Be Mine at Christmas(45)
Author: Brenda Novak

“If that’s how you want it,” Maxim had said, and he’d met his former campaign manager at the office.

“This effectively ends our association, correct?” he’d said when he handed Harvey a thirty-thousand-dollar check.

“Sounds fair to me.”

Just to be safe, Maxim had asked him to sign a paper saying he was satisfied with the terms of their separation, a paper he’d then locked inside his desk. Harvey had left immediately afterward, and Maxim hadn’t heard from him since. As far as he knew, the issue was settled.

Then why did he feel so…unsettled about it?

“Dad?” Megan called.

He dropped the hand he’d been using to massage his temple. “Yes?”

“Where are you? I want to show you the commercial I had to make for one of my classes.”

Drawing a deep breath, he put his conversation with Harvey out of his mind. It was Christmas, and Adelaide was coming over. He had better things to think about than Mark’s affair—and his own hand in discovering it.

“Coming,” he called and went to the kitchen.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SHE WAS READY and, if she hurried, she’d be on time.

Grabbing the cheesecake she’d made, as well as the wine she’d bought, Adelaide headed for the door. She’d never been to Maxim’s place, but she doubted she’d have any trouble finding it. She had GPS on her phone if she got lost. But just as she was stepping out of her house, she saw her friend Ruby pull into the driveway, going far too fast. She came to a screeching halt, and the Escalade jerked back and forth as she slammed the gearshift into Park and jumped out.

Something was wrong. They’d already exchanged gifts over the weekend and hadn’t planned to see each other again until after Christmas. Ruby had said she’d be celebrating with her kids and her ex-husband, with whom she was thinking of reconciling. So…what was she doing here?

Adelaide waited on her doorstep as Ruby rushed toward her.

“Adelaide, oh, my God! I’m so sorry.”

Sorry? Adelaide didn’t know how to react. “For what?”

Confusion descended on Ruby’s face and her steps slowed. “You mean…you don’t know? It was just on the news. I heard it with my own ears.”

The cheesecake and the wine were getting heavy, but Adelaide didn’t dare move. “You’re not making any sense.”

Tears filled Ruby’s eyes as she took the wine. Then they stood facing each other, both dressed in their Christmas finery, with Adelaide’s heart beating like a jackhammer.

“It’s about Mark,” Ruby said.

Adelaide couldn’t imagine what could be so terrible that Ruby would race over in such a panic. Mark was dead. She’d been dealing with that for two and a half years. Did news get any worse than goodbye forever? “What about him?” she asked.

Ruby motioned them inside. “I think you should sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down,” she said. “I have a dinner date, and I’m going to be—”

“He was having an affair, Adelaide, just as you suspected,” Ruby cut in.

This stole Adelaide’s breath. After so long, after finally convincing herself that she’d been acting crazy and paranoid and insecure when she’d accused Mark, she was learning that she’d been right from the beginning? “No…”

“Yes.”

“With whom?”

“Let’s go in,” Ruby said and guided Adelaide back into the house.

Adelaide sat at the kitchen table while Ruby took the cheesecake and stowed it in the fridge, along with the wine. “I can’t believe something like this would be on the news,” she muttered. “I mean, I could see it if he was still in office, but—”

“It’s pertinent,” Ruby said. “You’re essentially running in his place and on his reputation. So anything that blackens his name blackens yours.”

“But…an affair? A lot of guys have extramarital affairs and it hasn’t ruined their political careers.”

Ruby frowned. “There’s more to it.”

“More?”

“Mark also took bribes from local developers.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Ruby crouched in front of her. “I would never kid about something like this.”

Adelaide stared at her helplessly. “He couldn’t have. I mean…I would’ve known, wouldn’t I?” She tried to think back. They’d always been well-off. Mark came from money, and she’d built the fledgling business they’d started when they got married into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Would she have noticed if he had more money in his accounts than he should have? Probably not.

“I don’t know,” Ruby said, obviously miserable.

He wouldn’t have needed the money. But the power might have tempted him. He would’ve liked doling out favors, being the big man who could make the difference. “How did this come to light?” she asked.

“Luke Silici.”

The man who’d wanted to run against Maxim in the primary but backed off when she entered the race? That Luke Silici?

“There was a clip of him on the news, condemning Mark for lack of integrity,” she was saying.

So he intended to join the race? He must be using this to open the door. But she’d already decided to drop out, hadn’t she? Because of the pregnancy? He couldn’t know that, of course, but even if he entered the race, there was no way he’d beat Maxim.

“It’ll be okay,” she said. Somehow, she’d figure it out, come to terms with it. There was a chance Silici had been misinformed. She’d do all she could to fight for Mark’s reputation, to preserve her memories of him.

But Ruby wouldn’t meet her eyes. “That’s not all.”

Adelaide remembered the hopes she’d had for this Christmas and felt them fade. “There’s more than adultery and corruption?”

“Silici said he has copies of some of Mark’s e-mails.”

Adelaide let her breath go. “They prove he was taking bribe money?”

“I don’t know what proof they have on the bribe issue. These apparently have to do with the affair.”

Covering her face with both hands, Adelaide tried to calm down enough to think. It was going to be okay, wasn’t it? She could live with whatever emerged—because it was in the past. It didn’t change the present.

Squaring her shoulders, she lowered her hands. “Who was it? Virna? Or Susie?” She’d named Mark’s two most attractive field reps, but Ruby shook her head.