They met Angie and Richard on the stairs, and walked down together. Richard had on a dark suit, and Angie had chosen a simple, dark gray dress. Dar was the last on the stairs and had the best view of what waited below. There was a small crowd in the foyer, men mostly, with a few women, and a local television reporter. As they descended they were spotted, and Dar watched the reactions.
Interesting. Eyes fastened on her, and she coolly returned the stares. The television reporter broke off his speech with an older man and turned and hurried in their direction. “Here we go,” Dar murmured, giving Kerry’s back a tiny scratch.
Kerry’s shoulder blades shifted and she stiffened as they reached the foot of the stairs and were met by both the reporter and the stares of the gathered crowd. As she expected, the reporter made a beeline for her, and she met his eyes steadily as he advanced.
“Ms. Stuart?” The man seemed a little more excited than the situation warranted. “Can I get a word with you?”
Kerry sighed inwardly. “Sure.” She stepped to one side and allowed the others to move on. Dar, naturally, didn’t. Angie gave her a sympathetic look as she edged past. “What can I help you with?”
The man glanced at a piece of paper, then obviously organized his thoughts. He lifted his eyes and started to speak, then paused, his gaze drifting up and a little to the left. He blinked, then cleared his throat. “Ah…I know this is a very sad occasion, Ms. Stuart, but there are many people who are surprised to see you here.”
“Really?” Kerry asked. “Why? My father died yesterday. Did you really think politics could interfere with my being here for my mother and my family?”
The camerawoman edged around, getting a better shot. It gave the reporter a moment to regroup. “Ms. Stuart, we’re aware 134 Melissa Good that there have been some strained relations with your family, and—”
“And?” Kerry cut him off again with genteel politeness.
Another shift of his gaze up and to the left. “And…ah…I’m…I mean, it’s good to see the family giving each other support during this horrible tragedy.”
“Thank you.” Kerry rewarded him with a warm smile. “It’s been a very difficult few days. Now, if you’ll excuse us?”
“Uh…sure.” The reporter backed off, with a nervous glance behind Kerry. “Thanks for speaking with us.”
Kerry smiled and ducked around the camera. She waited until they were halfway across the foyer and almost to the large reception room before she paused and lowered her voice as Dar drew even with her. “What were you doing to him?”
“Me?” Dar’s low, musical voice asked. “Nothing. Why?”
Kerry just gave her a look. “I can’t wait to see this on the eleven o clock news.” She glanced ahead and saw several of her extended family near the door to the reception room, and the coldness of their stares was almost a physical blow. She squared her shoulders. “C’mon.”
Angie spotted them as they cleared the door and she hurried to them. “Hey, that didn’t take long.” She latched on to Kerry’s arm and steered her away from the hostile crowd. “Mom’s over there.” She pointed to their mother, flanked by two aides, with a short, stocky older man opposite her. “Chatting with the governor. I think she could use some support.”
“Sure,” Kerry replied. “Aunt Mary looks like she wants to spit nails at me anyway.” She gave her aunt, a chubby woman dressed in unflattering black crepe, a smile, which wasn’t returned. “You’d think she hadn’t spent the last twenty years telling everyone what a bastard our father was.”
“Mm.” Angie snorted softly. “Or that she’d been a flower child who burned her bra and voted Democratic just to spite the family.”
“Hm,” Kerry said. “I wonder if that look’s for my lifestyle or the company I work for, then. Maybe I’ve got her staring daggers all wrong. She’s been fighting big business since the Stone Age.”
Dar chuckled softly.
“Don’t laugh,” Kerry murmured. “She thinks the high techs are the worst things that ever happened to the Earth.” They arrived at Cynthia’s side before Dar could answer, and they met the glares of the aides.
“Ah, Kerrison.” Cynthia welcomed her warmly, ignoring the frosty expressions of the two men on either side of her. “Splendid.
I was just discussing you with the governor.” She turned. “James, Thicker Than Water 135
this is Kerrison, my eldest daughter.” Then she paused, almost infinitesimally. “And her…partner, Dar Roberts.”
“Kerrison.” The governor extended a hand to her with surprising good nature. They shook, then he turned and met Dar’s eyes, a tiny smile crinkling the corners of his own. “Ms. Roberts.”
There was, Dar realized, something faintly familiar about the man. She returned his strong grip and tried to figure out where she’d met him before. “Governor.”
“And you know Angela,” Cynthia continued. “The governor and I were just discussing—”
“Mrs. Stuart, a word with you.” One of the aides tugged at her sleeve. “There’s a phone call.”
Cynthia looked very annoyed, but she gave the governor a graceful nod. “Excuse me a moment.” She allowed herself to be drawn off to one side, where two other aides were standing, one holding a wireless phone.
“Kerrison,” a male voice chimed in from behind them.
“Hadn’t expected to see you here.”
Kerry turned to see one of her younger uncles on her mother’s side standing there. “Hello, Brad.” She exchanged wry looks with him. “I didn’t expect to see you, either. Guess I took your place as the black sheep, hm?” Brad still had his earrings, though he’d taken out the one he usually sported in his nose for the occasion.
Kerry was glad to see him, though they’d never been close.
“Made my life a little easier, yeah.” Brad laughed. “’Specially after my band got busted for possession last year.”
Dar watched the interchange, satisfied that Kerry wasn’t going to get bushwhacked, then turned her attention to the governor, who was standing quietly, watching everything. Their eyes met. “Political minefield, eh?”
He shrugged lightly. “Aren’t they all?” He cocked his head.
“Roger was a bastard, but he knew his job and he was damn good at it. Lots worse could have been in that seat, though I’m betting you’d disagree.”
Dar glanced around, surprised at the governor’s candor with a relative stranger. “He wasn’t my favorite human being, no. People who wish me, and those I love, dead and in Hell rarely are.”
She met his eyes evenly. “It’s a fairly common attitude, though.”
The faint smile returned. “That’s damn true, Ms. Roberts.
Damn true. Some of my closest friends feel that very way, matter of fact, and I’m not known as a liberal in many circles. Makes an already dicey decision even tougher now that Cyndi’s publicly stated her support for young Kerrison, there.”
“I bet.” Dar smiled humorlessly. “Does she even want the job?”
136 Melissa Good
“Not particularly.” The governor shrugged. “S’why she’s probably going to get it.” He rocked back and forth on his heels a bit. “Hasn’t got much time left on this term anyway, and anyone else I choose would just cause me other problems.”
Dar’s eyebrows rose. “Despite the,” she paused deliberately and put a sting in the word, “complications?”
The governor chuckled for no apparent reason and looked at his laced leather shoes. “Y’know, Ms. Roberts, I gotta tell you something.” He looked up at her. “I made the mistake of assuming things about gay people once, and I got my ass dragged into a tor-pedo locker and the bs kicked right out of me for it.” He grinned at her visibly startled reaction. “I surely don’t intend to make the same mistake twice, and have Andy Roberts coming after my ass again. I’m too old for that now.”