Dutch and Gina: The Power of Love (10 page)

“Oh, and what do I do?” LaLa asked.
 
“Makes you feel bad?”

Knocks were heard on the door.
 
“No,” Gina said with a smile, “but you certainly can’t make me feel the way Dutch can make me feel.
  
Now that’s a fact.”

“Oh,” LaLa said, getting it.
 
“You mean
that
kind of good.”

Gina laughed.
 
Then turned toward the door.
 
“Yes?” she yelled.

The door opened and Christian stepped inside.
 
“I’m sorry to disturb you, ma’am---”

 
“Christian, my goodness.
 
You don’t have to knock.
 
You’re family.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Where’s Jade?”

“She went on home.”

“You need to go on home too.”

“I was headed that way but I got a call that Mr. Rand is waiting downstairs.”

 
Gina and LaLa looked at each other.
 

LaLa frowned.
 
“Robert Rand?
 
What’s he doing here?”

“I don’t know, but bring him up, Chris,” Gina stated.
 
“Then you go on home to your new bride.”

Christian smiled.
 
“Yes ma’am.
 
‘Night, La.”

“See you later, Chris,” LaLa said and then turned to Gina when Christian was gone.
 
“Has he ever popped up like this before?”

“Never,” Gina said.
 
Then she smiled.
 
“But he’s never met you before, either.”

LaLa wanted to believe that.
 
She wanted to believe that a billionaire funny man like Robert Rand could be interested in her like that.
 
But somehow, after spending that time in the Caribbean with him, she doubted it.
 
There was more to Mr. Rand’s agenda, she was willing to bet, than he was showing now.

Gina looked at LaLa.
 
“Maybe he calls himself wooing you.”

“Yeah, right.
 
He can have supermodels but he wants me, instead.”

“He might.
 
Crader can have supermodels, but he wants you.”

“That’s not the same thing.
 
Please do not compare Crader McKenzie to Robert Rand.”
 

“Robert isn’t all that, in my humble opinion,” Gina said.
 
“Crader is the total package: looks, brains, heart, and he’s rich.
 
Robert’s just rich.”

LaLa wasn’t suggesting that Robert was the better pick over Crader.
 
Just the opposite, in fact.
 
But Gina was already a big Crader fan as it was.
 
She didn’t need to give her any more of that
you ought to give Crader another
chance
ammunition.
 
“Whatever,” LaLa said instead.

“But why else would he be here, La?
 
He had to know Dutch was on the west coast tonight.
 
I’m sure Dutch told him where he was going when we left the Virgin Islands. And even if he didn’t tell him, the president’s schedule is public information.”

“But I don’t know, G,” LaLa said, shaking her head.
 
“Why would a jet-setting, can have any woman he wants man like that want me?”

Gina looked at LaLa with concern in her eyes.
 
“Don’t you ever say something that harsh, La.
 
You’re a great catch.
 
Just because Demps didn’t realize it and Crader didn’t realize it when he had a chance, doesn’t mean you’re not a great catch.”

“But it hasn’t just been those two men.
 
It’s been man after man after man after man that I can’t count how many men anymore.
 
They all break my heart in the end, G.
 
All of them.
 
So either I’m just the most unlucky female in the universe to always pick the absolute wrong men, or men just aren’t that into me.
 
It’s either them or it’s me.
 
It can’t be both.
 
And I’m the only common denominator here.”

Gina’s heart felt heavy for her beloved friend.
 
“Well, it’s not you,” she said assuredly.
 
But she knew LaLa wasn’t at all convinced.

After Christian deposited Robert inside the Residence and said his goodbyes again, Robert took a seat in the chair flanking the two ladies.

“So how have you been, Loretta?” he asked as he sat down.

“I’ve been good.
 
How about you?”

“Great.
 
Wonderful.
 
I take it your bodyguard is with the president?”

LaLa looked at him askance.
 
She knew he meant Crader, but for some reason she didn’t find his joke funny at all.
 
“Crader is with the president, yes,” she said.

Gina smiled.
 
“Why would you call Crader McKenzie LaLa’s bodyguard?”

“Because that’s exactly the way he was behaving.
 
That night, after the cookout, I took this wonderful lady for a drive around the island.
 
Then, like a gentleman, I walked her back to her bungalow.
 
And there he was just standing there.
 
Waiting like her protector. He said it was business, White House business he called it, but that, it seemed to me, was a dubious assertion at best.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Gina said smilingly as she looked at LaLa, surprised that she didn’t mention the fact that Crader stayed up waiting for her return the night she went for a drive with Robert.

LaLa felt flushed with embarrassment.
 
She knew Crader cared about her, and perhaps cared about her deeply, but that didn’t automatically translate into love.
 
She didn’t know a lot, she’d be the first to acknowledge that she wasn’t the most knowledgeable person around, but she knew you wouldn’t hurt the one you loved.
 
Not if you truly loved them.

 
Gina saw her distress, and decided to move on.
 
“So what brings you to our neck of the woods, Robert?” she asked.
 

Robert looked down the length of LaLa, but it all just seemed contrived to LaLa.
 
Then he looked at Gina.
 
“You, actually,” he said.

“Me?”

“Yes, ma’am.
 
I know Dutch was out in California, and I had some business in New York.
 
So I decided it would be the perfect time to come over and proposition you.”

LaLa cut Robert a hard look.
 
Dutch Harber would kill him, absolutely murder him if Robert so much as thought about propositioning Gina.

“Not that kind of proposition,” Robert said with a laugh.
 
“So keep your shirt on, Loretta, I’m not being disrespectful of my friend’s wife.”

“Oh,” LaLa said, loaded with attitude.
 
“Tell me something.”

Gina laughed too.
 
“
She’s
my bodyguard,” she said to Robert.

“I see,” replied Robert.
 
The bitch
, he wanted to add.

“And what does this proposition entails?”
 
Gina asked.

“Marcus Rance,” he said.

LaLa looked at Gina.
 
Gina was staring at Robert.
 
Marcus Rance was Gina’s half-brother, her deceased father’s only son, and he was currently in a Texas prison doing a life sentence for murder.
 
It was a crime Marcus declared he didn’t commit, and the evidence seemed to support his declaration.
 
But Texas still would not grant him a new trial.
 
The idea that her brother was in prison for a crime she believed he didn’t commit, still horrified her.

“What about Marcus?” she asked him.

Robert inwardly smiled.
 
From the change in her entire demeanor, he knew he had her exactly where he wanted her.
 
“I have a very close friend who happens to be the governor of Texas.”

“And?”

“He doesn’t plan to seek reelection.”

“And?” Gina asked again, her eyes unable to leave his.

“And,” Robert said, “he’s open to a favor.”

Gina’s heart began to pound.
 
“What kind of favor? You mean. . . Are you saying that Governor Feingold, the governor of Texas, is open to a pardon, for instance?“

Robert smiled.
 
Quick lady.
 
“He’s open to the possibility of pardoning your brother, yes.”

LaLa could hardly believe it.
 
She looked at Gina.
 
But Gina was staring at Robert.
 
“What’s the catch?” she asked.

Ah, Robert thought.
 
Smart too.
 
“He’ll be at the Rand Foundation dinner.
 
It’s scheduled to be held in Montreal, Canada, the first week in July.
 
The catch is that I’m hoping you’ll be there, too, as our keynote speaker.
 
I will facilitate a private, one-on-one meeting.
 
And the governor has been kind enough to agree to give you an opportunity to convince him why Marcus Rance should be pardoned.”

Gina was still unconvinced.
 
“And what’s in it for you?” she asked.

Robert smiled.
 
“I told you.
 
You will be the keynote speaker at the Rand Foundation dinner.
 
I don’t know if you realize this but having the First Lady as your keynote speaker is considered a big get.”

“What’s in it for you?” Gina asked again.

Damn, she’s good, Robert thought.
 
“And you will encourage your husband, as only you can, to sign the Helm Amendment into law.”
 

LaLa frowned.
 
“Why would you care about an amendment that gives block grants to state commissioned shovel-ready projects?”

“Because,” Gina began, her eyes never leaving Robert’s, “buried in that amendment is a proviso that changes the status of Atlantic City’s Parchmore settlement from historic land to public land, land that would then be up for grabs to the highest bidder.
 
Land so strategically placed,” Gina went on, “that the next Rand Casino would be guaranteed successful by its location alone.”

LaLa was surprised and pleased that Gina was able to go deep into the weeds on such mundane legislation.
 

“Is it a deal, madam?” Robert asked Gina.
 
“All you have to do is encourage your husband, and yes, exactly for the reasons you outlined, and to attend our little dinner the first week in July.
 
That’s it.
 
That’s all.”

Gina finally realized the timing.
 
“The first week in July?” she asked.
 
“But that’s when Dutch is going to the Asian-Pacific Conference in Japan.”

Of course Robert already knew that.
 
That was why the date of the dinner was rescheduled to ensure that Dutch wouldn’t be there.
 
“Oh, is it?” Robert feigned ignorance.
 
“But surely you can give us a night of your time before going on to be with hubby?”

But it still wasn’t adding up to Gina.
 
“But I still don’t get the why,” she said.