Married by June (4 page)

When he finished, Nolan was still glaring at Bailey’s back as if he hadn’t even spoken. Theo gave Cooper a “please help me” look. Cooper liked his cousin. Theo was supersmart and he had a wicked sense of humor. It made him a sought-after speaker and an excellent storyteller at the bar after a few glasses of Scotch. Not that he told stories about his family, but there were always tales to be told about somebody in Washington.

Theo thought Cooper was a soft touch—hell, everyone in his family thought he was. But he
respected Cooper’s opinion. He pushed a chair out from the table with his foot and Cooper hesitated before sitting down. He didn’t want to be there, but this was his family. He’d do what he had to to help them out.

“Should I ask Mom to come in before we start?”

“Mom’s not talking to me,” Bailey muttered. “If she comes in, you have to promise you’ll check her for weapons.”

“Enough!” Nolan said.

It took twenty minutes for Theo to lay it all out for Cooper. There were details he wished he could unlearn. The woman with the baby wasn’t interested in publicity, but she wasn’t going to go away either. The baby was undeniably Bailey’s. Those were the main points. Bailey was going to be a dad—Cooper couldn’t take that in. He had to stop himself from interrupting because he kept thinking Theo was skipping something important, something that he couldn’t quite grasp. As his cousin went through the recap, the weight of the debacle settled on him.

And it was a debacle. Bailey was done.
God.
His brother had all the gifts in the world. He could have been a legend. Except he was still human—still the same guy Cooper had grown up with, brilliant but unpredictable.

“So, Cooper.” His dad leaned toward him, the intensity in his brown eyes as unnerving as it had
been when Cooper was a kid and committed some transgression. “We need you to write the speech of a lifetime. When Bailey reads the speech, it has to convince the people of Pennsylvania, and most of all, Governor Karloski, that your brother has made one, small, forgivable mistake. That his loving wife, Jill, is sticking with him in this troubled time, that he is deeply, truly sorry for said small error, and that, with the best interests of Pennsylvania in mind, he has made the difficult, but honorable decision to step down.” He counted off each point, tapping a thick finger on the legal pad in front of him. “And most importantly, you need to lay the subtle kernel of a notion that the very best person to pick up the end of Bailey’s term is his devoted and deserving brother. That’s the linchpin, Coop. We need you in there now.”

There was so much that was wrong with what his dad had just said. For one thing, according to Theo, Jill was currently on her way to her mom’s house in the Poconos with a divorce lawyer already on speed dial. Cooper wasn’t stupid, but it really did take him a second for the most important thing his dad had said to sink in. “Me? You want me to run for the Senate?”

Theo pushed his notebook toward Cooper. He’d sketched what looked like a timeline and now he ticked off each point with his pen. “You’re not
running for anything. Bailey resigns and the governor appoints someone to finish his term. That’s you. Because the primary is already over, the state party committee is allowed to select the candidate to run in the general election. That’s me. I win the seat and you’re off the hook by next January.”

“Why aren’t you taking the seat right now?” It had long been understood that if anything happened to Bailey, Theo was the designated heir.

“Too young.”

Cooper looked at his dad.

“He can’t be sworn in until he’s thirty, which he won’t be until October,” Nolan said. “If any of this had been planned, we could have worked the timing and made sure Theo was ready. But your goddamn brother hasn’t left us any wiggle room and Theo is not a viable option at the moment. Which is why we need you.”

Bailey hadn’t turned around. Hadn’t opened his mouth since their dad told him to shut up. Cooper realized what had been missing from the facts as they were laid out.

“I need to talk to Bailey,” he said. “Alone.”

“Later,” his dad said. “If we don’t get in front of this thing today, we can kiss the seat goodbye. Karloski is going to have to sell you to a lot of unhappy people. We need to give him every inch of help we
can. Your uncle Stephen is on his way to Harrisburg right now.”

Cooper stood up. He’d never been comfortable with defiance. Ever since he was a kid he’d been able to talk his way out of difficult situations without confrontation. But this issue was black-and-white and had to be met head-on.

“Dad, you’re talking about this as if it’s a done deal. I’ve never run for anything in my—”

His dad interrupted, chopping the air with an impatient swipe. “You’re not running now. You’re being appointed. We’re taking care of it. But it won’t happen if you don’t sit the hell down and let us get started.”

“I won’t be long.” Cooper walked toward the door.

“You’re wasting time we don’t have,” his dad said.

He pushed the door open. His neck prickled as if his dad’s stare was a living thing, ready to leap on him. He owed his brother the chance to explain. He didn’t check to see if Bailey was coming. He didn’t need to. He heard a loud smack and guessed his dad had hit the table. In the kitchen he pulled out two beers and used the bottle opener mounted on the edge of the stainless-steel-covered island to open them. He took a long swallow from one bottle and held the other one out just as Bailey came through
the door. The beer ran cold down his throat but did nothing to settle his thoughts, which were pretty much an infinite loop of “Senator Cooper Murphy” and “holy hell” and “out of their freaking minds.”

“Drinking on the job already, Cooper?”

“Don’t,” he said.

“Don’t what?” Bailey took a pull of his own beer, but he flicked a glance sideways at Cooper.

“Don’t be flip. Don’t pretend you’re an asshole. I’m not Dad.”

Bailey nodded and put his beer down on the island. Cooper leaned forward, exhausted by what was turning out to be an incredibly long and horrible day.

“What do you want to know?”

“You’re too smart for this to have been a mistake or a surprise. You got her pregnant on purpose. If you wanted out, why not just withdraw from the campaign?”

Bailey glanced toward the closed door and then sighed. “I don’t know why Dad never believes me when I tell him you’re the devious one.”

“I can’t believe you’d do this. Not to your staff or the family. Jill. What the hell, Bay? Why not just retire?”

“Because they wouldn’t have let me.”

Cooper started to protest but Bailey stopped him.

“Don’t pretend it’s not true. I could never stand
up to them. You were in there—Dad and Uncle Stephen, Mom, even Theo—they’re relentless. Be sides, it’s not just the job, Coop. It’s my life. Bailey Murphy. I hate freaking Bailey Murphy. If Jill and I were ever in love, that ended years ago. In the past couple years, we haven’t even been friends.” He leaned back on the counter. “She’s having an affair with Cal Dobbs.”

Cooper winced. He’d heard rumors, seen some things that didn’t add up, but he’d always thought Jill had better taste. Cal had a bad haircut and a worse personality. And he cheated at golf. Among other things, apparently.

“I used to get a charge out of the job, but that’s not enough. I want a whole life. I want to be with someone I can love and do something I care about because it’s mine, not because someone decided it should be mine for no reason other than that I was born first. I met Deb and…she’s what I want. Her and the baby. As long as I was Senator Murphy, I couldn’t be with her. I couldn’t see another way out.”

“Divorce?”

Bailey shook his head.

He was right. Divorce would have gotten him out of the marriage, but he wanted out of the job, too. Out of his life.

“You could have thrown a debate. Messed up a speech.”

“No one cares about that stuff except guys like you. It wouldn’t have affected the election.”

Cooper crossed to the round wooden breakfast table in a windowed nook overlooking the backyard. He sat, putting his beer next to him, stretching his legs in front of him, wishing he could figure out what he was supposed to feel. Growing up, he and Bailey had eaten dinner at this table more often than not. When their parents were both home, the family ate in the dining room, but nights when all four of them were around at the same time had been rare. He’d been close to Bailey and he knew his brother had struggled with their parents’ expectations when he was younger, but he’d seemed to grow out of that. Maybe he’d just gotten better at hiding it.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to say to his dad, but he was certain of one thing.

“I’m not taking this unless you swear to me you want out. If they’re pushing you out or there’s something else going on, you tell me now and we’ll deal with it together.”

“You’d stand up for me against Dad?” Bailey asked.

“Say the word.”

“I want out,” Bailey said.

Cooper pushed himself up. “That’s it then.” When he passed his brother, Bailey grabbed his arm.

“If you’d stand up to him for me, Coop, you should do it for yourself, too. Don’t let them ram this down your throat.”

“I’m not—”

“You go back in there and they won’t give you any time to think. You’re going to be handing your life over to them because you know and I know that the Murphy legacy has always meant more to Dad and Uncle Stephen, to all of them, than any one of us. Ever since he lost the vice presidency, it’s gotten worse. Even Mom is obsessed.”

Cooper blinked at the intensity on Bailey’s face.

“If I don’t take it, what happens?”

Bailey shrugged. “They went over all that before you got here. If they can’t get you in, they’re going with Harry Small—he’s a D.A. in Pittsburgh. The trouble is, he’ll want to run for the seat and Dad thinks he’d have a better than decent chance of getting the committee to back him for the nomination.”

“So Theo wouldn’t run. No more Murphys in the Senate.”

“That wouldn’t be the worst thing, Coop. It’s not your problem.”

“For you and me, maybe it’s not the end of the
world. But for the rest of them…they’d never forgive you.”

“I’m not sure they’re going to forgive me anyway.” Bailey took another swig of beer. “Mom’s seriously not talking to me. She said something about polluting Dad’s legacy and then she walked out.”

“They’ll forgive you.” It would take time, but they’d come around. Cooper didn’t want to think about what his brother must be feeling right now. Politics wasn’t just their family business. In a lot of ways, it
was
their family. “Although if we lose the seat because of this, I doubt Uncle Stephen would ever talk to you again.” He deliberately singled out their uncle, but they both knew he’d left their dad’s name unspoken. Before today Cooper wouldn’t have thought his mom would go that far, but now he wasn’t so sure. “You’re having a kid, Bay. Now isn’t the time to lose your family.”

That was probably when it sank in that Bailey had jumped ship. He’d met someone named Deb, fallen in love with her, and had a baby on the way. He’d risked everything to give himself a chance at the life he wanted, but he wouldn’t be totally happy without the family. No matter what doubts he had about taking Bailey’s seat, Cooper wouldn’t say no. Not if it meant the seat stayed in Murphy hands long enough for Theo to get elected. That would leave
the door open and Bailey might be able to salvage a relationship with their parents.

Bailey glanced away. “I want you to meet Deb,” he said. “I think you’re going to like her. She reminds me a little of Jorie.”

Cooper patted his brother’s shoulder. For the second time, he found himself unable to tell a member of his family that he’d ended his engagement. “I’d like to meet her.” He hesitated, not sure what else to say. “I want you to be happy.” That was true. He’d always wanted that. He just hadn’t known how far from happy his brother was.

“Thanks.”

“A baby, man.” He pulled Bailey in and hugged him hard. “Congratulations.”

When he stepped back, Bailey was grinning—the same grin that had probably won him a few thousand votes all on its own. “Thanks, Coop. You’re the first one to say that.”

C
OOPER WENT BACK TO
the study by himself. He’d have to get used to this, he guessed. Starting today, he was going to be standing on his own, without Bailey in front of him. That made two losses for the day—his brother and Jorie. He missed them both.

He pushed the study door open. “I’ll do it,” he announced.

“Thank God I have one son left with some sense.”

His dad stood and shook his hand. Cooper didn’t know what to feel. He’d never wanted this, still didn’t really want it. He’d spent his entire life being Bailey’s younger brother. That role was comfortable. He knew his strengths—writing speeches was one of them—but put him in front of a crowd and ask him to deliver the words on his own? No way. He could do it, but he hated it. He hoped this temporary appointee gig wouldn’t include many public speaking obligations.

“We’re going to need to get Jorie over here to brief her. Give Theo her number and he can call her.” Nolan sat back down. “Good thing Theo is one of your groomsmen. We can use the press coverage of the wedding to our advantage.”

“Uh, Dad,” he said. “I broke off the engagement.”

His dad pushed his chair back and stood so fast it tipped over. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I broke off the engagement. Right before you called me.”

“My God! You and your brother are going to ruin this family. How could you be so stupid?”

“It didn’t have anything to do with the family, Dad.”

“You don’t think Cheating Senator’s Brother Breaks Heart of Grieving Fiancée is going to be a story that gets picked up? Or did you forget some how that your wedding is the kickoff event for the tenth anniversary of the Wish Team, a group that grants goddamn wishes to people who are dying? How is the governor supposed to appoint you if you’re no better than your brother?”

“When I broke up with her, I had no idea Bailey was resigning,” Cooper said. “Maybe it’s a good thing—I won’t be distracted by the wedding. Total focus for the new job.”