Do You Want to Know a Secret? (38 page)

“Hello, I’m Joy Wingard.” He thought he detected a look of semirecognition in her eyes.

“Mrs. Wingard, I’m Father Alec Fisco from Sacred Heart Cathedral. I was wondering if I could have a few moments of your time?”

She turned to a short, intense-looking man standing beside her. He glanced at his watch and brusquely told her that they were running behind. She turned to Father Alec with an apologetic look and was about to make her excuses when she suddenly placed him.

“Sacred Heart Cathedral? Yes, what can I do for you?”

“I was hoping we could talk in private.”

She smiled and gestured to the group around her and shrugged helplessly.

“Perhaps we could talk in the chapel for a minute? Please.” The priest’s eyes implored.

“Nate, I want to talk to Father in the chapel. Will you please arrange that?”

The short, intense one looked annoyed. But he muttered the necessary instructions. The camera people turned and broke away from the group, eager to get outside and grab an exterior shot of the hospital before it was time to get back in the press cars again. They had enough video of the priest and Mrs. Wingard.

In an instant, Father Alec found himself sitting in a pew in an empty chapel beside the very possible next first lady. She tried to put him at ease.

“Father, that was a beautiful homily you gave for Bill Kendall. I’m sure it must have comforted his family.”

“Thank you. I hope so. I’m flattered you remember me.”

“Did you know Bill very well?”

“I only knew Bill Kendall for a very brief time, but I think it’s fair to say I knew him well.”

There was a pause, neither one sure of where to go next with the conversation. The priest looked pained and extraordinarily uncomfortable.

“What is it, Father?”

“Mrs. Wingard, I’m so very sorry to tell you this, but I feel that I must.” He stopped and looked like he might actually be sick. She prodded.

“What? What is it?”

“Mrs. Wingard, Bill Kendall had AIDS.”

He saw her intake of breath, watched her bite her bottom lip. Otherwise, her face remained expressionless. She rose, smoothed the skirt of her suit, and adjusted a stray strand of hair. If she had just been hit with the psychic equivalent of a body blow, she gave little sign. Instead, she took the priest’s hand.

“Thank you, Father. I appreciate that you told me.”

His mouth hung slightly open as he watched her walk erect to the chapel door, open it, and face the throng waiting for her on the other side.

Chapter 83

Senator Wingard returned
to his office after casting his vote on the Senate floor. The bill that he co-sponsored had passed by a wide margin. He did not feel triumphant.

They think I buy it.

The thought sickened him. He hadn’t realized Joy was such a smooth liar.

Nate was another story. He didn’t look him in the eye when the subject of the Kendall bequest came up. It was so out of character for his suspicious campaign manager not to comment on a charitable bequest’s being made before the charity had been announced. Nate must know that Joy had been seeing Kendall.

Win was playing along. He didn’t want to confront Joy about it now. The campaign was much more important than his marriage. He wanted to put all his energies into becoming president.

But now he knew that neither Joy nor Nate could be trusted. They didn’t speak the truth. What else could they be hiding?

He couldn’t say he was heartbroken. “Resigned” would be a better description of how he felt. He’d known for a long time that he and Joy didn’t have much going on between them. They were thoughtful and polite with one another, but there was none of the easy bantering they’d shared in their early years together. No spark, no excitement. Their lovemaking was perfunctory. They both just went through the motions.

The pursuit of the White House was not bringing them closer. Their marriage was a political business deal.

In a strange way, Wingard was more upset over Nate’s betrayal. He’d trusted his campaign manager utterly and completely. But now he knew he’d been naive. He should have known better. Just because they’d cheated on the law boards together all those years ago, and had been friends and allies all of their adult lives, didn’t mean that things couldn’t change. Brothers betrayed brothers. He just hadn’t expected it from Nate.

In the end, how much did it all matter? As long as the presidency was Wingard’s.

There was nothing to do now but to go along with the lie. Maybe they would all get away with it in the end. He had watched Joy’s morning news interviews with a lump in his throat, but she hadn’t betrayed a thing. Even in response to Eliza Blake’s questions, Joy had remained calm and collected. If Win hadn’t read her journal, he would have believed Joy’s explanations himself.

But he had read it. The journal and the letter tucked inside had explained it all.

Chapter 84

“What did the
priest want?” asked Nate the minute they got into the car for the drive to Newark Airport.

“Oh, he wanted to make a point about the evil of abortion,” Joy lied carefully. “He was just a very sincere young man. He said that in my position I could do a lot of good by influencing public opinion.”

Nate rolled his eyes. “What did you say?”

“I said I understood and respected his feelings and I thanked him.”

“Good. Stay off abortion whenever you possibly can.”

Joy was relieved that she had an interview with an AP reporter on the flight back to Washington. She didn’t have to sit next to Nate. She resented that they had been forced to become allies of a sort, united in their common knowledge of her affair with Bill. As far as she was concerned, the less she saw of Nate Heller, the better she liked it. She especially didn’t want to talk to Nate now, after her conversation with Father Alec.

Once settled in her coach seat on the commercial shuttle flight to National Airport, Joy amazed herself at her ability to field the reporter’s questions. Sipping an icy ginger ale, she responded appropriately and carefully. Attentive and poised, she made it a point to inject some self-deprecating humor. She was getting quite adept at winning over the reporters. Lately, she had been playing a little game with herself. Before an interview, she’d think of two or three clever statements that she’d find a way to squeeze into the conversation. When she checked the reporter’s subsequent story, sure enough, her preplanned quotes would be included with amazing frequency. It worked in print and she had begun to be more aware of doing it with the broadcasters, too. She liked to see if she could pick her own soundbites.

The airliner began its descent to the runway. She noticed that though the early summer evening wasn’t dark yet, the landing lights were already lit, rimming the macadam plane path. Joy wondered at the fact that she had been able to do the interview so smoothly, pouring on some charm as well, right after Father Alec’s biting pronouncement.

Chapter 85

With less than
two minutes until air, Yelena joined Range, Louise and Jean as they settled themselves in the Fishbowl to watch the show on the monitor mounted against the wall of the office. There were several television sets lined up alongside the one turned to KEY, their audio turned down, affording a chance to see what the other networks were doing at the time.

Yelena turned to Jean. “It’s good to have you back.”

“I second that,” added Range.

Jean smiled appreciatively. “I’m surprised at how good it is to be back.” Jean had ample reason to smile. She had come back to work on her own terms, having decided that she couldn’t face being some other KEY hotshot’s “girl.” She had always secretly wanted to work in production and, somehow, Bill’s death and the time off she had taken to sort things out had emboldened her to ask for what she really wanted. After just two weeks away, she called Range and told him of her desire. She was very pleasantly surprised when he immediately offered her an assistant producer’s job on the
Evening Headlines
. What was it they said about adversity being an opportunity for growth?

Louise sat on the office couch, legs crossed, long slit skirt revealing a nice section of thigh. She was looking forward to dinner with Range after the show. In fact, she’d been thinking about it all day. The delicious early summer warmth outside translated into a hunger for Range’s male companionship. She knew Range had dinner reservations at Lespinasse. What he didn’t know was that she had taken a room for the night at the St. Regis.