Married by June (9 page)

“The first thing is the media. Bailey’s holding a press conference at one o’clock tomorrow. He’ll resign then. Karloski has remarks prepared, but he’s
not going to appoint Cooper right away. Says he has questions.”

“Questions?” Cooper said. “What questions?”

“We’re not sure. He’s not talking. Yet.”

“Is he going to come through, though? Is this a power thing? Making us wait to remind us he’s in charge?”

Nolan bent over the table. “We don’t know, Cooper. By law he can take six weeks. We hope he’s not going to wait that long and I know the party’s leaning on him. I just hope he gets his mind straight quick because the sooner we get you appointed, the sooner we can get Theo campaigning.” He shook his head. “I never thought I was going to have to sell you as a viable alternative to your brother, that’s for sure.”

If she hadn’t been watching Cooper carefully just then Jorie would have missed his slight flinch.

“Maybe you’d have done something about that BI got in Algebra I, if you’d known,” Cooper said.

Nolan pressed his lips together.

“If the governor’s not ready to go right away,” Jorie said, “it means we have a few days in between Bailey’s announcement and Cooper’s, right?”

Nolan nodded.

“I’m going to need to work things out with the Wish Team—sort out a postponement date and decide how to handle the registry, because some
of the wishes can’t be put off. Maybe I can get that going while we’re waiting for the governor.”

“Whenever you talk to anybody, make sure you stick to the points on the memo. Your engagement should be covered on page two.”

Jorie flipped to the second sheet and saw her relationship with Cooper laid out in bullet points. The first bullet was about Cooper’s duty to his family. Next came their mutual impatience to marry followed by their mutual understanding that they needed to wait. The last two bullets were about looking forward to a lasting marriage and the wedding, which would happen at some undefined point after the election. Bailey’s relationship with Jill was similarly outlined from the current “difficult situation” through a trial separation, but it didn’t end as well as her list. At the bottom were about five items titled “Cooper’s Qualifications.” The third sheet was all about Theo.

She glanced at Cooper. One finger skimming over the page, he scanned his list.

“The press is going to try to catch you alone, Jorie,” Nolan continued. “They’re going to want dirt on Bailey and Jill. Don’t talk to anyone you don’t know. Don’t talk to anyone you do know about this, unless it’s someone on our team. Do not speak about Deb or the baby ever. If you run into problems or
make a mistake, tell us. Don’t hope it will go away, because it won’t—it will only get worse.”

Jorie nodded along with him even though she felt as if she’d dropped into some B-movie spy flick. Surely this wasn’t necessary.

“Your job is okay,” Nolan said, “but be sure you vet your clients. We don’t need someone posing as a bride when they’re really out to do a story on you. Make sure you’re appropriately dressed at all times unless you want a picture of you in your ratty sweatpants to show up on the cover of a gossip rag. It goes without saying that you won’t drink to excess, do drugs, or engage in any kind of activity that will reflect badly on Cooper.”

“Dad!” Cooper said. “That’s enough.”

“I don’t think she’s going to do any of this, obviously, but if you’re not used to being in the public eye, you’re not used to thinking about how you look all the time. It’s important if we’re going to pull this off.”

“Jorie’s never been anything but completely trustworthy and lovely. You know her.”

“I know your brother and look at the mess we’re cleaning up this week.”

Cooper pushed his chair back and stood, pulling Jorie up with him. She couldn’t remember ever hearing him raise his voice to his father before. “Are we finished?”

Nolan straightened the papers in front of him as if he wanted to continue, but he glanced at Cooper and rolled the pages into a tube. He gave it three quick, decisive raps on the table and then said, “Jorie, do you know what we need?”

She nodded.

“Can you be that person for us?”

“Yes,” she said, even though she felt queasy. “Yes, I can.”

Cooper held her arm and she could tell he wanted to talk but she couldn’t face him just then. She excused herself and went to the small downstairs powder room off the kitchen. The room had been sliced out of the former butler’s pantry and was tiny but perfectly decorated with two wallpaper prints and a porthole-style mirror. It always reminded her of a room from a dollhouse. She relished the intimacy now as she fought to control her feelings.

The things Nolan had said reminded her strongly of talks she’d had with her mom as a child. They’d restyled themselves for each new guy her mom pursued. One year Chelsea would be the perfect Junior League member, hosting parties for charities and sending bread and butter thank-yous on engraved stationery for all the brunches and dinners she attended. Another year, she was sporty—spending her days at the country club on the golf course or the tennis court. When Jorie was in the seventh grade,
they’d spent the year in London and Jorie relished the opportunity to immerse herself in historical sites, while her mom spent time at art auctions and gallery openings.

Jorie had sworn the day she went off to college that she would never let a man’s whims dictate who or what she was. She didn’t blame her mom—Chelsea had made her choices and Jorie made different ones, that was all.

She turned on the cold water and then leaned on the sink with both hands. Cupping water in her palm, she splashed her face a few times. The soft hand towel soothed her when she dried her skin.

She wasn’t doing the same thing her mom had done. Sure, Nolan had a list and he expected her to live within its parameters, but she still had her own life. Didn’t she? She would follow Nolan’s rules and stick to the bullet points for now, but only because Cooper loved his family and she owed him a really big favor. She wasn’t giving up her freedom for this relationship. The arrangement was temporary. It would be okay.

When she left the powder room, Bailey told her Cooper had gone upstairs so she went to find him. The walls along the stairway were lined with family photos and she searched for Cooper in each one, smiling when she picked him out of a collection of cousins around a Christmas tree. In
another photo—probably taken on the first day of school—he had an adorable bowl cut and two missing front teeth. The pictures were lovely and it wasn’t until she got to the top landing that she realized they were all carefully staged. There wasn’t a single hair out of place or a mismatched outfit anywhere on that wall.

The Murphy family story was a serious business, judging by the photos they chose to display.

She hadn’t been upstairs at the Murphys’ house before, and for a moment she wasn’t sure where to turn, but there were only five doors off the long straight hall and one was open.

She knocked lightly and then pushed the door open. Cooper was stretched out on a quilt covering an antique bed, his shoulders propped against the walnut headboard. His room was dark and masculine with a set of heavy bureaus and a desk that matched the bed. The wall next to the door was lined with overstuffed bookcases. She wondered if the bedroom had looked like this when Cooper was a child or if Rachel had redecorated when he’d gotten older. The wooden shutters at the windows were open now, letting light stream in, but she thought the room might seem spooky to a small child.

He patted the bed. “Want to hide out with me for a few minutes?”

She sat next to him, scooting back until her shoulder rested comfortably on his chest. When he put his arm around her shoulder, she relaxed into him. He was warm and familiar in a day that had gotten off to a disconcerting start.

C
OOPER HADN’T FELT THIS
angry with his dad in a long time. He knew the guy was under stress and he was going to cut him some slack because of it, but that session with Jorie was not going to be repeated.

After she was settled next to him, he said, “I’m so sorry. My dad was out of line.”

“I told you, it’s okay.”

“It’s not, Jorie. I’m going to talk to him. You’re not an employee, for God’s sake.”

He squeezed her shoulder because that statement made him uncomfortable. She wasn’t an employee, but they did have a business deal, didn’t they?

“He didn’t single me out, you know. You have a list, too, and it’s very similar to mine.”

“That’s different.”

“Different how?”

He realized it wasn’t really different just because he was used to his dad blurring the line between family and work didn’t mean it wasn’t obnoxious. He settled for a shrug since he couldn’t answer her question.

“Cooper, we have to get past this. We’re never going to be able to act naturally with each other unless we can acknowledge that there is an artificial basis for our relationship right now.”

“But?”

“But after Theo gets elected, then we can find out how we really feel. We have some time, don’t we?”

“Yes.”

“So let’s pretend yesterday at Lucky’s never happened. We’re still engaged and that’s all that matters, right?”

“Okay.”

She leaned over him to look at his notebook. “What are you working on?”

“Bailey’s resignation speech.”

“I thought you’d be finished with that by now.”

He pulled his arm away and got up. The top shutters were still closed so he opened them.

“I can’t get it down. Every time I start, I hear him telling me he’s sick of being Bailey Freaking Murphy and I can’t write the words. Anything I write is a lie.”

Jorie swung her legs off the bed so she was sitting on the edge. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but haven’t you written lies before?”

“Not lies. I mean, we spin things, but I haven’t knowingly lied. He cheated, Jorie. He went behind
Jill’s back and slept with another woman. I know he’s in love and he felt trapped, but the truth is, he shouldn’t have done it.”

“And you’re angry with him.”

Cooper had a picture of him and his family at Bailey’s college graduation. He took it over to Jorie and handed it to her. “You see how my parents are looking at him?”

She nodded.

“That’s how everybody looked at him, all the time. You know. He’s got something special. He is something special.”

“You think he’s throwing that all away?”

Cooper glanced down at the picture in her hands. “I know it’s not fair for me to expect him to be something he doesn’t want to be, but he let it go too far. Why didn’t he say no back when he was twenty or twelve or—” He knew he sounded whiny. He wasn’t whining. He wished Bailey the best. “I just hate that the rest of the family is out of whack now.”

Jorie set the picture on the bed next to her and stood up. “Did you ever wonder why it was Bailey and not you?”

He shook his head. “Not once.”

“And now? When the job is going to Theo? Do you wonder why it’s him and not you?”

He cupped her face and kissed her softly. “Have
you met my dad? There’s no point in wondering something like that.”

She leaned up to kiss him again. “I wonder that, Cooper. I think your dad is missing out.”

“Missing out on what?”

“On you. Why are they passing you over to nominate Theo? Did they even ask if you want the job?”

“No.”

“Why not?” she snapped.

Cooper realized she was angry on his behalf. She had accepted his dad’s rude behavior toward her, but this was the second time she’d brought up the idea that he should be the candidate. He studied her—her hands were balled into fists and her shoulders were pulled back. She was really mad.

He captured her hands and lifted them to his lips. “Thank you, Jorie,” he said. “For thinking of me as candidate material.”

“But?”

“But I don’t want to be a senator.”

“As long as you’re sure it’s you making the choice and not them.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. He had his job to do and that was what he needed to focus on. The last thing his family needed was to have him suddenly veer off course.

“Second-guessing isn’t going to get this speech written,” he said.

“So what would you say? If you were going to explain all this to me, what would you say?”

He was angry at Bailey. The part of him that was Bailey’s brother understood, but the part that had been writing speeches for Pennsylvania’s senator for most of his adult life was furious.

“Everything my dad wants me to say sounds like a lie. It’s all politics, but I don’t think people want to hear spin when they’ve been hurt.”

“Your dad’s not the speechwriter. You are. What do
you
want to say?”

“That Bailey’s sorry. That he understands why people are mad. That there’s a plan.”

“So say it. Tell it to me like you want to tell it to the people back home.”

“I think Pennsylvania deserves a senator who’s totally focused on the issues and challenges currently…”

Jorie crossed her arms under her breasts as she listened to him, and he wasn’t quite as angry with Bailey as he had been. It was hard to stay focused when you were tempted by a beautiful woman.

“Um…I think Pennsylvania has a long history of loyalty and roots in integrity and honor. I think Pennsylvania understands family and my family understands Pennsylvania. Bailey is ready to move
on to a new chapter in his life, but that doesn’t mean that the voters aren’t owed exactly the type of dedication, power, and influence they chose when they elected Bailey. If they can find it in their hearts to understand Bailey’s new path, they will find that the Murphy family is ready to walk into the future with them once again.”

When he was finished, she kissed him again. “You want to write that down while it’s fresh?”

“I swear, Jorie, I couldn’t get a word on paper after I talked to my dad yesterday.”

“It’s okay to be angry with him, Cooper. It’s okay to be angry with any of them. You’re doing the right thing for yourself and that’s what matters.” She put the picture back on his bookcase. “I’m going to head out now. You finish your speech and we’ll see what comes next, right?”