‘Something like that,’ he said, with a smile.
Fletcher was about to go across and shake hands with the state’s team, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Rebecca Elliot still sitting in the witness stand waiting for the court to clear. Her head was bowed, and she looked forlorn and lonely.
‘I know it’s hard to believe,’ said Fletcher, ‘but I actually feel sorry for her.’
‘You should,’ said Nat, ‘because one thing’s for certain, Ralph Elliot would have murdered his wife if he had thought it would win him the election.’
Book six
Revelation
49
Fletcher sat in his Senate office reading the morning papers the day after the trial.
‘What an ungrateful lot,’ he said, passing the Hartford Courant across to his daughter.
‘You should have left him to fry,’ said Lucy as she glanced at the latest opinion poll figures.
‘Expressed with your usual elegance and charm,’ said Fletcher. ‘It does make me wonder if all the money I’ve spent sending you to Hotchkiss has been worthwhile, not to mention what Vassar is going to cost me.’
‘I may not be going to Vassar, Dad,’ said Lucy in a quieter voice.
‘Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?’ asked Fletcher, picking up on his daughter’s change of tone.
‘Yes, Dad, because even though Vassar has offered me a place, I may not be able to take it up.’
Fletcher couldn’t always be certain when Lucy was kidding and when she was serious, but as she had asked to see him in his office and not to mention the meeting to Annie, he had to assume she was in earnest. ‘What’s the problem?’ he asked quietly, looking across the desk at her.
Lucy didn’t meet his stare. She bowed her head and said, ‘I’m pregnant.’
Fletcher didn’t reply immediately as he tried to take in his daughter’s confession. ‘Is George the father?’ he eventually asked,
‘Yes,’ she replied.
‘And are you going to marry him?’
Lucy thought about the question for some time before replying. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I adore George, but I don’t love him.’
‘But you were willing to let him make love to you.’
‘That’s not fair,’ said Lucy. ‘It was the Saturday night after the election for president, and I’m afraid we both had a little too much to drink. To be honest, I was sick of being described by everyone in my class as the virgin president. And if I had to lose my virginity, I couldn’t think of anyone nicer than George, especially after he admitted that he was also a virgin. In the end I’m not sure who seduced who.’
‘How does George feel about all this? After all, it’s his child as well as yours and he struck me as rather a serious young man, especially when it came to his feelings for you.’
‘He doesn’t know yet.’
‘You haven’t told him?’ said Fletcher in disbelief.
‘No.’
‘How about your mother?’
‘No,’ she repeated. ‘The only person I’ve shared this with is you.’ This time she did look her father in the eye, before adding, ‘Let’s face it, Dad, Mom was probably still a virgin on the day you married her.’
‘And so was I,’ said Fletcher, ‘but you’re going to have to let her know before it becomes obvious to everyone.’
‘Not if I were to have an abortion.’
Again Fletcher remained silent for some time, before saying, ‘Is that what you really want?’
‘Yes, Dad, but please don’t tell Mom, because she wouldn’t understand.’
‘I’m not sure I do myself,’ said Fletcher.
‘Are you pro-women’s choice for everyone except your daughter?’ asked Lucy.
‘It won’t last,’ said Nat, staring at the headline in the Hartford Courant.
‘What won’t?’ said Su Ling as she poured him another coffee.
‘My seven-point lead in the polls. In a few weeks’ time the electorate won’t even remember which one of us was on trial.’
‘I guess she’ll still remember,’ said Su Ling quietly as she glanced over her husband’s shoulder at a photograph of Rebecca Elliot walking down the courtroom steps, every hair no longer in place. ‘Why did she ever marry him?’ she said almost to herself.
‘I’m just thankful it wasn’t me who married Rebecca,’ said Nat. ‘Let’s face it, if Elliot hadn’t copied my thesis and prevented me going to Yale we would never have met, to start with,’ said Nat, taking his wife’s hand.
‘I just wish I’d been able to have more children,’ said Su Ling, her voice still subdued. ‘I miss Luke so much.’
‘I know,’ said Nat, ‘but I’ll never regret running up that particular hill, at that particular time, on that particular day.’
‘And I’m glad I took the wrong path,’ said Su Ling, ‘because I couldn’t love you any more. But I’d have willingly given up my life if it would have meant saving Luke’s.’
‘I suspect that would be true of most parents,’ said Nat, looking at his wife, ‘and you could certainly include your mother, who sacrificed everything for you, and doesn’t deserve to have been treated so cruelly.’
‘Don’t worry about my mother,’ said Su Ling, snapping out of her maudlin mood. ‘I went round to see her yesterday only to find the shop packed with dirty old men bringing in their even dirtier laundry, secretly hoping that she’s running a massage parlour upstairs.’
Nat burst out laughing. ‘And to think we kept it secret for all those years. I would certainly never have believed that the day would come when I would be able to laugh about it.’
‘She says if you become governor, she’s going to open a string of shops right across the state. Her advertising slogan will be “we wash your dirty linen in public”.’
‘I always knew that there was some overriding reason I still needed to be governor,’ said Nat as he rose from the table.
‘And who has the privilege of your company today?’ asked Su Ling.
‘The good folk of New Canaan,’ said Nat.
‘So when will you be home?’
‘Just after midnight would be my guess.’
‘Wake me,’ she said.
‘Hi, Lucy,’ said Jimmy as he strolled into her father’s office. ‘Is the great man free?’
‘Yes, he is,’ said Lucy as she rose from her chair.
Jimmy glanced back as she slipped out of the room. Was it his imagination or had she been crying? Fletcher didn’t speak until she’d closed the door. ‘Good morning, Jimmy,’ he said as he pushed the paper to one side, leaving the photograph of Rebecca staring up at him.
‘Do you think they’ll arrest her?’ asked Jimmy.
Fletcher glanced back down at the photograph of Rebecca. ‘I don’t think they’ve been left with much choice, but if I were sitting on a jury I would acquit, because I found her story totally credible.’
‘Yes, but then you know what Elliot was capable of. A jury doesn’t.’
‘But I can hear him saying, If you won’t do it, then I’ll have to kill you, and don’t think I wouldn’t.’
‘I wonder if you would have remained at Alexander Dupont and Bell if Elliot hadn’t joined the firm.’
‘One of those twists of fate,’ said Fletcher, as if his mind was on something else. ‘So what have you got lined up for me?’
‘We’re going to spend the day in Madison.’
‘Is Madison worth a whole day?’ asked Fletcher, ‘when it’s such a solid Republican district?’
‘Which is precisely why I’m getting it out of the way while there’s still a few weeks to go,’ said Jimmy, ‘though ironically their votes have never influenced the outcome of the election.’