For the Love of Gina: The President's Girlfriend (21 page)

After
they decided that the food did not need to be microwaved, they both sat on the
edge of the couch and ate it together.
 
Gina couldn’t stop taking glances at Dutch while they ate, as he seemed
so footloose and fancy free for a change.
 
He was smiling and laughing.
 
He
was taking his fork and feeding her.
 
He
was the old Dutch, the Dutch she remembered when they first met way back in
Miami.
 
And the Dutch she knew years
later, when they eventually got married.
 
And the thought that she almost threw it all away, because sometimes
being with him wasn’t easy, scared her.
 

Dutch,
so in tuned with her feelings, picked up on her fear.
 
He placed his hand on hers and squeezed her
fingers.
 
“It’s okay, darling,” he
said.
 
“We’re going to be just fine.”

Gina
smiled.

“But,”
Dutch continued, “the next time you tell me you need a little space to think
about our future, I’m going to tell you no.”

Gina
looked at him.

“If
there’s a problem in our marriage we’re going to have to talk it out.
 
Not you in one house and me in another
one.
 
But together.
 
And we’re going to work it out, whatever it
is.
 
Okay, babe?”

Gina
didn’t have to think about that long.
 
She couldn’t agree more.
 
“Without
a doubt,” she said.
 
And they smiled
again, continued laughing and talking, and eating.

Gina
knew she was giving up a lot of power and authority to Dutch.
 
She knew she could probably negotiate for a
“better” deal.
 
But she didn’t.
 
Dutch wasn’t a halfway man.
 
He wasn’t going to accept anything less than
full authority in his household.
 
And
Gina understood that.
 
In a lot of ways,
she wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
Then
she thought about what one of Dutch’s staffers had said as she was coming to
his office.
 
That’s a happy bitch right there
, she had said.
 
And she was right, Gina thought as Dutch fed
her another forkful of soufflé.
 
Because
she was indeed a happy bitch now.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

After
lunch with Dutch, Gina was in the backseat of her chauffeur-driven SUV, just
leaving Harber Industries, when the call came in.
 
She looked at the Caller ID on her cell
phone.
 
When she saw that it was Sam
Redding, she smiled.
 
And quickly
answered.
 
“Hello?”

“Gina,
hi.
 
It’s Samantha.”

“Sam,
hey,” Gina said with a smile.
 
“How are
you?”

“I’m
doing well.
 
How about yourself?”

“No
complaints at all.
 
It’s so good to hear
from you again.
 
It’s been a while.”

“Quite
a while.
 
Almost a year.”

“That
long?”

“That
long,” Sam said.

“So
what’s up?
 
Everything okay?”

“I’m
in town, actually, on my way to visit a sick friend of mine in Hartford.
 
I thought, since I’m here, that it might be a
great idea for us to get together and discuss what we’re going to do about
Jade.”

Jade
, Gina thought painfully.
 
What in the world were they going to do about
Jade?
 
“Yes,” she said.
 
“Absolutely.”

“I’m
going to stay in town overnight and then I thought I’d head out for Connecticut
tomorrow morning.”

“Where
are you staying?
 
You haven’t booked a
room or anything like that, have you?”

“No,
not yet, but I was eyeing this particular hotel.”

“Don’t
be ridiculous!
 
You’ll stay at the
house.”

“Oh,
no, Gina, I couldn’t impose like that.”

“It’s
no imposition at all.
 
Dutch will be glad
to see you again.
 
And you’re right, we
really need to make some decisions regarding Jade.
 
So where are you now?”

“I’m
not far from your home actually,” Sam said.
 
“I was wondering if I could meet you there.
 
Before Dutch gets home, I mean?
 
I was hoping we could talk
mother-to-mother.
 
I think we can discuss
matters that Dutch may not want to hear about his beloved child.
 
But they need to be discussed.
 
I’m so worried about Jade.”

Gina
had planned to spend her afternoon in her office, but she wasn’t about to turn
down Sam.
 
She was a good friend when
Gina was going through that Marcus Rance tragedy, and she truly seemed to love
her daughter.
 
“Yes, of course, go on
over to the house.
 
You already have
preclearance.
 
I’ll notify Ramsey of your
arrival if you beat me there.
 
But you
probably won’t.
 
I’m only about fifteen
minutes away.
 
I’ll meet you there.”

“Great,
Gina,” Sam said.
 
“I’ll see you
then.
 
Thank-you so much.”
 

Then
she hung up, and smiled.

They
were still seated around the table in the shack in the woods, and Jade was
gleeful.
 
“Did she believe you?”

“Every
word,” Sam said.

“Good,”
Max said.
 
Then he placed the hard-side
suitcase on the table.
 
“Everything has
to be done exactly according to plan,” he said.
 
“So far it’s working like a charm.
 
Jade was given her furlough.”

“After
I threatened to sue them,” Jade pointed out.

“Semantics,”
Max said dismissively.
 

“It’s
not just semantics,” Jade disagreed.
 
“What if the staff at Hammersmith start wondering about me anyway?”

“Why
would they care about you?” Sam asked.
 
“You aren’t some violent offender.
 
You’re under court-ordered institutionalization, with the right to be
released in the care of me or your father for two days per month.
 
You’re on the first day of your two-day
furlough with me, a furlough they allowed you to take since you didn’t go with
your father.”

“A
furlough they allowed me to take,” Jade again corrected, “after I agreed not to
sue their asses because of what Reyza Golan was doing to me.”

“More
like what you were doing to Reyza Golan,” Sam said, “but yes, that too.
 
But the point is, they have no reason to
start concerning themselves with you until after day two.
 
That’s the point.
 
This is day one and you’re exactly where
you’re supposed to be.”

Jade
laughed.
 
“Yeah, right.
 
I’m supposed to be in this shack in the
woods.”

“You’re
supposed to be either in California where your mother lives, or New Jersey
where your father lives.
 
We’re in New
Jersey.
 
Right near your father’s estate.
 
He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Jade
smiled.
 
But felt depressed that she
couldn’t see her father.
 
But that’ll
change if all went according to plan.
 
She’d see every inch of him.
 
She
still didn’t fully understand how they were going to pull it off, but she could
hardly wait just the same.

“Now,”
Max said, opening the large suitcase and revealing a few clothes and a smaller
suitcase inside.
 
“You remember what
you’re supposed to do?”

“I
remember,” Sam said.
 
“Once I’m upstairs
in the bedroom they’ve assigned to me, I’m to remove the smaller suitcase and
hide it somewhere in that room.”

“Carefully
remove the smaller suitcase,” Max made clear.
 
“There’s no danger of the explosives going off until we push the button,
but I have a tried and true rule.
 
Since
they are explosives, be careful anyway.”

“I’ll
be careful.”

“And
once you text us and then we call you, I want you to get out of there
fast.
 
Act as if your friend is on her
deathbed and you can’t wait another second.
 
Get this larger luggage and get the hell out of there.
 
The worse thing that could happen would be
for Gina to suddenly leave after you leave, and we end up blowing up an empty
house.”

“Understood,”
Sam said and stood up.
 
Max and Jade
stood up too.
  
As soon as they did, Max
picked up his cup of cold coffee, dipped a cloth in it, and then wiped the
cloth across Sam’s blouse.
 
Sam looked at
the spot.

“Is
it obvious enough?” she asked him.

“Just,”
Max said, “without it drawing immediate attention to you.”

“Good.”

“The
rental car is waiting outside,” Max continued.
 
“Drive the speed limit when you leave the Harber estate, following the
GPS to the letter, and then come back, pick us up, and we head to the airstrip
together.”

“That’s
when we detonate?” Jade asked.

Max
smiled.
 
“Once we’re on the plane and on
our way to Nebraska where the plastic surgeons are waiting, that’s when we
detonate.”

“That’s
what I don’t get,” Jade said.
 
“How can
you afford all of this?”

“That’s
easy,” Sam responded.
 
“Remember last
year when your father couldn’t resign the presidency the way he wanted because
of all of those terrorist attacks, one after the other?”

“Of
course I remember that.”

“Guess
who was paid to orchestrate the whole thing?”

Jade
looked at Max.

Max
smiled.
 
“Thurston Osgood, who was
arrested for his part in the explosions, paid me very well,” he said.
 
“After his unfortunate detention, certain
billionaire Middle Easterners kept the money tree flowing like rain.
 
This I can afford without batting an
eye.
 
Trust me on that.”

“Okay,
you can afford it,” Jade said.
 
“But
what’s in this for you?
 
Why are you
affording it?
 
Me and my mother want to
start over, without Gina in our way.
 
What about you?
 
Do you hate her
too?”

“I
hate them both,” Max said with contempt in his voice.
 
“Dutch and Gina both.
 
But I’m convinced Dutch will never know what
it feels like to be in great pain and anguish until he loses Gina.
 
That’ll be pain for Dutch.
 
That’ll make my entire life journey worth it
when I see that kind of pain riding Dutch Harber straight to hell.”

Sam
looked at Max, and she looked at Jade smiling at Max’s palpable hate.
 
And Sam felt dirty.
 
She felt as if she was in bed with evil
itself.
 
But they were here now, and the
bed was already made.
 
She had no choice,
she felt at this point, but to wallow in it too.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“It’s
so good to see you again, Sam,” Gina said as she and Sam walked toward the
sofa.
 
They were at the Harber estate and
Ramsey walked in behind Sam, carrying her large suitcase.

“Which
room, Mrs. Harber?” he asked Gina.

Gina
thought about it.
 
“The east room,
Ramsey.”

“Very
good,” Ramsey said, and began to head upstairs.

“The
east room?” Sam asked.

“I
prepared it when we thought Jade was coming to visit.
 
It’s guest-ready, that’s the only reason.”

“I
see.”
 
Then Sam smiled.
 
“So where’s Little Walt?
 
Is he home?”

“He’s
still at school.
 
In Kindergarten.”

Good,
Sam thought.
 
“Oh, my,” she said.
 
“Kindergarten already.
 
They grow up so fast.”

“Too
fast if you ask me,” Gina said with a smile.
 
“What would you like to drink?
 
I’ll fix it myself.”

Sam
smiled.
 
“That’s very un-First Lady-like
of you.”

“Since
I’m no longer a First Lady, that’s very real of me.”

Sam
laughed.
 
“Wine would be just what the
doctor ordered.”

“Then
wine it will be,” Gina said, walking toward the bar near the back of the room.
 
“Dutch tells me you’re teaching at a junior
college in California.”

“Oh,
yes.”

“Love
it?”

“Not
really, but it pays the bills.”

“What
do you teach?”

“Science
since I do have a medical degree.
 
But
those kids don’t care.
 
They don’t even
bother to call me Dr. Redding.
 
They’re
only interested in getting their C and moving right along.”

“Ah,
that’s sad.
 
I loved college.”

So
did I, Sam thought, before Dutch came along and impregnated her.
 
“But it is odd, isn’t it?” she asked.

“What’s
odd?”

“Labels.
 
And how some stick and some don’t.
 
The way you will always be called the former
First Lady, while Dutch will always be called the president.
 
Even though he’s no longer president, he’ll
still be called by his title.
 
President
Carter.
 
President Bush.
 
President Harber.”

“That’s
the official D.C. rule.
 
You’re always
known by the highest office you ever held there.
 
It doesn’t get any higher than
president.
 
Although Dutch hates it.
 
He’d rather be Mr. Harber any day of the
week.”

“Oh,
I forgot,” Sam said, realizing she had to make her move now.

Gina
turned and looked at her.
 
“What’s
wrong?”

“I
just remembered that I spilled coffee on my blouse earlier today and you know
I’m a neat freak.”
 
She was looking down
at her blouse and the spill on it.
 
“Will
you excuse me for just a sec?
 
I need to
grab a blouse out of my suitcase and change.”

“Oh,
sure,” Gina said.
 
“Go right on up.
 
Ramsey’s up there.
 
He’ll direct you.”

And
Sam hurried up.
 
Ramsey was the
problem.
 
The last thing she wanted was
for him to get nosy and start opening her suitcase and snooping around.
 

But
there was no fear of that.
 
He was
already heading down by the time she was heading up, and he directed her to the
east room.
 
She hurried in, closing the
door behind her, and immediately placed the large suitcase on the bed.
 

Then
it was a matter of not taking too long, of getting in and out before Gina
became suspicious.
 
She opened the
suitcase, gently removed the smaller suitcase that was inside, and began
looking for a hiding place.
 
She looked
and she looked.
 
She finally found it
when she saw a small nook on the far side of the armoire.
 
From the bedroom entrance, where her larger
suitcase would be standing, the smaller one would be completely hid from
sight.
 

She
sat the smaller suitcase in that small corner, went to the bedroom door to make
certain it could not be seen from the door, and then quickly removed her soiled
blouse.
 
She put on another blouse that
was folded in the larger suitcase.
 
After
changing, she closed the larger suitcase, turned on the nightstand lamp for a
better view, and sent the all-important text message to Max.
 
C i 5 m
was the coded message.
 
Call in five minutes
, was the
meaning.
 
Then Sam grabbed the larger
suitcase, sat it by the bedroom door, and hurried back out and downstairs.

Gina
was just sitting Sam’s glass of wine on the cocktail table, and was sitting
down with her own drink by the time Sam made it back downstairs.
 
“Are the accommodations adequate for you,
Sam?” Gina asked her houseguest.

“More
than adequate,” Sam replied as she retrieved her glass and sat down too.
 
“It’s a gorgeous room.”
 
Sam hadn’t given the room itself a second
thought.
 
She had no idea if it was
gorgeous or not.
 

“Because
if you would prefer,” Gina said, “or if you feel you need more privacy, we have
unoccupied guest houses onsite.”

“Oh,
no, please.
 
Upstairs is perfect.”

Gina
smiled. “I’m so glad you decided to call, Sam, really I am.
 
Jade has been on my mind lately.
 
And you know how Dutch feels about her.
 
He’s very concerned about her.”

“So
am I.
 
It’s been a very difficult
time.
 
Nothing seems to work, and I’ve
tried it all.”

“Sometimes
prayer is all that’s left,” Gina said, “and that’s usually better than anything
else we can try.”

“That’s
true,” Sam said, although she felt guilty talking about something as sacred as
prayer.
 
She was in league with the devil
now.
 
She was the opposite of good
now.
 
She felt ashamed of herself.
 
“I hope I’m not keeping you from anything,”
she said, changing the subject.

“Not
at all.”

“So
you aren’t going back to work today?”

“I
already phoned my staff and told them not to expect me at all this
afternoon.
 
I plan to remain home for the
balance of the evening.”

“Not
just on my account surely,” Sam said.

“I
need the break,” Gina said.
 
“I had lunch
with my husband today, a wonderful morning with him, I feel great for a
change.
 
I can use this break.”

“Good.”

“But
about Jade,” Gina said.
 
“I’ve been
hoping she can turn her life around.
 
But
Dutch seems to think she’s playing some kind of game.
 
That she doesn’t want to turn around.”

“I
don’t know why he would say that,” Sam said defensively.
 
“She wants to make a change.
 
Desperately.”

“Well
good,” Gina said.
 
“Because I always say
you reap what you sow.
 
If her heart is
right, and she aim to do good, then good with happen for her.
 
And she could use some good news after being
in that place for so long.”

Sam’s
cell phone began ringing.
 
“I agree,” she
said.
 
“I think everybody will get what
they deserve.
 
You, me, everybody.”
 
Sam said this as she pulled out her phone and
looked at the Caller ID.
 

Gina
found her pronouncement odd, as if she was casting some kind of dispersion on
Gina herself.
 
But Gina dismissed
it.
 
Sometimes Sam was as oddball as that
daughter of hers.
 
Maybe even more so.

“I need
to take this,” Sam said.
 
“It’s my sick
friend’s son.
 
If that’s okay?”

“Of
course it’s okay,” Gina said.
 
Why would
she even ask it, she wondered.

“Hi,
Rick, what’s wrong?”
 
Sam looked at Gina
as she spoke on the phone. It wasn’t Rick, but Max telling her exactly what to
say, but Gina didn’t know that.
 
“Really?
 
Oh, my goodness, when
did this happen?
 
Well did they rush her
to the hospital?”
 

Gina
looked at her.

“Yes.
 
Yes.
 
And the doctors said what?
 
Another stroke, Rick?
 
Not another
one!
 
No, no, Rick, don’t you dare feel
bad about calling me.
 
I’m on my way
anyway.
 
I’m just two hours away.
  
Right..
 
I’m in Newark and I’ll be there in no time.
 
Don’t you worry about that.
 
I want to be there with her.
 
And with you.
 
Right.
 
I know she would want me
to be there.
 
So you just keep it
together and I’ll see you soon.
 
And
Rick, she’s going to be just fine.
 
Okay,
son.
 
Okay.
 
Bye.”
 
And Sam killed the call and immediately stood up.

Gina
stood up too.

“I
have to leave, I’m sorry,” Sam said.

“Your
friend okay?” Gina asked as she pressed the button on the side table.

“Unfortunately,
no.
 
She took a turn for the worse.
 
Another stroke, I’m afraid.”

“I’m
sorry to hear that.
 
And she’s in Harford
you said?”

“Yeah.
 
Couple hours away.”

Ramsey
entered the room.

“Do
you think you need a driver, or,” Gina asked her, but Sam cut her off.

“No,
no, nothing like that,” Sam said, walking toward the stairs.
 
“I’m fine.
 
I can drive.
 
I’ll just head up
and grab my suitcase.”

“Nonsense,”
Gina said and turned to Ramsey.
 
“Ms.
Redding won’t be staying after all, Ramsey.
 
Bring her luggage down, please, and put it in her car.”

“Right
away, ma’am,” Ramsey said, and headed for the stairs.

Sam
hated that Gina had moved so quickly to ring for Ramsey, but she knew it would
look too suspicious if she fought it.
 
“It’s right there as soon as you enter the bedroom, Ramsey,” she said.

“Very
good, ma’am,” Ramsey said, as he headed upstairs.

Gina
placed her arm around Sam’s waist as they walked toward the front door.
 
“Maybe after you’ve spent some time with your
friend, and if you still feel up to it, please feel free to come back over.”

“That
sounds good, Gina, thank-you,” Sam said, although she wasn’t about to come
anywhere near that place again.
 
Gina
wasn’t either, Sam thought gleefully.
 

And
they walked, arm in arm, out to Sam’s car.

Upstairs,
Ramsey entered the bedroom and saw the large luggage sitting just to the side
of the door.
 
He picked it up and was
about to leave.
 
But as he turned, he
noticed that the nightstand lamp was on.
 
As House Manager, he made being frugal a major part of his job.
 
He therefore hurried over and turned it
off.
 
But as he was about to turn to
leave again, he suddenly realized just how lightweight the luggage was compared
to when he brought it into the house initially.
 
It was unusually heavy, in fact, when he first got it out of her car
trunk and brought it in.
 
Had she
forgotten that she had unpacked something and was about to leave it there?

He
walked over to the closet to see if she had indeed unpacked some of her
belongings.
 
And that was when his
trained eye saw something out of place.
 
It was beside the armoire, in a corner, and was a smaller luggage that
was an identical match to the larger one.
 
And when he went and picked it up, and felt how heavy it was, he
immediately realized that Ms. Redding had undoubtedly unpacked it and forgotten
about it.