By Design: Books 4-6, page 24
“Jay Jay!” Spencer called out. “Nana says time-out for naughty words.”
Jonah covered his face to hide his amusement as Jameson groaned.
“Nana’s right. I’m sorry, Spence. Can we maybe skip the time-out this time?”
Spencer shook his head and pointed to Jameson’s chair. “No, Jay Jay. Nana says.”
Jonah thought he might collapse from lack of oxygen, he started laughing so hard.
“Laugh it up, Daddy,” Jameson whispered in his ear before heading to her chair. “Your time will come.”
“How many minutes does JD have to sit in time-out?” Jonah asked Spencer seriously.
Spencer tapped the pencil in his hand against his head, just as he had watched Jameson do when she was thinking. He looked over at a sullen Jameson and back at his uncle. “Two hours!”
“What?” Jameson asked.
“Nana says.”
“Nana makes you sit for two minutes.”
Spencer smiled and pointed at Jameson. “Two, Jay Jay. You sit for two hours!”
“Guess I will get you some coffee,” Jonah said. “Looks like you’ll be here a while.”
Jameson shot Jonah a menacing look. “No sense of time, Jonah.”
“Quiet, Jay Jay. Nana says no talking in time-out.”
Jonah snickered. “Spencer? Would you like a drink?” he asked his nephew. Spencer nodded. “Okay, I will be back with something in two hours. Then you’ll know it’s time to let JD up. Okay?”
Spencer pondered the offer. He looked at Jameson and then back at Jonah. He pursed his small lips and nodded dramatically. “Kay.”
“Was that your mother?” Pearl asked Michelle. Michelle placed her phone back in her pocket and shook her head. “Shell?”
“Yeah, it was her,” Michelle responded. “Handing me my ass again,” she muttered.
“What was that?” Pearl asked.
“Nothing.”
Pearl raised her brow at Michelle.
“Ugh, not you too,” Michelle said.
“What did you do to earn it?” Pearl asked.
“What makes you think I did anything?” Michelle asked, sounding both frustrated and slightly defeated.
Pearl grabbed hold of Michelle’s hand and led her to a small loveseat in the room. She pulled Michelle down to sit beside her. Just like her older sister, Michelle at times forgot that she was not Candace’s mother. She was a great deal like her mother—outgoing, bright and able to relate to people easily. It had not surprised Pearl when Candace had offered Michelle a job on her campaign and Michelle had accepted. That had transcended into a job working for Bill DeGrasso. And, in the end analysis, that meant Candace was still the boss.
“Nice try, kiddo,” Pearl replied. “What happened?”
“She’s stubborn! That’s what happened!”
Pearl’s brow rose again. “Mm. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Grandma! God! She doesn’t listen!”
“You mean that she doesn’t agree with you,” Pearl surmised.
“No, I mean she won’t see reason. How does someone that idealistic make it as far as she has?” Michelle mused.
Pearl snickered. She wished Michelle could see and hear herself. She reminded Pearl of a young Candace at times, although Candace had never had the flair for dramatics that Michelle possessed. Pearl chuckled again thinking perhaps that particular attribute had skipped a generation. Candace’s mother had certainly possessed it in droves.
“What’s funny about that?” Michelle asked. Pearl grinned. “Grandma Pearl! It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is. I wish you could see yourself right now. I’m not sure who I see more—your mother or your grandmother,” Pearl laughed.
“Grandma? How am I like Grandma?” Michelle asked indignantly. “I was never a debutante.”
“No, but I’ll bet you could have been an actress with those theatrics of yours. You sure didn’t get that from my Candy and face it your father is a bit dry—if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t think I am being dramatic.”
“I know,” Pearl replied. “That’s the point.”
“She’s walking into a five-alarm blaze,” Michelle observed.
“No, she’s approaching a flicker that she’d like to extinguish—to use your colorful analogy.”
“Grandma.”
“Shell,” Pearl warned Michelle. “Your mother knows what she is doing. If she handed you your ass, you deserved it. So, what did you say?”
“I just asked why she had advisers if she had no intention of listening to their advice.”
Pearl winced. Candace always listened to the advice of her colleagues and staff. That had always been one of the first things people who had worked with Candace commented on. She was action oriented, not prone to reaction. Candace looked for information before making decisions. Once she made a decision, she tended to stick by it. Michelle’s words would not simply have annoyed Candace, they had likely offended her.
Pearl shook her head at Michelle and sighed.
“What? She…”
“You know that is not true, Shell. Just because she didn’t agree with you or someone else doesn’t mean she didn’t listen to you.”
“She didn’t listen to any of us,” Michelle replied. “We all told her this was risky—in more ways than one.”
“Uh-huh. I’ve never known your mother to be reckless.”
“How about stubborn?”
“Oh? Who is being stubborn? You suddenly don’t trust her judgment?”
“God, are you sure that she is not your daughter for real? You sound just like her.”
Pearl smiled. “Um-hum. Look in the mirror lately?”
Michelle groaned. “She’s probably going to make him fire me.”
“No, but I’m guessing you might want to think about apologizing,” Pearl said.
“All I did was tell her the truth.”
“Sounds more like you accused her of dismissing your opinion,” Pearl surmised.
“I,” Michelle fumbled for a defense. She looked back at Pearl. “Grandma, it isn’t just me who is worried. She has a lot of things to deal with already. Safety aside, putting herself in this could compromise her political clout. She could easily alienate—”
Pearl shook her head. “Shell, I have been around politics most of my life,” she said. “I remember Candy’s granddad pacing his study at night for hours. I’ve watched your mother work forty-eight hours straight without sleep. One thing I have learned about them, they are always compromised in one way or another. And, Shell? The truth is that is just life. It doesn’t matter what you do. You are always faced with decisions in life that someone else will not agree with.”
Michelle sighed. “She’s furious with me right now.”
Pearl smiled and took Michelle’s hand. “Probably,” she agreed. “But she loves you. Have a little more faith in her,” she told Michelle. “She has it in you.”
Michelle nodded. “Maybe you should take a job here.”
Pearl roared with laughter. “No, thank you very much,” she shook her head. “This family is enough of a job already,” she said affectionately.
“Grandma?” Michelle began. Pearl looked at her. “Don’t you worry about her? Mom, I mean?”
Pearl’s smile softened. “Every day, Shell. But I have learned to let her fly. Just like she learned with you.”
Michelle nodded. “But someone has to look out for her. She is always looking out for everyone else.”
Pearl winked. “That’s who she is. You can look out for her. Just remember, she will never stop being your mother, not even here—even if she says she can.”
Candace sat on a folding chair facing Martha Jeffries. She had immediately been captivated by the woman. Anger, Candace expected, lurked beneath the shadows of shock and grief. Losing a child brought about an unimaginable pain that left a hole in one’s soul forever. Tyrone Jeffries, Martha had shared, had been a precocious little boy that had grown into a curious teenager. Candace had learned that Tyrone was a good student with an affinity for music and art. He had tried his hand at sports, but Martha had laughed at that. “Gangly,” she chuckled. “More coordinated with his hands than his legs,” she had joked.
There were no words of true comfort that Candace could offer the woman sitting before her. She knew that. She listened to the woman’s stories, impressed by her obvious intellect and affection for her children. When Martha shared the fact that her father had been a New York Police Officer until his death four years earlier, Candace had been stunned. How, she had immediately wondered, had no one uncovered that fact.
“Tyrone loved to follow him around,” Martha told Candace. “My father was a big man, almost 6 feet five. I think he scared most people on sight,” she laughed. “But, in truth, he was just a big teddy bear. I think Tyrone wanted to be him to tell you the truth. “
Candace smiled. Her thoughts immediately traveled to Spencer’s need for a bigger tool belt. “I think I understand,” she said. Candace looked down at her phone in concern when it beeped.
“It’s okay,” Martha said genuinely, when Candace looked at her phone.
A smile touched Candace’s lips when she opened the message. “It’s from my son.”
“I hope everything is all right,” Martha said honestly.
Candace looked back at the woman in awe. Genuine concern painted her expression. “It seems my grandson put my wife in time-out,” she explained. Martha smiled. Candace passed her the phone to see the picture Jonah had snapped of Jameson sulking behind her desk with Spencer staring at her from the drafting table.
“What did she do?” Martha asked.
“Colorful language, I would expect,” Candace said.
Martha looked at the governor knowingly. “You’ve lost a child too.”
Candace sighed. She was certain that Martha was referring to Rick. She made the decision to share a truth that she discussed with few people. “Two, actually,” she confessed.
Martha looked at the governor curiously. “Between my eldest and my middle child,” Candace told her. “He was born with a congenital heart defect,” Candace explained. “It—Well, he made it for two days,” Candace said softly.
“What was his name?” Martha asked.
“Lucas,” Candace replied.
“I’ll bet he was beautiful.”
It was a time in Candace’s life that no one made mention of. It had been a time that had nearly killed Candace. Candace smiled in spite of the tears that gathered in her eyes. “He was.”
Martha reached over and took Candace’s hands. “Seems we have something in common,” she said. “Losing children before their time.”
“I promise you,” Candace began. “There will be accountability.”
“I believe you,” Martha said. “Now, I have to worry about my other two out there in that mess. And, my daddy? He would be madder than hell, but he would be worried about his friends.”
“I will do whatever I can.”
“It would help, wouldn’t it? If people knew Ty’s granddaddy had a badge,” Martha guessed.
“Probably,” Candace admitted.
“Mm. Tell me, Governor Reid—”
“Candace,” Candace told Martha. “Call me Candace, please.”
Martha smiled. “He would have liked you.”
“Who?” Candace wondered.
“Ty. He would’ve liked you.”
“I’m certain that I would have liked him,” Candace said.
“Tell me, why do you do this?” Martha asked curiously.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Candace confessed.
“Well, seems you have a lovely family—kids and grandkids. I see you all on the news. Why do this? Deal with all of this?” Martha wanted to know.
Candace considered her answer for a moment. “Well, I suppose in a way I do it for them, even if they don’t think so,” she said. “But, my Granddad—he always told me that if you were lucky enough to have a full life, more than enough to eat, a place to feel safe, a chance for an education and to see the world—Well, you owed it to others to try to make it better for them too. Some people, he would say, were given every opportunity and wasted them all. And too many people looked for any opportunity and couldn’t seem to find them.”
Martha nodded. She and Governor Candace Reid came from different worlds and yet the more she listened to the governor speak, the less she saw the state in the stateswoman.
“He would have liked you,” Candace told Martha. “My Granddad. I know it sounds—Well, empty. I am sorry for your loss.”
“It’s only empty when someone doesn’t mean it,” Martha said. “Could I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you finally ever believe it is real? That they’re gone?”
Candace clasped Martha’s hands more firmly. “I’m not sure that you do—no. Maybe because for us they never really are.”
Candace watched as the floodgates opened and a strangled cry broke forth from the depths of Martha Jeffries’ soul. Candace pulled the younger woman to her and held her close. She spoke no words. Instead, she allowed her tears to fall with the stranger who somehow seemed more like a sister now in her embrace. Life could be incredibly unfair, death even more so. Candace looked up momentarily and caught Dana’s empathetic gaze. Dana moved in front of the two women to shield them from any prying eyes. No longer were they a governor and her constituent. They were simply two mothers who understood the pain of loss that never truly ceased.
18
“How was JD?” Laura asked Jonah as she put little Jameson in his crib.
Jonah sighed. “I don’t know. Something was on her mind, I could tell.”
“She’s probably worried about your mom,” Laura guessed.
“Yeah, but it’s not just that,” he said. Jonah started chuckling. “You should have seen her face when Spencer put her in time-out for saying ‘shit.’”
“I think he wants to be her.”
Jonah nodded. “He sat at that drafting table for nearly three hours until JD finally bribed him with chicken fingers to leave.”
“You worried about JD?”
“Not really worried. I just wonder what is going through her head.”
“You don’t think they are having problems, do you?” Laura asked with concern.
“Who? Mom and JD?” he asked. Laura nodded. “Nah. I’ve heard them arguing a few times, but it never lasts. It’s not that,” he said.
“Why not just ask her?” Laura suggested. “What’s on her mind, I mean?” she clarified. Jonah shrugged. Laura took a seat next to him on the bed. “Jonah?”
“I just hope it’s not me.”
“What are you talking about?” Laura asked.
“What if she’s disappointed in me? I mean, she’s given Mel and me a lot of authority. What if I screwed up and she’s afraid to tell me? Maybe she’s mad that we moved here.”
Laura smiled at Jonah and kissed him on the cheek. “JD loves you.”
“JD cares about all of us because she loves Mom.”
Laura shook her head. “No. I think you know it’s more than that. I doubt she’s mad. Maybe she just misses having you around.”
“I doubt that,” Jonah snickered. “I would think Marianne and the kids would be enough.”
“Mm.”
“What?”
“I think you might be missing a few things there,” Laura said. “JD is dealing with a lot of change, too. Your mom has been away. We’re here in Albany. She’s trying to walk in between here and there to help Marianne. Maybe you should take a ride to the house and hang out with her and Spencer for a day. Take JJ with you, and the four of you can hang out.”
“Need a break?” Jonah teased his girlfriend.
“I wouldn’t complain.”
Jonah groaned. He’d been working long hours for a few weeks. “I haven’t been much help lately.”
“You’re working for your wicked step-mother. I’ve read the stories. I know what to expect.”
Jonah laughed. Laura had a unique way of relieving his worries. He looked at her lovingly, realizing not for the first time how lucky he was. “You know, one of these days she’ll be your wicked stepmother too,” he said.
Laura leaned in and kissed Jonah gently. “I’ve already scrubbed her floors, so I’ll be prepared.”
“I think you’re spending too much time with Grandma Pearl,” Jonah surmised.
“She’s a smart woman,” Laura said.
“Yeah, she is.”
“Seriously, Jonah. Talk to JD. She’s like your big sister.”
“Not really,” he said quietly.
Laura grinned. “You really see her as another parent, don’t you?”
“I guess, I do. I don’t want to disappoint them. They’ve done so much for us.”
“Yes, they have. Wouldn’t you do the same for JJ?”
“I’d do anything for him,” Jonah said assuredly.
“Well, there’s your answer. Stop worrying and talk to JD.”
“How’d you get so smart?”
“Someone told me to listen. I took her advice.”
Jonah nodded. “Too much time with Grandma.”
Laura winked. She knew that Jonah was referring to Pearl. It was true. She had been spending a great deal of time with Pearl since she and Jonah had moved east. Pearl spent every Wednesday in Albany. She stayed with JJ in the morning so that Laura could take a class and then tried to visit with Candace later in the day. But Laura had not been referring to Pearl’s sage wisdom. She also had been spending a fair amount of time with Candace. And what Jonah didn’t know was that Candace called Laura at least three times a week to check in. Candace had taken on a motherly role in Laura’s life, filling a void that her family’s rejection had left. It made it easy for Laura to understand Jonah’s feelings toward Jameson.
Jonah had never been close to his father. While he loved his mother, Laura also knew that his relationship with Candace had been strengthened by Candace’s marriage to Jameson. Jameson and Jonah clicked. Jonah trusted Jameson, and Jameson seemed to have tapped into Jonah’s passions, unlike anyone in his life before. Laura often thought it uncanny how much alike Jonah and Jameson were. Laura was a great deal like Candace. She saw the world similarly, and Candace had recognized that fact early on. It left Laura with the notion that people were brought together for many reasons. Families were not always defined by the blood they shared. There were elements that ran deeper than blood—love, for instance.
