Sleeping Beauty (55 page)

He pulled on his suit jacket, tightened his tie, and stuffed papers and books into his briefcase for his committee hearing. It was the first of what would be months of hearings on acid rain, stretched out to run into the November election; it was a perfect subject for a reelection campaign. No matter what the testimony, it would make the network evening newscasts and the morning papers, and Vince, who was now committee chairman, would be in the center: handsome, experienced, concerned, every voter's humble servant. A man in charge in the Senate. A man to take charge of the country.

If it took me this long to get your campaign together, you'd be in real trouble.

Head down, he walked to the door. Four months to the primary. He could talk about getting rid of Beloit, but right now Beloit was running his campaign, and Vince could not do without him. Already he'd lined up bankers and insurance men who'd never supported Vince before; he'd convinced local governments all over the state to hold a “Senator Vince Chatham Day” with parades and voter registration when Vince visited them in the month before the primary; he had newspapers and television stations running stories on Vince three or four times a week in a blizzard of free publicity; and most important, he'd eliminated one opponent, the most threatening one, using information Vince didn't know about, and had no intention of
knowing about. Beloit was creative, tireless, unprincipled, and discreet: the absolutely essential ingredients of a good campaign manager.

Vince took his briefcase and left the office. Four months to the primary. Four months of keeping Beloit happy. And that meant getting The Tamarack Company into Beloit's hands at a bargain price. It was past time it was done, Vince thought, whether Beloit was involved or not.

I should have done it myself, from the first, he thought. Charles can't be trusted with a damn thing, even though he's the one who's desperate to sell. Once I'm there, it won't take long; a family dinner will do it. And then I'll get the hell out of there.
We'll
get out of there. It was amazing, how hard it was for him to remember he was a married man.

But his family remembered, and when he got to Tamarack, it was clear that they were pleased about it. “Clara Chatham,” Nina said, coming up to them in the restaurant. She kissed Clara on both cheeks. “I like the sound of it, like a lady in an old-fashioned novel. I'm so glad to meet you, Clara; it's nice to see that Vince hasn't lost his faith in marriage.” She smiled at Vince and patted his arm. “We're optimistic in this family, Clara; you'll find that out. We do believe that good things will happen if we wait long enough.”

Vince put an arm around Nina's shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Nina believes in love. She's the best sister in the world, because she loves all of us, so of course we're optimistic. A universe that has Nina in it has to be a good place.”

Nina's color rose. She looked at Vince with wide eyes, flattered and grateful, but also puzzled. Vince smiled at her, pretending not to see the puzzlement. He knew none of them really trusted him, but he was about to change that.

The maître d' led them to a private room. William and Marian, and Gail and Leo, were already there; Vince had kept them waiting exactly eight and half minutes, the perfect length of time, he had found, to heighten anticipation without causing annoyance. “You're late,” William rumbled as they walked in. Vince did not reply. He introduced them
to Clara and, as they talked to her, watched with amusement the approval in their eyes. Everyone approved of Clara; it was astonishing that a small woman with pale brown eyes, a small, pretty mouth, and brown hair streaked with gray, worn simply, to her shoulders, could get as much attention and affection as Clara got. It was the reason he had married her, of course, but even after a month of marriage he did not understand it.

“Hello, Uncle Vince,” said Gail coolly. They were standing at one end of the small room that was furnished with a mahogany dining table set with crystal and china for eight. Nearby was a small bar. Gail let Vince kiss her cheek. “I hope everything is all right; Keith made it sound like this dinner was terribly important.”

“The most important thing is seeing you,” said Vince. “You're a lovely woman, Gail. I stay away too long and I forget how beautiful you are.” He smiled wistfully. “I lose track of everything, in fact. Marian tells me Robin and Ned are great kids. I'm ashamed to say it, but I've forgotten how old they are.”

“Eight and ten,” Gail said briefly.

“That's about what I thought. I have some things for them in my room upstairs; I'll bring them down before you go. It's terrible, how little I see of all of you; it makes me angry sometimes. Washington's a long way away, and I'm too busy to take much time off, and then I've got this damn campaigning—and there's no end to it, Gail; there's always someplace else they tell me I have to be, as if I'm some kind of puppet they're pulling around the country. You have no idea how I hate politics sometimes—of course I love it, too; that's the problem. And then the older I get the faster time slips away from me. I don't know if you feel that, too; you're so young . . .”

“Sometimes,” Gail said. She could not take her eyes off him; he was so handsome, and his smile embraced her and made her feel very special, the focus of his attention.

“I feel it all the time, that I'm losing too many important things, that I can't get everything organized so I can find what I've lost. I admire what you and Leo are building
together—I have to tell you, I envy it, too—and it's terrible, to me, that I haven't managed to share in it. I feel I've wasted a lot of good years. I'd like to make up for it, if you'll let me. Maybe you'll all come to Washington and stay with us. Would you? It would give us all a chance to get acquainted.”

“We might, sometimes.” Gail frowned as she heard her words. She shook her head as if to clear it. This is
Vince,
she thought. “Why did Keith say we absolutely had to be here tonight?”

“Did he say that? Well, Keith tends to go a little overboard; he's an enthusiastic young man. I certainly wanted you here; I couldn't imagine coming to Tamarack and not seeing you. Gail, you're being very hard on me. Couldn't we talk and be friends without other people getting in the way?”

“You mean Anne,” Gail said coldly. “No, we can't. I wouldn't be here at all if Leo hadn't wanted me to come. I'm sorry I'm not nicer; I'm usually a nice person. Excuse me.”

Vince was left standing alone, a small, sad smile on his lips, until Marian and Fred came to him. “How pleasant and unusual to see you here,” Marian said with a small peck on his cheek. “I didn't think there were enough votes in Tamarack to make it worth your while to visit it.”

Vince chuckled and put his arms around her, forcing her into a quick, tight hug. “Dear Marian,” he said, letting her go. He reached out and shook Fred's hand, still looking at Marian. “I've missed you. You used to have such a vague look about you, but now you're as sharp as they come, aren't you? Who would have guessed it? I could use you on my campaign staff. In fact, you could
run
my campaign staff; you're smarter and quicker than anybody I've seen in politics.” He tilted his head. “It's a good idea, you know. Would Fred let you go for a few months? You and I would make a good team. We could go straight to the White House.”

“Arm in arm,” said Marian dryly, but her eyes were curious. “Is this talk about the White House for real? We've heard it from a few people. Are you serious about it?”

“Dead serious. There's so much I want to do, and I can't
do it from the Senate. I want this, Marian, and I know I can do it.”

“You can, too,” Fred said. Usually he let Marian speak for both of them, since families bored him, but now he felt he had to let Vince know he was there. “We'd be with you, all the way. Raising money, making speeches, whatever you need.”

“Wouldn't that be something,” Marian said. “President Vince Chatham. It has a nice ring. Aren't you amazing, Vince, to pick yourself up and go so far. Well, I must say, I thank you for the compliment, but we both know I couldn't run your campaign. I don't know the first thing about politics; I'd be a chicken that the experts would pluck right and left. But it's nice to hear kind words. I've missed you, too, you know. You're the most interesting of the five of us—”

“You and I are the most interesting,” he said.

“That might be true, but you're more devious. And when you behave, you're quite a pleasure to have around. And of course I admire what you've done with your life. A lot of times I've wished we could go back and do a few things over in our family; we'd all be a lot happier.”

“Nobody wishes that more than I do,” Vince said mournfully. “I owe you an apology, Marian; I never gave you my side of—”

“I don't want to hear it. This is today; the past is gone. Let's not churn things up, Vince; let's move ahead. You're my brother and I'd never turn my back on you; I've always believed you had the capacity to be a good man. Whatever mistakes you made are done with. I'm proud of you for being in Washington; God knows we need good men there. Now I'm going to talk to your wife; if anything makes me sure you've grown up, it's your marrying Clara.”

With a smile, Vince watched her tuck her hand under Fred's arm and walk away. He was still smiling as William came up to him. “Old home week,” William said. “I must say, it's good to see us all together. Well, most of us.” He took the vodka and tonic the bartender handed him. “Too bad Charles couldn't make it; was he too busy?”

“I didn't ask him,” Vince replied. “I'm going to talk about him tonight, and I thought it would be best if he wasn't here.”

William's left eyebrow rose. “You might have let him be the one to decide that.”

“I couldn't. I'm too worried about him. I really thought this would be best, William.”

William's eyebrow stayed up. “Kind of you,” he said at last. It was clear he was having difficulty with the idea of Vince being thoughtful of others. “He'll be here for Christmas, you know. So will just about everybody else. Dinner at Gail and Leo's.”

“All of you?” Vince looked surprised. He would not let any of them know that Keith kept him informed. “The family never came here at Christmas; we were always in Lake Forest and then everyone went off somewhere.
You
always went to some beach.”

“Well, but here I am. And everyone else is coming in the next few days. We'll be about eighteen for dinner. It's a pleasant prospect; we haven't had that many around the table for a long time. You know, I haven't given it a lot of thought, but I think it has to do with Anne.” He paused a moment, scrutinizing Vince's expressionless face. “Everyone's curious about her, but there's more to it: they like her, and they like to be near her. There's a kind of
surge
when she comes in, if you know what I mean. She doesn't like anybody to get too close, but you can see how they're drawn to her. It's damned fascinating: she's got a look about her of knowing things, as if she has some secret that the others are hoping to find out. Anyway, she's made things more interesting, and I'd bet that's why we'll all be here instead of on some beach or in Europe. What about you and Clara? I'm sure Gail would find room at the table.”

“No.” Vince finished his Scotch and soda and impatiently gestured to the bartender to fix him another. He bent his head in thought as he waited for the drink.
As if she has some secret.
What was going on here? William knew what her secret was; what kind of game was he playing?
She's made things more interesting.
She was up to something. And
William was fishing, to get Vince's reaction. Well, William would get nothing; Vince was a master at not giving anything away.

But something was going on. Until now, he had begun to think that she'd meant what she said about not wanting to bring up the past; that she was ready to forget her crazy idea of vengeance. But now he knew otherwise. That would have been too simple for somebody as sly as she was.
As if she has some secret.
The bitch was letting everyone know she had a secret, hinting, dangling little suggestions, priming them for the day she would throw her bomb. A bitch never forgets. He knew that. He wouldn't forget either.

He took the drink from the bartender and turned back to William. “No, we can't come up here, I'm sorry; we have to be in Florida with some friends. It's too bad; I'm just discovering how much I've missed all of you, and the idea of a family Christmas is wonderful. Maybe next year we'll do it; it's been too long since we drank a toast to the New Year together. She's not here this weekend?”

“You mean Anne? No, she wouldn't be; she's coming for five days at Christmas, and that's the most she can get away. She's enormously successful, you know, the top of her field—well, you know what she did for Dora—and she did it all on her own. I think she works too hard, buries herself in the law and hasn't room for any social life, especially the past few weeks, but she's an amazing young woman, and I'm very fond of her. We all are. Well, I wanted to ask you about Washington, but it seems I've done all the talking, and now I'm starved. When are they going to get around to serving dinner?”

“Right away. We can talk about Washington after dinner, if you want; I've got some stories that'd curl your hair. Of course you can't quote me on anything I say, but you'll have a good time listening.”

William chuckled. “Sometimes I'm very good at listening.”

They sat around the table, and Vince, standing at his place, proposed a toast. “To the Chathams, and the memory of Ethan. He was a great man and he cared deeply about all
of us. What I'm really proposing is a toast to that spirit of love and caring that I didn't take seriously enough when I was young—” He stopped for a moment, and cleared his throat several times. “Sorry, I didn't mean to be teary. I threw away a lot that made the Chathams a wonderful family, and I've regretted it ever since, and I ask your forgiveness. I hope Clara and I will become as deeply a part of the Chathams as any of us ever dreamed of when we thought about the best that a family could be.”