Affairs of State (Daughters of Power: The Capital #6)(17)
Author: Jennifer Lewis

His pale blue eyes locked with hers, and she could see shadows of thoughts flickering behind them. “Oh, my.” His murmur almost seemed to have come from her own mouth. Overwhelmed, their hands still clasped together, they stared at each other for a long time that seemed agonizingly short and then she felt his arms close around her back.

The breath rushed from her lungs as she hugged him back and held him with the force of twenty-eight years of unexpressed longing. She could feel his chest heaving as he held her tight. Tears fell from her eyes into the wool of his suit and she couldn’t stop them. It was too much. Feelings she’d never anticipated rocked her to her core. When they finally parted she was blinking and pretty sure that she wouldn’t be able to talk if someone asked her a question. The president’s—her father’s—eyes were wet with tears and his face still looked stunned.

He helped her to one of the seats, then took his place in the other, on the opposite side of Barbara Carey, who tactfully remained silent, letting the moment speak for itself. At last the interviewer drew in a breath. “It’s been a long time coming.” She looked from one of them to the other.

Ariella’s father—it didn’t feel crazy to call him that now, which didn’t really make any sense, but then none of this did—stared straight at her. “I had no idea you existed.” His voice was breathless, as if he was talking just to her, not to Barbara Carey, or the cameras, or the viewers.

“I know,” she managed. She’d known he existed, of course, but not who he was.

“Your parents have obviously done a wonderful job of raising you. I’ve learned of all your accomplishments, and how well you’ve handled the avalanche of events these last few months.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

“I should have met with you before now but I was foolish enough to take the advice of strategists who wanted to wait until we knew the truth from the DNA testing.” His eyes softened. “I was a fool. I only have to look at you to know you’re my daughter. And you have your mother’s eyes.”

Those same eyes filled with tears again, and she reached for one of the tissues from a box that had miraculously appeared on a small coffee table in front of them. Suddenly she could see herself in the jut of his cheekbone and the funny way he wrinkled his nose. They’d been living their lives often only a few buildings apart here in D.C. but might have never met.

“I suppose we have to be grateful for the nosey journalists who uncovered the truth.” She said it to him, then turned to Barbara Carey. “Or we might have lived the rest of our lives without ever meeting.”

“We have a lot of lost time to make up for.” Ted Morrow leaned forward. “I’d like very much to get to know you.”

“I’d like that, too.” Her heart swelled until she thought it might burst. “I’ve been longing to meet you since I first learned you were my father. It’s not easy getting an appointment with the president.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been anxious to meet you, too. It’s usually a mistake to let other people tell you how to run your life, and it’s one I won’t make again. I have a strange feeling we’ll find we have a lot in common.”

She smiled. “I’ve wondered about that. And I’d like to learn more about your life in Montana.”

Something flickered across Ted Morrow’s face. Maybe he was thinking back to his high school days, where he’d become involved with Eleanor. She wondered how he felt about being deceived for all these years. Would he forgive Eleanor for keeping her secret?

“I had a wonderful childhood in Montana. And I was very much in love with your mother.” He spoke with force, eyes still shining with emotion. “It’s been a strange journey since then, for sure. Who knows how different it would have been if she’d told me she was pregnant with you?”

“You might not be sitting here as president of the United States,” suggested Barbara. “Your life might have taken a different course.”

“I might have accepted the assistant manager position I was offered at Willey’s Tool and Die.” He chuckled. “They paid time and a half for weekends.”

“But you had bigger dreams.” Barbara tilted her head. “You’d just accepted a scholarship to attend Cornell University.”

“I wanted to get out of my small pond and see if I could swim in a larger one.” Then his eyes fixed on hers again. “I never intended to abandon Ellie.”

Barbara Carey leaned toward him. “Ellie is Eleanor Albert, your high school sweetheart?”

“Yes. I wrote her letters and we’d made plans to spend the summer together.” He frowned. “Then one day she stopped responding to my letters. She didn’t answer the phone. Her mother hung up on me.” He shook his head. “I guessed that she’d met someone else. I had no idea she’d been bundled out of town to hide a pregnancy.”

“And you never saw her again.” Barbara’s famous voice added drama to the pronouncement.

He looked right at her. “Never. I’ve certainly thought about her over the years. Wondered where she was and hoped she was happy.”

“But you never married anyone else.”

“I guess I just never met anyone I loved as much as Ellie.”

His usually granite-hard features were softened with emotion. Ariella’s heart ached at the thought that Eleanor—Ellie—was out there and deathly afraid of him. Thinking he’d be angry and would hate her for her choice to keep her secret. She vowed that once she got to know him she’d convince Eleanor to meet him in person.

“Well, we have a surprise for you, President Morrow.”

He lifted a brow. “I’m not sure how many more surprises I can take. It’s been quite a year for them.”

Barbara stood and peered off into the darkness beyond the studio lights, and both Ariella and her father instinctively stood as well. “It wasn’t easy to convince her, but I’m happy to tell you that Eleanor is here with us tonight.”

Ariella gasped. She tried to make out her mother’s face but it was too hard to see. She glanced at Ted Morrow, but he simply looked shocked. At last she made out Liam Crowe, the head of ANS, walking toward them with Eleanor on his arm. Her hair was carefully coiffed, and she wore a simple burgundy dress, and looked young and pretty, and very, very nervous.

Her eyes were riveted on Ted Morrow like she’d seen a ghost.

“Ellie.” The president breathed her name like a prayer. “It’s really you.”

Blinking, she walked into the glare of the lights. “Hello, Ted.” Her voice was tiny, barely audible. He enveloped her in the same bear hug he’d greeted Ariella with, but there was something…tentative about the way he held her.

Stage hands quietly appeared with a chair for her to sit on, next to Ariella, who she greeted nervously.

Barbara leaned toward Ted. “I have to tell you that Eleanor approached us. She had heard of the special from Ariella, and she decided it was time to face you and tell her side of the story.”

Ted stared at Eleanor in a daze as if he couldn’t believe she was really here.

“Ariella and I met in London.” She spoke quietly. “Meeting her meant so much to me. I don’t suppose I realized how much I gave up until I saw her beautiful face and talked with her. After that I knew I had to face you again, too, Ted.”

“I never knew what happened to you. I pestered your mother for years but she never told me. She said you’d gone to live abroad.”

“It was true. I met my husband, married him and moved to Ireland all within a year of giving birth to Ariella. It seemed easier for everyone if I just disappeared.”

“It wasn’t easier for me,” Ted protested. “Why didn’t you tell me? You know I’d have married you.”

She looked at him in silence, her lip trembling. “I knew that’s what you’d do. That you’d give up your dreams to do the right thing. I couldn’t let you do that.”

“Ellie.” Tears filled his eyes. “Maybe there were other things that were more important to me than building a big career.”

“I’m so sorry.” Eleanor’s voice was higher. She was beginning to look as if she regretted coming. Ariella grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Looking back I can see I made a terrible mistake. I was in a panic. My family said that the scandal of an unwed pregnancy would ruin your prospects. It was a different time. I was young and stupid and alone. I didn’t know what to do and I followed bad advice.”

“The important thing is that we’re all here today.” Ted Morrow’s voice sounded presidential for the first time since he’d come on set. “We’ve all done things we’d do differently if we had the chance to do them over again. Instead of looking back and saying ‘if only,’ I suggest that we embrace the present.”

“Well said,” chimed in Barbara. “And we here at ANS are thrilled to be a part of bringing you all together again.”

* * *

After the taping, they filed into the green room. Ariella felt shell-shocked. They’d all watched an edited montage of childhood photographs and background interviews and answered a few more questions. She was relieved it was over but also anxious to make sure she didn’t miss the opportunity to get to know her father and mother better.

Ted and Eleanor stood together, awkwardly silent, staring at each other. She wondered if she should say something to break the ice, but then she wondered if it wasn’t ice but something far warmer and maybe she should stay out of the way.

“You haven’t changed at all.” The president’s usually commanding voice sounded gruff with emotion.

“You, either. Though the gray at your temples makes you look more distinguished.” Eleanor’s eyes sparkled. “I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that you were running for president. I even obtained an absentee ballot for the first time so I could vote for you.”

Ted laughed. “It was a close race. I’m glad of the help.” He looked like he wanted to say so much more. He took her hands. “I know you did what you thought was best.” He spoke softly, as if they were all alone, though Ariella stood only a few feet away and production staff moved in the background.

“It doesn’t seem that way now, but you know what they say about hindsight.”

“I never loved anyone else.” Ted’s soft words shocked Ariella. She felt embarrassed to be eavesdropping, and wanted to disappear. But she knew how hard it was to engineer this meeting in the first place and who knew when she’d get another chance to spend time with her father. “I probably shouldn’t tell you that. I know you were married.”

“Greg was a good man.” Ellie didn’t seem so nervous and skittish anymore. Being in Ted’s presence seemed to calm her. “He was always so kind to me and we shared a good life together, even though we were never blessed with children.”

“I’m sorry to hear that he died.”

“Yes, it was very sudden and unexpected.” Their gazes were still locked on each other and they held hands as if afraid circumstances might suddenly tug them apart again.

It made her think of Simon. Circumstances certainly conspired to keep them apart. In fact it was odd that they’d ever met and managed to forge a few moments of intimacy. Some things just weren’t meant to be. She was almost at peace about it. It had been a fun fling, a wonderful whirlwind romance, and now she needed to get back to her regular life—whatever regular was these days—and try to forget about him.

“Do you think we could…have dinner together?” Ted Morrow asked with a touchingly hopeful expression.

“I’d like that very much.” Eleanor glowed. She looked so young and lovely standing there with Ted. Ariella would barely have recognized her as the white-lipped, anxious woman who’d met her in their secret London hiding place. “We have a lot to catch up on.”

They both seemed to suddenly remember her. “You will join us, won’t you?” Ted reached out and took Ariella’s hand, so that they were all linked. “It would mean so much to me to finally get to know you after all these years.”

“I’d be thrilled.”

* * *

The dinner was very emotional. Their happiness at meeting was thickened with sadness at all the things they’d missed sharing together. Ariella arrived home feeling literally sick with exhaustion, emotional and physical. She’d had her phone turned off since before the taping, and when she finally turned it on she saw that Simon had left a message.

“Great news. I’ve managed to engineer a series of meetings in D.C. next week. I’d like to put in my application now to take you out for dinner on Tuesday. Call me.”

Her heart constricted, partly with the familiar thrill of hearing his voice, and partly with the ugly knowledge that she needed to start weaning herself off him, not getting excited about dinners. Feeling dizzy, she lay down on her sofa, clutching the phone to her chest. She listened to another message from her partner, Scarlet, asking her to call and fill her in on the details. She decided that could wait until tomorrow because Scarlet had probably watched the taping like everyone else.