Page 124 of Innocent

Moments later, cleaned up and untied, he collapses against me in a happy puddle of submissive bliss and falls asleep immediately.

I lie there, wide awake and feeling angry at myself, at Leo—at the world in general.

But I need to get my shit together, because tomorrow we’re going to fricking Nebraska.

T-minus four days until Elliot’s world explodes.

Still time for him to back out. I mean, I can hope he’ll back out.

Even though I already know he won’t.

* * * *

I’m nervous about this trip, no matter what Elliot tells me. We’re still under Leo’s radar for now, taking off from Andrews Thursday evening just before eleven p.m. We’re traveling with the bare minimum of staff, four of them, at my last count.

No press, except for two pool reporters, one print, one video. They’re there to cover Elliot attending a service award ceremony and him giving a short speech. The heavy hitters are all with Shae and covering her overseas trip. There are a few stringers in the White House press room, but for the most part, Angie’s handling daily briefings while on the trip. One of her deputies is giving daily updates from the White House only if something consequential needs to be announced.

What the press doesn’t know about—and will not be included in—is our trip to visit Elliot’s parents.

Which, I’m sure will make some news outlets howl.

Fuck them. This is about Elliot andhisneeds, not theirs.

While onAir Force Two, we ride in the front suite. Elliot seems in surprisingly good spirits and doesn’t need any special settling from me. Although we do pull out the bunk and nap for a couple of hours. We’ll land at Offutt Air Force Base, which is less than forty minutes by car from Elliot’s parents’ farm. Since we’ll be flying back late tomorrow evening, we’ll use the plane as our base of operations instead of moving to quarters on the ground.

I’m sure Stella will be doubly pissed after she learns about her brother’s visit. She’ll have wanted to turn this into a photo opp. Her and Representative Grace Martin, both.

Which is exactly why they’renotbeing told about this.

It’s not a photo opp. It’s anythingbut. This is private family time and not something Elliot wants talked about on the news. We’ll include it on the final daily schedule we hand out to the press after the fact, but they don’t have a right to intrude upon private citizens.

Elliot already has Shae and Kev’s approval to announce while she’s gone. Elliot will be doing it while Shae’s in the air and traveling overnight, so he won’t upstage her. The timing means Shae can have what passes for a day off during the trip. The kids are with them, and it’s sort of a family vacation. Plus, that way, Elliot gets a little bit of a breather before the press descends upon him in full force to cover his campaign, because the Sunday morning shows are already booked with people discussing stuff happening on Shae’s trip.

Kev’s idea. Totally.

What I don’t know is if Leo’s been looped in on this. I suspect not.

Especially since Elliot told me he asked Kevnotto loop Leo in. Whether or not the sneaky chief of staff decided to throw Leo a bone remains to be seen.

I remember a conversation Leo and I had months before I left DC. About Elliot running. I sure Leo’s still in denial and hoping Elliot won’t run. If Elliot doesn’t run, it means Leo realizes his dream sooner.

Yes, I’ve avoidedthatdiscussion with Elliot. I can’t manage their relationship any more than Leo could manage the one I had with Elliot back then.

Do I think Elliot should run?

I want him to run, and not because it means I’m still employed if he does. I think he will be an amazing president. As long as he’s willing to let me support him the way he’ll need.

Look, no president runs the country alone or in a vacuum. FDR did it from a wheelchair. For fuck’s sake, Reagan suffered from Alzheimer’s.

So what if Elliot needs a hands-on handler?

That in no way lessens the validity of him being POTUS. Shae’s had exactly that kind of hands-on help from Kev and Chris, and she’s been a spectacular POTUS. The decisions are ultimately hers, yet she’s surrounded herself with wise people who are not yes-men, and who will give her the unvarnished truth.

The commendation award ceremony is first thing in the morning, followed by Elliot meeting the troops, and a brief tour around the base. After, we’ll head to the farm, arriving just before lunchtime. Elliot’s parents have had a Secret Service detail for the past three months, even though they didn’t want one, because of an incident involving one of their neighbors. The man’s farm was being foreclosed on, ironically by the bank Grace Martin’s father owns.

Well, after months of wrangling and trying to refinance the loan, and rejected applications for farm subsidies, he finally snapped. He killed himself after setting fire to his main barn—with him inside it.

The prevailing theory is that he hoped to make it look like an accident so his family could claim his life insurance. Over the next several days, the bank, Grace Martin, and others received envelopes containing white powder that turned out to be insecticide and were traced back to the man.