Page 12 of The First Gentleman

CHAPTER 8

The White House

C ole Wright approaches the Oval Office.

He runs his fingers through his thick, dark hair and checks his Omega watch, his gift to himself after Maddy’s successful campaign for governor of California.

Seven ten p.m.

Maddy’s working late.

Strike that. She’s working her usual long hours.

He’s always amazed at her stamina and focus, especially considering how many problems and questions get tossed at her every day from the moment she wakes up until her head hits the pillow.

Two Secret Service agents, one male and one female, guard the door to the Oval.

“Sage to see Sierra,” the female agent says into her wrist mic, using the code names for the First Couple.

Cole feels claustrophobic in these fancy rooms with all these people.

Even three years into Maddy’s first term, he hasn’t gotten used to being surrounded by security and staff—and being watched nonstop.

One of Maddy’s predecessors said it best: “I don’t know whether it’s the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the prison system.”

One of Cole’s predecessors, Jackie Kennedy, said of her first night in the White House, “I felt like a moth hanging on the windowpane.”

Cole nods to the two agents.

He has seen them before, many times, but unlike his wife and her chief of staff, he has no talent for remembering names.

But he brings other strengths to the administration—and to the marriage.

“Is she alone?”

“Yes, Mr. Wright,” the female agent says.

“For the past half hour.” She opens the heavy curved door and Cole steps into the most important room in the country.

And he blinks every time he sees Maddy sitting behind that big oak desk.

He can hardly believe this is real life.

His wife. The leader of the free world.

It seems like just yesterday that she was Maddy Parson, a poised and pretty student in his poli-sci class at Dartmouth.

From her seat in the row ahead of him, she articulated point after point in class discussions, and Cole knew that she wouldn’t have any interest in a tight end on the football team.

But to his surprise, she did.

That was junior year.

They dated through the rest of college.

Then, like many college couples, they broke up after graduation; she enrolled in a master’s program at Stanford and he remained in New England for Patriots training camp.

Three years later, a bum knee ended his career just as Maddy’s was taking off.

They reconnected back home in California.

Maddy was running for assemblywoman with their college pal Burton Pearce as her campaign manager.

Parson for Progress!

From there, she leaped from success to success, and the two of them married just before her first term as governor of California.

And now…

Maddy looks up from her papers and finally notices him.

“Getting close to dinnertime,” Cole says.

“Ready?”

“Sorry,” says Maddy, leaning back in her chair.

“Burton should have let you know. I’m meeting Senator Lewis and Senator Lopez tonight. They’ve both been solid noes for the Grand Bargain, but now they’re softening. I called a late meeting so I can wrestle them over the line.”

“You want me there, Maddy? I can lighten the mood, tell some football stories. Lopez played semipro ball in Houston, you know. Or I can talk about my fitness council.”

Maddy sits up and folds her arms across her chest. Cole knows that posture.

It means trouble is on the way.

It means she’s protecting herself.

“Thanks, Cole, but that could backfire. You know Lewis opposed the expense of your fitness council from the beginning.”

There’s something going on, Cole can feel it.

Something besides a negotiation with two low-ranking senators.

“What is it, Maddy?” he asks.

“What are you worried about?”

Maddy exhales slowly.

“Burton got a phone call today,” she says.

“Investigative reporters are digging around. Our Grand Bargain might get exposed before we’re ready to reveal it. And that will be the end of it. The end of my presidency. We can’t let that happen.”