Sex and the Capital Ch. 15

"Good Morning, this is the Governor's office. How may I help you?"

"Good Morning, Leslie, this is Senator Reingold. Is the Governor available?"

"Good to hear from you, sir, let me check."

After several minutes, the Governor came on the phone. "Good Morning, Bruce, what's going on?"

"Good morning, sir. A situation's come up and I'm going to resign from the Senate. Personal reasons is all I want to say until we can get together to discuss it. I wanted to give you a heads up, I know you have some decisions to make."

The governor chuckled. "It's not funny but I was just thinking about this type of situation the other day. I've got a contingency plan; I've got to talk to a few people first though. Are you free tomorrow?"

"I'm at your disposal, sir."

"Fine, I'll have Leslie set it up. You want to release a statement now, or wait until after we meet?"

"I think I'd rather wait."

"Yeah, that's better. We need to discuss the details first. How's Lynne taking this or have you told her?"

"I told her, she's not happy with the circumstances but supports my decision."

"That bad, huh, what the hell did you do?"

"I'd rather wait until we meet to get into the specifics, sir. The whole situation is not good. Let me leave it at that for now, okay?"

"All right, Bruce. I'll have Leslie get back with you. See you in the morning."

"Yes, sir, good-bye."

Thirty minutes later, Lynne walked in the door, looking composed. "Well, did you talk to the Governor?"

"Yeah, we're going to meet tomorrow morning to discuss it."

"I guess he agreed with you. When are you going to announce it?"

"I'm going to wait until after I meet with him. I want his advice on how to handle it."

"Are you going to admit infidelity?" she asked, anxiously.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I thought I would just come clean. You don't think that's best?"

She walked over to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. After opening it and taking a swig, she said, "If you don't, what are the chances of this information getting out? Is Harris going to risk his involvement by exposing you after you resign?"

Thinking for a moment, he said, "I don't think so. It wouldn't serve any purpose but to embarrass me, uh, us. Politically, this would finish him too."

"Who else knows about it?"

" I don't know about Harris's side. The only other person I've told is Fred Waring, he won't say anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, he has as much contempt for the system as I do. I'm sure about him."

"So, you're sure Harris would be bringing down his little house of horrors, or maybe whores is a better word, if this whole thing went public?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I know I can get at least one other person to substantiate what I'm saying."

She stared at him for a long time; anger rising to the surface again. "I don't want one of those whores substantiating anything, period." After glaring at him for another minute, she continued. "Let me tell you something. You've jeopardized our marriage, that's a fact. I'm willing to forgive, that's also a fact. You're contemplating bringing massive public humiliation down on your family, me, your children. Don't do it! I don't give a damn if public exposure brings the whole sordid, sleazy mess we have for a federal government into the limelight. I don't care; it's not worth it." Sticking her finger in his chest, she continued, "You owe me, and your family a bunch. Don't you even think about going public with this."

Startled by his wife's aggressiveness, he stepped back. "Okay, honey. I won't, I will not say anything besides personal reasons."

"Fine," she said firmly and then, looking directly into his eyes, said, "God damn you." Seconds later, the sobbing began. He came over and put his arms around her, holding her close, not saying a word.

Suddenly she stopped and stepped back from him. "Don't you ever touch another woman! Promise me that?"

"I promise, honey, I promise."

Composing herself, she said, "Let's get some coffee and talk about the Governor and what he's going to do."

He poured two cups of coffee and brought them to the living room. Sitting them on the coffee table, he sat down next to his wife on the sofa.

"So, what do you think the Governor will do?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, exactly. He'll either put his Chief of Staff, Mercouri, in my place or take Carl Johnston, the State Senator. It will be one of those two."

"Do you think he has any plans for you?"

"I don't know."

* * *

Bruce sat outside the governor's office waiting for him to conclude a meeting with the Speaker of the House.

He felt worse now. Once he made his decision back in Washington, he informed the committee chairman, Senator Spencer. The chairman agreed not to say anything until Bruce officially made the announcement. He skipped the committee meeting on Friday and spent the weekend clearing out his office and packing his personal affects for shipment on Monday. It was probably the worst weekend of his life. The magnitude of what he had done hit him hard. His senate career was over, all because he couldn't keep it in his pants. The remorsefulness he felt was overwhelming. These two young girls had exposed a character flaw that he didn't know existed.

The Speaker of the House came out of the Governor's office and nodded at Bruce. The governor's secretary motioned for him to go in.

The governor smiled and thrust out his hand. "Bruce, what the hell did you do?"

"Can we sit down, sir?"

He shut the door and the two of them sat down, the governor looked hard at him, waiting for a response.

"I made a huge mistake, sir. I had an affair, uh, actually two separate affairs, and uh, one sexual encounter was video-taped."

The governor shook his head and asked, "Blackmail?"

"Exactly."

The governor looked at him for several seconds saying, "They were after your vote."

"Yes, sir."

"So you're resigning."

"Yes, sir. I don't want it out there on the Internet. It's too big a price for my family to pay."

"You and Mercouri will switch places. You're my new Chief of Staff."

"Yes, sir."

"Did you learn your lesson?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, you start next Monday."

"Thank you, sir."

The governor stood up and shook Bruce's hand. "On your way out tell Leslie that you're my new Chief of Staff and make the proper announcements. She knows what to do."

There were two press releases in the next morning's Indianapolis Star.

Senator Resigns

Senator Bruce Reingold, the junior senator from Indiana has announced that he is resigning from the Senate effective immediately. When asked the reason, he replied, "personal reasons". He refused to answer any other questions.

Mercouri To Fill Senate Vacancy

The Governor's office has announced that Chief of Staff Melissa Mercouri will fill the Senate seat recently vacated by Bruce Reingold. Mr. Reingold will be the new Chief of Staff for Governor Barnes.

* * *

Bruce looked over at Lynne. His wife was wearing a long, white cotton gown more appropriate for a spinster than the woman he knew his wife to be. He moved towards her and laid his hand on her breast.

She brushed his hand aside and got up, walking over to the treadmill and punching in a hill-climbing program on the control panel. "You seem to have some excess energy, come over here and run it off."

"Hey, how did you learn to do that? You couldn't even figure out how to make the timer work when we got this thing."

The question startled her; she looked perplexed for a second and then said, "Oh, they have the same one at the gym. One of the trainers got tired of having to program it for me each time, he taught me how to use it." She laughed lightly. "It was a slow process; you know how I am with mechanical stuff."

"Do you still want me to get on this thing?"

She nodded at him. "It's set for thirty minutes. You want the TV on?"

Reluctantly he put on the headphones and picked up the clicker, searching for a ballgame.

She watched him on the treadmill as he watched a basketball game on the tube. After twenty minutes, she knew what she wanted. She waited until he finished.

"Whew," he said as he used his t-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. "That energy's gone. Now I need a shower."

She smiled at him as he walked into the bathroom, shedding his shorts at the door.

"Come here and get down on one knee," she demanded when he came out of the shower.

Kneeling before her as she sat on the edge of the bed, he asked "Why?"

"Propose to me!"

"What?"

"Ask me to marry you. Propose to me."

He blinked his eyes several times before it dawned on him what she wanted. "Uh, will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will. I want it to happen Friday and I want the weekend for a honeymoon. You pick where. Before you start your new job, we'll renew our wedding vows. We're going to start this marriage over.

"Okay."

"No sex until we're married; got that."

He looked hurt, then smiled at her. "No sex before marriage," he repeated.

"Exactly," she said and then crawled under the covers, turning on her side, her back to his side of the bed.