“I haven’t heard from Adam yet,” Mary Beth said. “He’s probably been detained. In the meantime, you and I can have a nice long chat. You sounded excited on the telephone.” Mary Beth leaned forward conspiratorially. “What’s your big news?”
Jennifer looked at the friendly woman across from her and blurted out, “I’m going to have Adam’s baby.”
Mary Beth leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Well! Now isn’t that something! So am I!”
Jennifer stared at her. “I—I don’t understand.”
Mary Beth laughed. “It’s really quite simple, my dear. Adam and I are married, you know.”
Jennifer said slowly, “But—but you and Adam are getting a divorce.”
“My dear girl, why on earth would I divorce Adam? I adore him.”
Jennifer felt her head beginning to spin. The conversation was making no sense. “You’re—you’re in love with someone else. You said you—”
“I said that I’m in love. And I am. I’m in love with Adam. I told you, I’ve been in love with Adam since the first time I saw him.”
She could not mean what she was saying. She was teasing Jennifer, playing some kind of silly game.
“Stop it!” Jennifer said. “You’re like a brother and sister to each other. Adam doesn’t make love to—”
Mary Beth’s voice tinkled with laughter. “My poor dear! I’m surprised that someone as clever as you are could—” She leaned forward with concern. “You believed him! I’m so sorry. I am. I really am.”
Jennifer was fighting to keep control of herself. “Adam is in love with me. We’re getting married.”
Mary Beth shook her head. Her blue eyes met Jennifer’s and the naked hatred in them made Jennifer’s heart stop for an instant.
“That would make Adam a bigamist. I’ll never give him a divorce. If I had let Adam divorce me and marry you, he would lose the election. As it is, he’s going to win it. Then we’ll go on to the White House, Adam and I. There’s no room in his life for anyone like you. There never was. He only thinks he’s in love with you. But he’ll get over that when he finds out I’m carrying his baby. Adam’s always wanted a child.”
Jennifer squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the terrible pain in her head.
“Can I get you something?” Mary Beth was asking solicitously.
Jennifer opened her eyes. “Have you told him you’re having a baby?”
“Not yet.” Mary Beth smiled. “I thought I’d tell him tonight when he gets home and we’re in bed.”
Jennifer was filled with loathing. “You’re a monster…”
“It’s all in the point of view, isn’t it, honey? I’m Adam’s wife. You’re his whore.”
Jennifer rose to her feet, feeling dizzy. Her headache had become an unbearable pounding. There was a roaring in her ears and she was afraid she was going to faint. She was moving toward the entrance, her legs unsteady.
Jennifer stopped at the door, pressing herself against it, trying to think. Adam had said he loved her, but he had slept with this woman, had made her pregnant.
Jennifer turned and walked out into the cold night air.
24
Adam was on a final campaign swing around the state. He telephoned Jennifer several times, but he was always surrounded by his entourage and it was impossible to talk, impossible for Jennifer to tell him her news.
Jennifer knew the explanation for Mary Beth’s pregnancy: She had tricked Adam into sleeping with her. But Jennifer wanted to hear it from Adam.
“I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll talk then,” Adam said.
The election was only five days away now. Adam deserved to win it; he was the better man. Jennifer felt that Mary Beth was right when she said it could be the stepping-stone to the presidency of the United States. She would force herself to wait and see what happened.
If Adam was elected senator, Jennifer would lose him. Adam would go to Washington with Mary Beth. There would be no way he could get a divorce. The scandal of a freshman senator divorcing a pregnant wife to marry his pregnant mistress would be too juicy a story for him ever to live down. But if Adam should lose the race, he would be free. Free to go back to his law practice, free to marry Jennifer and not worry or care about what anyone else thought. They would be able to live the rest of their lives together. Have their child.
Election Day dawned cold and rainy. Because of the interest in the senate race, a large voter turnout was expected at the polls despite the weather.
In the morning, Ken Bailey asked, “Are you going to vote today?”
“Yes.”
“Looks like a close race, doesn’t it?”
“Very close.”
She went to the polls late that morning, and as she stepped into the voting booth she thought dully, A vote for Adam Warner is a vote against Jennifer Parker. She voted for Adam and left the booth. She could not bear to go back to her office. She walked the streets all afternoon, trying not to think, trying not to feel; thinking and feeling, knowing that the next few hours were going to determine the rest of her life.
25
“This is one of the closest elections we have had in years,” the television announcer was saying.
Jennifer was at home alone watching the returns on NBC. She had made herself a light dinner of scrambled eggs and toast, and then was too nervous to eat anything. She sat in a robe huddled up on the couch, listening to her fate being broadcast to millions of people. Each viewer had his own reason for watching, for wanting one of the candidates to win or to lose, but Jennifer was sure that none of them was as deeply involved in the outcome of this election as she was. If Adam won, it would mean the end of their relationship…and the end of the baby in her womb.