A Political Affair (30 page)

“Yes.” He nodded, but then qualified his answer. “God willing.”

Chapter 22

A few weeks later, Dan Langford was all smiles as he left a meeting at the Republican National Committee. As he and Trey exited the doors of the stately building, Langford placed his straw cowboy hat back atop his head. “You’re going to tell Walter, aren’t you?” he asked Trey.

   
“Absolutely.” Trey smiled at his boss’s joy. “The RNC dumping money into your race is huge. It’s great we’ve been able to tighten those poll numbers in the last few months. You’ve been doing good work. Keep it up.”

The grin on Trey’s face slowly disappeared when he saw Anne Norwood emerge from the Capitol South Metro station across the street. The night at the donut shop came back to him, and he instantly became curious—who was the woman and why was she in D.C.? “Do you know that girl over there?” He pointed to Anne.

Langford looked to where Trey indicated. “Why, that’s Anne Norwood. Elton’s daughter. Remember I mentioned her to McEvoy that day at the TV station.”

“Oh yeah . . .” Trey said as his voice trailed off in thought. “Who’s Elton?”
 

“Elton Norwood. He’s the Summit County district attorney.”
 

“
Those
Norwoods? Her family are Republicans. What’s she doing working for McEvoy?”

“Well, Elton is a moderate, and obviously he’s done a poor job of controlling his children if his daughter is working for McEvoy.”
 

“Huh,” Trey said. He mulled over the situation as he assessed Anne from afar. He decided from her face to her figure she was attractive. “I wouldn’t call her a child.”
 

“It’s still inexcusable she’s working for
him,
of all people.”

“You know, I saw her before Christmas around three in the morning at a donut shop by the Denver airport,” Trey told him. “She was with McEvoy’s guy, Greg, and I think they were driving one of McEvoy’s cars.”

“That’s strange.”

“That’s what I thought,” Trey answered, his mouth askew in thought.

Langford shook his head. “Well, I expect to see Elton this weekend at the state Republican convention. The last time I spoke with Anne, we ended on a bad note. I should go say hello. I might be able to find something out.”

“Good idea.”

Langford cut across First Street to meet her on the corner by the Cannon Building. He ignored the pesky Capitol police officer permanently stationed at the corner to bark at jaywalkers.
 

Anne waited patiently for her turn to cross the street, but her face fell upon seeing him. She soon forced a quick smile. “Good morning, Mr. Langford.”

“Good morning, Anne,” he said with a tip of his hat. “It’s nice to see you again. What are you doing here?”

“I’m going to a hearing,” she answered. When she heard her words, she decided it was unnecessarily curt, even if Langford had been rude the last time they talked. “It’s a hearing of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. Exciting stuff.”

“Sounds fascinating.” He chuckled. “So, how you’ve been? I’ll be seeing your father this weekend.”

As Anne uneasily relayed only the most mundane details of her life, Trey studied the scene from a distance. He scanned the surroundings and caught a glimpse of Stephen McEvoy exiting the Cannon Building. Trey’s whole attention turned to McEvoy as he bounded down the stairs headed for his waiting car. Trey’s eyes widened when the senator abruptly stopped and stared at Langford and Anne.
 

Trey knew there were many reasons why McEvoy would take interest in a conversation between the two of them. Langford was his opponent, and she was an intern in his office; the two shouldn’t be talking. Yet something else beyond suspicion radiated from McEvoy. He glared at Langford, his fists were clenched, and while he stood motionless, he looked like he might launch himself onto Langford at any moment. Only after Anne waved good-bye to Langford and hurried down the sidewalk did McEvoy cross the street to his car.
 

As Trey watched him climb in and drive off, he tried to make sense of what had just happened. It seemed odd for McEvoy to be so interested in Anne and Langford. Of course, he should be suspicious of her talking with Langford, but something was off. Why did he look upset? Why did he stick around until they stopped talking? He was a busy guy; he had staff to worry about things like this for him. Why did he care?

In a minute, Langford was back across the street and at his side. “I didn’t find out much.”

“What’d you talk about?”

“Her schoolwork. She wasn’t very forthcoming. I left it telling her I’m scheduled to speak at the CU commencement. I might see her there.”

“There will be fifty thousand people there.” Trey shook his head. “How are you going to see her?”

“Maybe not then . . .”

“You know, McEvoy came out of the building as you two were talking. He stared at you the entire time.”

“Really?” Langford said as he adjusted his hat in thought. “Why does he care if I talk to one of his interns?”

“I really don’t know . . .”
 

In early April, the Washington, D.C. forecast was finally warm enough for the starlet, Jennifer Hamilton, to fly in for a special event. At seven that morning, she stood stark naked on the back steps of the U.S. Capitol. Two miles down the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial, the immense statue of President Abraham Lincoln had a fine view of her bare ass. Scattered around her on the steps, the camera and makeup crew checked the lighting and angles and tended to her tresses and face.
 

“I’m not sure what angle you’re going to use. But someone needs to tell the PETA people they’re probably going to have to do some airbrushing because I only got waxed yesterday. I’m a little red and bumpy.” She playfully wiggled her bum in the direction of President Lincoln. “You know how that is.”

More than one of the crew members around her averted their eyes so they could roll them—as did the PETA representatives.
 

The savvy PETA communications director hurried the crew along. “We’ve got to get this shot in before the cops arrive. And I need time to get you ready for the hearing. We should go over your testimony.”
 

“But I wanna look good,” whined Jennifer.

“You look great,” said her publicist. “And we should do this quickly. You don’t want to be arrested.”

A PETA rep chuckled. “If there’s a problem with the photo, we’ll just slap the ‘I’d rather go naked than wear fur’ banner right over it.”

In a few hours, everyone was happy. Jennifer’s photos made a splash in the media, drawing attention to the animal rights cause and her naked assets, and PETA was pleased with her impassioned testimony before the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus.
 

Not everyone was pleased, though. Megan and Patty stormed into Stephen’s office.

“We have to meet now,” Megan demanded.
 

“I’m busy,” Stephen said as he pointed to Greg on the sofa.

“This is important,” Patty retorted. “Greg, go get Anne.”

“Uh . . .” Greg’s eyes shifted between Patty and Stephen. “Isn’t it kind of obvious if I do that?”

“Oh, who cares at this point? It’s her last day in the office, anyway,” said Patty.

Stephen signaled to Greg to follow Patty’s instructions. “Why does Anne need to be in here?”

“Because she should hear this. She
is
your girlfriend.”
 

“What do you mean?” Stephen was wary.

“Oh, you’ll see . . .”

A minute later, Anne was seated next to Stephen on his sofa with Patty, Megan, and Greg in chairs, and Lillian on the speakerphone.
 

“Jennifer Hamilton did a publicity stunt for PETA this morning, and she’s said some things about Stephen,” Megan announced. “We need to make a statement.”
 

Lillian’s voice blared out of the speakerphone. “Now, I don’t like some of their tactics, but I’m in complete agreement with PETA. I got rid of all the family furs years ago. I hope everyone knows that.”

“Nice to know, Mom. I’ll make sure the press hears, too,” Megan muttered.

“Cut to the chase, Megan. Just read the story,” Patty said while she rubbed her eyes.

“Okay,” said Megan. “This is from the AP story, but it’s been picked up everywhere. It starts: ‘Hollywood starlet Jennifer Hamilton lent her body and her name to the cause of animal rights today.’

“The story goes on from there, but here’s our problem. Jennifer says, ‘I’m going to ask my boyfriend, Stephen McEvoy, to pass a bill or something. He can do that, you know. He’s a senator, and he would do that for me.’ ” Megan looked around the room with a raised eyebrow. “Thoughts?”

“Go get her to shut up,” Patty demanded.
 

“I’ll call Jennifer and tell her to knock it off,” Stephen answered without hesitation. “Then I’m out of here for the rest of the day and can’t be reached for comment. Tell the press I have no plans for introducing such a bill, and per usual, I don’t comment on my personal life. You know what to say, Megan.” He looked at Anne, who held his glance for only a second before looking away.
 

“Of course, I know what to say, but I’ve got enough on my plate right now. I’m sick of the questions about how we’re putting family money into the campaign. Langford’s new ads bashing us for it are getting a ton of coverage,” said Megan, shaking her head. “The Republicans are now going to have a field day with this.”

“Okay. Everybody leave. I’ll call her,” Stephen said as he loosened his tie.

“You want me to get her number from the receptionist?” Greg asked unwittingly.

“Nah, I still have it in my cell.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how horrible they sounded. He immediately turned to Anne whose expression had turned icy.
 

“Are you okay with this?” he asked softly. “I just have to leave her a message. Maybe there’s a bright side . . . maybe we could spend the afternoon together?”

“No,” she replied, chilling the entire room with her tone. “I have to work on my thesis.” She rose at once and was the first one out the door.
 

While the Jennifer fiasco blew over in the media that day, Stephen spent the afternoon in his home office, but he couldn’t work. Guilt weighed on him. Once again, he’d put Anne in an awkward situation and himself in the doghouse. She hadn’t returned any of his messages; something she’d never done before.
 

When his mother came to visit him, he was glad to have the distraction. “Hi, Mom.”

“Stephen, you don’t look very happy.” She sighed.

“I’m not.” He stared out the window, shaking his head. “And neither is Anne.”

“Of course she’s not happy. I can understand. If you don’t mind, I think it’s time we talked about you two.”
 

Stephen slumped in his chair and turned it to her as she sat down. “What about us?”
 

“Well, you know I was opposed to your relationship from the very beginning, though I liked her.”

“Yeah?”

“But I’ve been watching her over the months. I wanted to see how she would handle the stress of being with a politician. Would she have the necessary mettle?”

“And?”

“And I think she does. In fact, she’s dealt with every situation very well. She’s grounded and keeps a cool head.” With more than a touch of reproach in her voice, she said, “And despite the difficult circumstances and unsavory . . . characters you’ve had to deal with—like Helen, for example—Anne has taken it all in stride. She’s even agreed your responses have been politically necessary. Given her age, I’m rather impressed.”

Stephen felt guilty for Jennifer’s antics, but he also reasoned he couldn’t be held responsible. “But what about today? She didn’t like my response to the Jennifer problem.”

Lillian pursed her lips disapprovingly. “Today? Well, everyone has their breaking point, dear. You treated her poorly. You didn’t acknowledge that the situation was uncomfortable for her or that it was your fault.” When he didn’t immediately respond, she shook her head and continued her reprimand. “And your comment that you were sure you still had Jennifer’s number was very inconsiderate.”