When Romance Prevails (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 3) (9 page)

BOOK: When Romance Prevails (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 3)
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“Birdie, eh?”

“I’ll tell you my sources once we get you reelected.”

Kerri looked back at the TV. Who would win this damnable election now?

 

As it turned out, nobody won.

Well, that’s a lie.
Of course somebody won the election. Somebody
always
won an election, whether they expected to or not. In Raymond Mitchell’s case, he conceded the election at 11PM that following Tuesday. Kerri was there to watch her father’s position of power fall into textbook footnote disgrace.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I must part with you,” Raymond said at his podium in front of his few remaining supporters. Cameras rolled, but they were strictly for formality.
Nobody expected him to win after the gambling thing.
Nobody expected Terrence Hall to win either, and yet… “Your new governor is sure to do his best to bring you the care you need. My only hope is that he does as well of a job as I have.” Raymond smiled, but few people applauded.

“You did well,” Brenda told him as they went backstage. To Kerri she said, “You’ll have to start packing your things, of course. But I don’t recommend doing it until at least next week. Your father is going to take this hard.”

Kerri nodded. “I understand.” Not really. She didn’t understand a damn thing about this election. Especially not who won.

“Friends,” Terrence Hall said on a TV backstage. Kerri stood in front of it just to see Hunter flanking his father’s side. Ronnie Hall was notably absent.
“She left,”
Hunter had told his girlfriend two days ago.
“Just left in the night. I know where she is, but I haven’t told Father. She wants to be alone. She’s not taking any of this well.”
“Thank you for your support. I’m sorry we couldn’t get to the next stage.”

Without his wife to be his rock, Terrence had floundered in the last few days of his campaign. The media both chastised and applauded Ronnie for refusing to “stand by her man” when he finally admitted to his affair and other family. For years Terrence Hall had been supporting Madeline and Holly McCall. It was even insinuated that the cheater still kept up a relationship with the girl’s mother. The girl called him Papa. Hunter admitted that he had no idea how to take the news that he had a little sister, especially when it was revealed like this.

Only one man celebrated that night, and it was to the shock of every bipartisan supporter in the state – no, the region. National news took a break from talking about more important states to comment on the dark horse sweeping the election with a ten point lead over Raymond Mitchell. Now Joshua Payne stood with his smiling family in front of his house, the very place Kerri learned that her father was a gambling man.

“Thank you once again everyone for the outpouring of support tonight.” Dressed in his finest suit, Joshua smiled the biggest grin of his life while his two boys hopped up and down in jubilation behind him. His wife, a tall, quiet woman of modest dress, also smiled in admiration. “We didn’t believe it was possible. But we did believe in miracles, and today I stand before you as your first third-party governor in over one-hundred years.”

The applause was thunderous. No doubt many of the people on Joshua’s front lawn were detractors from both the Mitchell and Hall camps. “Traitors,” Raymond grumbled as he drank soda and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “The whole lot of them. Traitors!”

“That’s politics,” Kerri mumbled. Her mother looked at her but said nothing.

“I bet you’re real happy, Kerri Kitty.” Raymond took another swig of soda.

“Why would I be happy?”

Raymond snorted. “That boyfriend of yours damn near tried to ruin everything. But now look at him. Standing next to his fallen father. Bah. What a pair that Hall and I make this year.”

Kerri wasn’t sure how that was supposed to make her happy. But she was happy, yes. Happy that this was over, and the love of her life still found something to smile about on TV. When he looked up at the camera, it was as if he stared right into Kerri’s eyes and gave her a kiss for luck. Neither of them needed it anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO MONTHS LATER

 

One week remained before the Mitchells were required to vacate the Governor’s Mansion. By that time Kerri’s room was completely gutted: her clothing was in trunks and suitcases, her linens packed neatly into boxes, and her items carefully wrapped in even more boxes.
We’re going home.
Of course it had been years since Kerri was last “home,” an old Victorian in the southern part of the state where they sometimes spent holidays. Raymond never sold it because even he knew that one day his reign as governor would come to an end.

“Kerri?” Brenda knocked on the open door. “It’s time.”

A large suitcase followed Kerri out into the hallway. An empty hallway, save for the decorations that were considered state property and thus would remain. Brenda quipped about her daughter having so much stuff, but didn’t hesitate to help her carry the suitcase down the grand staircase and to the foyer.

“Ready for lunch?” Brenda straightened out her pastel purple suit. Today her hair was coiffed to perfection, and her makeup more immaculate than anything she displayed in the old photo-ops.
No more of those for a while.
Raymond announced his intention to retire from the public sphere as he concentrated on overcoming his addiction. “Let’s get this over with.”

Kerri stopped her before they entered the dining room. “How do I look?” she asked, twirling in her harlot-uniform of a body hugging black dress and subtle gold jewelry. Brenda rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. Kerri stopped twirling and followed her into the dining room, where Hunter sat next to Raymond and forced the conversation of the new year.

“…Respectable, I suppose.” Raymond’s hands were clasped on his stomach while a maid set the table for more guests. “I’m not a
fan
of his, No sir. But I suppose that he will be respectable. I just hope he doesn’t uproot all of those policies I put into place. Not like your
father
would have.”

Hunter maintained his politician’s smile while he nodded at Raymond. “I’m sure Governor Payne will do just fine during his tenure.”

“Governor! He ain’t governor yet!” Raymond’s knees bumped into the dining table shortly before his family walked in. “Oh, hello…”

Brenda sat next to her husband while Kerri found a space between him and Hunter. “What are you two talking about?” she asked, aware that her father was shooting laser beams over her head. While Raymond would not say he
blessed
the relationship between his daughter and Hunter Hall, he gave up fighting it, especially now that neither he nor Terrence won the election.
One step at a time.
Kerri took her boyfriend’s hand beneath the table.

The doorbell rang.

“Oh, that must be…” Brenda got up and insisted that the kids stay in their seats. Raymond grumbled something about “uninvited guests.” By the time Brenda returned from the foyer, she had in tow a tall man with a haggard face that was once considered one of “the most beautiful in the commercials.”

“Mitchell,” Terrence said through gritting teeth.

“Hall.”

Both men averted their eyes while Brenda showed Terrence to a seat far away from her husband, but still near everyone else.

When Brenda came up with the idea to “All have a meal together, because this is clearly something that is happening,” Kerri thought she was joking. Then the invitations were sent and Hunter nearly choked over the phone.

Now here was Terrence Hall, finally stepping into the Governor’s Mansion. It may have been on his own terms, but it was not what he had in mind over a year ago.

“Well, isn’t this a lovely afternoon?” Brenda, always the perfect hostess, summoned the maids to start bringing out lunch. She flashed a smile at her daughter and then spared a smaller one for Hunter. “I’m so glad to see the weather clearing up. I wasn’t sure it was going to after that most recent storm.”

Throats cleared. The tension between both older men was thick enough to need a chainsaw to cut through.

The doorbell rang again.

Nobody got up in time before someone came marching through the door, scaring a pair of maids as they started to bring out the bread and salad. Hunter got up, however, when his mother appeared in the entryway, her nails prime to slash open the back of Terrence’s head.
What a friendly divorce.
Ronnie filed over a month ago and now lived in her own apartment downtown. Hunter didn’t blame her. Neither did Kerri.

“Oh for goodness sake.” She ignored Brenda, the woman she once smacked in the face, as she tried to get Ronnie to sit anywhere but next to her former husband. “Look at this ass just sitting here like he was supposed to rule this roost. You lost, Terrence! Get over it! Our son’s sleeping with the enemy, as you put it.”

The room fell deathly quiet.

Ronnie grunted, tossed her coat onto the chair next to Terrence’s, pulled it out, and slammed her rear into it. “Hello, son,” she said with a manicured smile. “Hello, Kerri.”

They both nodded to her. Kerri had spent more than one meal with the Halls thus far, although never together. Terrence never knew what to say to her. Ronnie, on the other hand, was the first of the four parents to welcome the relationship with open arms. She was probably relieved that
someone
around there had a good bond.

“Well,” Raymond said, his seat squeaking as he readjusted himself in this strange impasse. “We’re all here. For the love God, don’t tell us you two kids are getting married.”

Kerri could hear the disdain in her father’s voice.
Last thing he wants is to be legally tied to the Halls.
“We’re not getting married.” A collective sigh was let out around the table.

“Not yet, anyway.” Hunter didn’t seem to care when his parents glared at him.

“No, it’s not as grand as a wedding, but we did want to announce something special.” Kerri smiled at her boyfriend, one hand going on his shoulder as she attempted to contain her excitement. “We’ve decided to take a trip together. Italy. Next month.”

The only one not shifting in their seats was Brenda, whose face lit up as she finally heard those magic words. “At least you’re telling us this time,” Ronnie mumbled.

“It’ll be good to get away for a while. In a more… conventional manner.”

Raymond leaned forward, his snarl about to bite Hunter’s face off. “You respect my daughter, son. You don’t do a damn thing that…”

“Raymond.” Brenda pushed him back into his seat. “They’re adults, dear. Or did you forget? Hunter’s a good boy.”

“That’s right!” The silverware on the table jangled when Terrence slammed his fist on it. Ronnie jumped beside him, but Brenda looked as if she were used to these kinds of outbursts. “My son does right by every woman he dates. Damnit, Mitchell, not every young pair of kids dating has to be bad.”

Everyone stared at him as if he were drunk. Hunter broke the silence by saying, “This lunch could be going a lot worse.”

It neither got worse nor better. Brenda tried to steer the conversation toward how lovely Italy was any time of the year, while Raymond grumbled into his wine glass; Terrence looked around the dining hall as if he would never be back again, and Ronnie spun a knife in the table whilst staring down her ex-husband.
These people need help.
The Mitchells and Halls, together at last. Maybe they could get a discount on group therapy.

The doorbell rang a final time near the end of lunch. The Mitchells looked up and then at one another. “Are we expecting someone?” Brenda asked. When Raymond shook his head, it fell to Kerri to get up and see who it was. Hunter came with her.

“Ah, if it isn’t Romeo and Juliet.” Joshua Payne took off his sunglasses the moment Kerri opened the front door. “Still alive, I see. I do love a new spin on an old tale.”

“Who is it?” Raymond called from the dining room.

“Tell your father that when he gets the chance, I would love to step in and take a look around.” A car pulled up the driveway, full of Mrs. Payne and the little Paynelings. Both boys pointed excitedly at the Governor’s Mansion. “I was supposed to come by to scope things out tomorrow, but I’m afraid I have a … thing.”

Kerri was worried her father would be irate at the interruption. Instead he appeared pleased to get the hell away from Terrence and distract himself with anyone else – even if that was his replacement. The Halls remained in the dining room while Brenda got up to show the Paynes around the estate. Both Payne boys dashed into the living area to stare at the flat screen TV that once delivered quite a few shocking stories.

“And how is my favorite couple faring?” Joshua asked while his sons raved about the video games they were going to hook up to this TV. “Glad to see you’re still together. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the reason things finally quiet down around here.”

In politics, that was never possible. “We’re going to Italy,” Hunter said. “Ever been?”

“No, I can’t say I have. And I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Except here.”

Both he and Hunter shared one of those knowing smiles men liked to flash each other. Kerri scoffed, but said nothing.

BOOK: When Romance Prevails (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 3)
12.37Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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