AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’d started calling him Ace recently in reference to his being a journalist, and while it might have annoyed him from anyone else, Molly holds a special spot in his heart. More than anything, she reminds him of his favorite aunt, and so he allows it, lifting his mug for her to fill.
“Thanks,” Dexter says, sipping the coffee and turning right back to his computer screen. Ruby had allowed him to snap a few photos of journal entries to re-read, with the proviso that everything Jack had written was still—until further notice—officially off the record.
For Dexter, reading and re-reading some of Jack’s words is certainly done for professional purposes, after all, he’s writing what he hopes will be a top-notch biography, but there’s at least a smidge of personal intent to his motives as well. He’s finding that as he reads Jack’s writing, he learns more about Ruby. He sees her as she is, as she was, and he feels as though maybe hetruly gets her. Falling for Ruby Hudson has been like turning the pages of a book and finding a whole new story in every chapter. And yet, through it all, Ruby is remarkably consistent. She’s firm, she’s fair, she’s a loving mother, a devoted wife, and she understands the assignment at every turn: support Jack Hudson as he climbs the political ladder. Be his wingwoman, his Girl Friday, his unflagging support system. And she does it.
Dexter opens the photo he took of one of the journal entries they’d read together the night before and skims it again from the beginning.
July 18, 2000
The Doug Porter mess has tainted politics for the foreseeable future. Just as JFK and his dalliance with Marilyn Monroe soured things; just as Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky painted ugly visions of abuse of political power for all the world to see; and just as Gary Hart and Donna Rice had flung their monkey business in everyone's faces, so too has Doug Porter sullied politics. We sit here now, mid-summer, listening to the tapes of Porter’s tapped home phone calls, and everyone can hear how he’d talked to Jenny Rodriguez late at night while his wife slept, telling her how much he wanted to spank her and suck her toes. It's pretty damning stuff, and for God's sake, can't a man learn to keep those sorts of proclivities far underground? It casts a shadow across all of Washington, and suddenly every man in politics is viewed as a potential wolf in a bespoke suit.
And it's not all unfounded: I certainly know plenty of men who fall into that category, and they're somehow unable to operate under the radar. One of them is Peter Bond, for the love of all that's holy, and he's been floated on a number of occasionsas a potential future running mate. Now, I don't care what another man does behind closed doors--what's not my business is not my business--but if he goes about it sloppily and puts his (and my) political reputation in jeopardy, well...that's a horse of a different color.
I'm not opposed to considering Peter, in spite of his taste for young, handsome men, but I don't want to find myself embroiled in a scandal of any sort. I think we all know where things are going for Doug Porter: nowhere good. Since young Jennifer Rodriguez went missing, he's acquired quite an impressive legal team, lots of PR specialists, and his wife and kids have been shuttled off to parts unknown while things run their course. I'd feel worse for the old chap, but these guys from Florida always seem to have the weirdest and darkest things going on under the surface. Not to mention the giant, glaring fact that a young lady's life has ended prematurely.
But now Ruby is back home, as is my gorgeous daughter, and that's all I can ask for in my own situation. I have never once wanted to step out on my wife, nor have I done anything (since being married) beyond mildly and distantly appreciating the beauty of a young intern, and having her here makes me feel like my life is complete. Without Ruby, I am nothing. From the moment I met her that night at the fundraiser in Los Angeles, I knew that she would be a formidable partner--not opponent, but partner. I wanted to know what it was like to have a woman with depth and gravity on my arm, as I'd grown tired of women who had beauty but no moral or intellectual heft. And Ruby has both of those things in spades.
When she took Athena across country I knew that it wasn't on a whim, and whether or not I liked it was secondary to the fact that Ruby needed to do something to reset her internal switches. We've been back here for over a month now, andit seems that she was able to do that. I've watched her as she interviewed potential nannies, and now that she's chosen a woman named Esther to care for Athena a few mornings a week, she's started to get out of the house more, joining committees and being social the way she was before we had Athena. It makes me happy to know that she's setting down roots that will grow into a tree that will not only support her, but will give her a platform on which to present herself as a potential First Lady at some point.
Does it seem that I'm looking too far into the future? Perhaps. We're currently in an election year and I'm nowhere near ready to run. I have plenty of road left to travel before I get to that point, and I'm secretly hoping that Ruby and I have at least one more child--a boy, if I had my wish, to complete that perfect family image--and that we can put all of this business of her taking the baby across country behind us. I want to be secure in the knowledge that my personal life won't budge before I make a run for the Oval Office; I need to be beyond reproach.
Dexter pauses here and looks up from the diary entry. The words "beyond reproach" ring in his mind as he considers what part of starting an affair with Etienne Boucher had made Jack feel as though he were behaving in a manner that would stand up to scrutiny. He picks up a pen that's resting on the table and taps it against his temple as he reads and re-reads these words.
There has to be something here, he thinks,there has to be something that changed in Jack to allow him to go from a man who felt that other politicians needed to learn how to curb their desires, to a man who could no longer curb his own.
Dexter can imagine that a combination of things most likely contributed to the change in Jack: age--possibly a midlife crisis;years of marriage and the ensuing monotony of monogamy; and, quite possibly, love. Maybe falling in love with Etienne had been a force he could no longer avoid. Perhaps they'd danced around it and debated it and denied themselves what they both knew, but then at some point, they could no longer do so. Maybe the night of her thirtieth birthday had been a breaking point of sorts--or a turning point--whereby neither of them felt able to go on pretending any longer that their love wasn't inevitable.
With Jack gone, and only the words that he'd committed to the page during his lifetime to go on, the only choice that Dexter has now is to reach out to the other person who knows what happened to Jack's resolve to be beyond reproach: Etienne. And he knows he can do that if he wants to. After all, he'd been in her home in France, he'd listened to her talk to Ruby during that visit, and he has her email address. Beyond that, Ruby has never made it seem as though he's forbidden to talk to Etienne, she's just been clear that Etienne is a hard topic for her. Which makes sense. But for the integrity of the book, Dexter wants to talk to Etienne and hear more about what happened between her and Jack.
He opens up a blank email and begins to type:
From: Dexter North
To: Etienne Boucher
Etienne--
This email may be a shot in the dark, but I'd like to speak with you if you're willing. I'm on Shipwreck Key this month working with Ruby, and I have some thoughts about the book, as well as some questions that I think only you will be able toanswer. Specifically--and so that I'm not being cryptic by not telling you up front which direction I'm going--I want to know more about what eventually led Jack to be somewhat morally flexible when it came to his marriage to Ruby and to his affair with you. I know that's indelicate, but I want you to understand where I'm going with this. Ruby and I have been reading his diaries together, and up until he met you, he was fairly resolute about staying faithful to Ruby and not doing anything that might call into question his fitness to be President.
Would you be willing to speak with me? I hope you and Julien are well.
Best,
Dexter North
Dexter has jotted a few notes in the notebook on the table, and he closes it now, slipping it, his pen, and his laptop into the messenger bag he carries while working.
"Thank you, Molly," he says, standing up and walking his empty coffee mug over to her. "I appreciate the hospitality."
"You're welcome anytime, Ace," she says, tucking a pencil behind her ear as she takes his mug from him. "Give Ruby my best."
Dexter is already at the door of the shop and he turns and offers Molly an absentminded wave. "Will do."
"Etienne?" Ruby's face looks panicked. "But why?"
Dexter is sitting on Ruby's front porch as she waters the flowers in giant ceramic pots that sit next to her house. Asshe turns to look at him, the nozzle of the hose goes with her, spraying water on his bare legs. He lifts his feet and laughs.
"Sorry," she says. Ruby turns the hose back on the plants. "But I just...why are we involving her in this?"
