one thing: I am not willing to run
as your Vice President for a second
tenn
.”

“I’m sony to
hear that,” said the President, sitting down in his chair anti making a note on
the pad in front of him. “
but
I naturally accept your
decision with regret. Not that it would have made a lot of difference.”

“What do you
mean?” said Florentyna.

“I wasn’t
intending to ask you to join me on the ticket for a second time, but you have
made the whole problem a lot easier for me by refusing to be considered. The
party will now understand why I had to look to someone else for the coming
election.”

“You would lose
the election if I ran against you.”

“No, Florentyna,
we would both lose and the Republicans might even win the Senate and the House.
That wouldn’t make you the most popular little lady in town.”

“You won’t get
my backing in Chicago. No President has ever won the election without Illinois
and they will never forgive you. “

“They might if I
replace one former senator from the state with another.”

Florentyna
turned cold. “You wouldn’t dare,” she said.

“If I pick Ralph
Brooks, I think you will find he is a popular enough choice. So will the people
of Illinois when I say that I see him as my natural successor in five years’
time.”

Florentyna left
without another word. She must have been the only person who had ever slammed
the Oval Office door.

W
HEN FLORENTYNA
WENT OVER THE DETAILS of the Parkin meeting for E~dward the following Saturday
on the golf course at Cape Coo, he confessed that the news, came as no great
surprise.

“He
mav not he much of a President.
but
he knows
more about Machiavellian politics than Nixon and Johnson put together.”

“I should have
listened to you in Detroit when you warned me this would happen.”

“What did your
father always say about Henry Osborne?
Once a skunk, always a
skunk.”

There was a
slight breeze and Florentyna threw a few blades of grass into the air to
determine its direction. Satisfied, she took a ball from her golf bag, set it
up and hit a long drive. To her surprise the wind took the ball slightly to the
right and into some brush.

“Didn’t properly
anticipate the wind, V.P., did you?” volunteered Edward.

I can only
believe this must be my day to beat you, Florentyna.” He hit his ball right
down the center of the fairway but twenty yards shorter than Florentyna’s.

“Things are bad,
Edward, but not that bad,” she said smiling, and proceeded to take the first
hole with a chip out of the rough and a long putt.

“Early days,”
said Edward as they were about to tee off on the second hole.

He asked
Florentyna about her future plans.

“Parkin is
fight: I can’t make a fuss, because such an outburst would only play into the
hands of the Republicans, so I have decided to be realistic about my future.”

“And what does
that mean?”

“I’ll see the
remaining fourteen months out as Vice President and then I’d like to return to
New York as chairman of the Baron Group. I’ve had an almost unique view of the
company since my continual traveling around the globe, and I think I’ll be able
to effect some new ideas that could put us far in front of any of our
competitors .

“Then it sounds as
though we have an interesting time ahead of us,” Edward said, smiling as he
joined her to walk to the second green. He tried to concentrate on his game
while Florentyna went on talking.