Page 78 of The Press Secretary's Passion

“Change of plans,” she says as she turns the gun on me. “You are not going to ruin my plans for your brother and me.”

“I won’t,” I say. “I promise.”

“You can’t not,” she sneers. “You ruin everything. Ever since the day you were born, you’ve been ruining things.”

I see Leo, the Secret Service Agent no one likes because he’s such an asshole, step into the room. He must be dirty, just like Gus. He’s going to kill us all. I send up a quietI’m sorryandI love youto Ryan and close my eyes.

I flinch when the gun goes off. And I wait to die. And then I wait some more. And then finally, I open my eyes and realize I’m not dead, but my mother is. Leo is cuffing Gil, and his team is dragging him out. Rick is cutting through the tape that binds me to the chair.

“Ryan,” I whimper when I look at him.

“He’s going to be okay,” Rick assures me.

Thank God. He’s really got to stop getting shot like this.

• • •

Later, at the hospital, I sit with Ryan’s family while he’s in surgery. It wasn’t as bad as it seemed. He wears his grandfather’s dog tag on his chain with his own, and his grandfather’s had stopped the bullet from killing him. It was no small miracle.

I was also checked out, and everything is fine. Ryan and I are expecting a baby in just eight short months.

Gil was taken off to parts unknown by Leo and his team. Gus, Jefferson, Mark Jeffries, and my parents are all dead. They had been behind HB 2250, the bill Jake staunchly opposed. The one that would give the bulk of the United States’s power, money, and weapons to a variety of nations we’re not exactly friendly with. If their bill had gone through, the U.S. would have been ripe for the picking, and then someone was waiting in the wings to take our place and the head of the world’s table. I don’t know why or when, but it was always my brother, Gil. How he could think that he could take down a nation like that, I will never know. All I know is Jake was right when he said it was dangerous.

Jake, Rick, and Ryan are going to be busy cleaning up Washington when he’s all healed up; at least, that’s what Jake says. I have a funny feeling Rick and Ryan will be up for the task though.

As for me, I haven’t decided if I’m going to stick it out as the White House Press Secretary. I guess you could say my priorities have drastically changed. I’m taking a small break to decide what I’m going to do. All I know is I’m going to spend as much time with Ryan and the kids as I possibly can. After that… who knows?

“New Interview Show Tops Cable Charts. Former Press Secretary Hits Ratings Gold”

Epilogue

Forever

Eight years later

“And that’s it for this edition ofTrue Story with Julia Black,” I say as the camera pans in on me. It’s the way I end my interview show every week.

“Thank you so much, Jules,” Cody says as he wipes his eyes.

“He is such a baby,” Angie says off camera.

“Nah.” I laugh. “He did good. Besides, it’s the ten-year anniversary of the accident that broke his spine and changed his life.”

“But did he have to cry?” she asks.

“Eh.” I smile. “They all do.”

We step out of the formal living room in the ranch-style house I share with Ryan and our four children: Emily, Abigail, and twins Ricky and Jake, named after their favorite uncles. Lacy and Cabe also have places here, although we don’t see them very often. Lacy is off “finding herself,” much to Ryan’s chagrin, and Cabe is serving out his second enlistment in the Marines. When he graduated bootcamp, Kristen and I cried in each other’s arms while her husband Alan looked terrified, and Ryan just shook his head and muttered, “Women.” Whatever that means.

After Jake’s last term, Ryan and I retired to Tall Pines, Texas, where I host a top news interview show once a week for my old friends at Eagle News Network. A contract I brokered when Ryan and I sold them my story.

Jake, Rick, and Ryan, true to their promise, cleaned up Washington, and it took them quite a bit to do it. After an international incident involving a crowned prince, they decided to hang up their superhero capes and just be normal everyday politicians.

Tonight is Ryan’s fifty-fifth birthday, and I have a big surprise for him. One I was even surprised to discover myself, but just like the first time, Rick was the one who cottoned on to the idea first—then again, they have three of their own.

Lucky number seven is on its way. I’m going to give him the good news after his party.

After everything we’ve been through, I love every blessing that comes our way while we continue to build our forever.

The End