Campaign

"Be right back."

As soon as Michelle was around the corner and out of sight, Elizabeth reached for her purse and quickly opened it. She planned to tear the envelope carefully, just enough to see what was inside, but she didn't need to.

There was so much stuffed into the envelope that it couldn't be sealed completely, and a quick swipe with her finger showed it was all hundred-dollar bills. She quickly closed the purse and went back to her desk. When Michelle returned with the list a few minutes later, Elizabeth was on the phone.

***************

The early returns showed Masterson with a commanding lead, so the victory party started with a bang and grew wilder as the evening progressed and the booze flowed.

Elizabeth wore her smile like a mask and stayed at her table as everyone else milled around yelling at each other over the deejay's music.

Masterson's opponent conceded by eight o'clock, and the room was in a frenzy as Andy, Catherine, and their children took the stage to thank everyone. After the brief program, the grandparents took the children home while Catherine stayed at the party.

Elizabeth saw campaign workers glance back and forth between "the A-One" and Catherine. They were probably speculating whether Michelle would be going to Washington. She felt sorry for Catherine, but then she began hoping that Michelle would take the job because it would get her away from Ronald. Not that it mattered anymore. Their marriage was a zombie - dead but still walking tonight.

Ronald had an important dinner meeting and arrived just before nine. He was shocked at his wife, who was having trouble sitting upright as she looked at him without saying a word. He sat with her for a while and then got up. Elizabeth's eyes opened wide as she watched him cross the room in a beeline to Michelle.

He and Michelle were soon in an animated conversation, not even trying to hide their excitement from the rest of the room. Elizabeth started to get up, but thought better of it. As she sat down again, she got another shock.

Catherine walked over and joined Ronald and his whore. And then Ronald put one arm around Catherine and the other around Michelle. Elizabeth's eyes almost fell out of her head. Her chin dropped, her mouth opened and her eyebrows flew up.

Her husband had never mentioned he knew Andy's wife. What was going on? Were Michelle, Catherine, and Ronald a threesome? Was Andy involved, too? Elizabeth's world seemed to be crashing around her as she kept drinking. She saw her husband, Catherine and Michelle give each other big hugs, and then the three of them laughed as they did a group hug before breaking up.

"I didn't know you knew Catherine," Elizabeth said, slurring her words when her husband sat down next to her again.

"I met her when I made my donation to the campaign," Ronald said.

Elizabeth wondered how many times he had given Catherine a "donation." He was good for two a night. Maybe Catherine and Michelle took turns receiving Ronald's donations.

"You, Catherine, and Michelle certainly had a lot to talk about."

"Yes, we did," he said as he took her arm. "I think you've done enough celebrating for tonight. Let's go home before you pass out on the table."

He supported her as she staggered through the crowd. In the car, she tried to keep from falling asleep by talking about how beautiful Catherine and Michelle looked tonight.

"What were you talking about anyway?" she asked. "I'm curious."

"You'll find out tomorrow. You're having lunch with Michelle at the Marriott. If things work out, the two of you might go into business together."

He laughed as she stared at him. The last thing she thought as her eyes closed was how little she knew Ronald after raising his kids and how it would feel to enter Michelle's profession and be pimped out by her own husband.

****************

The lunch was rescheduled for two o'clock because Elizabeth didn't wake up until ten, and it took a while to work through her hangover.

Michelle seemed as fresh as a daisy as she got up to give Elizabeth a big hug. Elizabeth had thought of plenty of things she wanted to tell her but decided to let Michelle speak first.

Michelle cocked her head and looked at Elizabeth for a while. Then she laughed the way she always laughed at campaign headquarters. It was a full, infectious laugh, but this time it didn't rouse a smile from Elizabeth.

"Did you know Ronald's a coward?" she asked. "He should be telling you this, but he was worried you'd blow a fuse, so this way, he thinks you won't be as angry by the time you get home."

She paused.

"Go on," Elizabeth said.

"He's also an unapologetic macho sexist brute. He's been manipulating you like a puppet."

Elizabeth pursed her lips tightly together and knotted her brows. She wasn't going to give Michelle the satisfaction of falling apart in front of her.

"You are so lucky!" Michelle suddenly exclaimed.

"What did you say?"

"He loves you so much that he became the kind of man he hates to keep from losing you."

Michelle was tearing up. She reached out to hold Elizabeth's hand. Elizabeth recoiled like a snake and stared at her.

"What do you think I am? You want me to believe the reason he's paying you for sex is because he loves me?"

"What are you talking about?" Michelle asked. She seemed taken aback.

"Are you denying he slipped your payment across the table to you last Wednesday in this restaurant? I saw it with my own eyes."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Have you told Ronald?"

"You can tell him, or my lawyer."

"Oh no! You've got it all wrong."

"Sure, I have. And it meant nothing, I'm sure. It was just sex, and it pays the bills."

"This would be funny, except I can see how hurt you are. If you give me a chance, I think you'll soon feel a lot better."

"I know I will because I'm going to order two apple martinis right now. When I finish them, you can tell me anything, and I'll laugh. I'm a happy drunk."

"I'll join you in the martinis."

They sipped on their cocktails silently.

"I think the best way to do this is to start from the beginning," Michelle said. "It's slower, but when I'm finished, you'll understand everything."

"First of all, I met you before the campaign a few times, but I had a different hair color and style. I changed a lot of things after my divorce. My ex-husband, George Harmon -."

"You were married to George Harmon?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"Yes, after the divorce, I went back to Granger, my maiden name.

"As you know, George is still Ronald's biggest competitor. He's a lot like Ronald, good-looking, driven, a great provider, and a wonderful father. The only difference is George can't keep it in his pants. I wanted to wait until the children were older, but the humiliation was making me into a bitter woman, so I had to cut him loose.

"Like you, I had a separate career from my husband, but I was in real estate, and sometimes my residential work overlapped with the development work that our husbands did, so I occasionally worked with Ronald as well as George. Ronald and I knew each other well.

"I hadn't heard from Ronald since the divorce, so I was surprised when he called me and told me he had a business proposition. I don't need any money, and I had stopped working to spend time with the children as we transitioned, but he told me it was personal and he would be in my debt forever if I could help him out.

"He picked me up one day, and we went to Catherine's for lunch. They explained what they wanted, and I went to work. Ronald paid me out of his own pocket and said he considered the money a donation to Andy's campaign. Now that I know what a wonderful senator Andy is going to be, I'm donating everything I got to pay off the campaign debts. I think Stan's head is going to explode when he finds out.

"That's why I joined Andy's campaign. My cover was to be a volunteer worker, but I was hired to be the A-One."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Catherine hired you to fuck her husband. How sick!"

"No, your husband hired me to replace you, and I never fucked anybody."

Elizabeth was hyperventilating. Michelle looked at her in alarm, jumped up from her chair, bent over her, and pulled her to her feet. Then she turned her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Breathe slowly! Breathe slowly!"

Michelle whispered in her ear as she kept a firm hold on Elizabeth. In a couple of minutes, Elizabeth calmed down and Michelle let go of her.

When they were both seated again, Michelle explained that when Elizabeth had first mentioned "the A-One" to Ronald, he had made some inquiries. He told Michelle that once he knew what it meant, he had a choice to make. He could continue to give Elizabeth complete freedom to make her life choices. That was the respect that they had both given each other throughout their marriage.

His other choice was to become a scheming, manipulative husband who controlled his wife's life like a puppet by making secret arrangements to achieve his ends. He hated men who did that to their clueless wives.

"He told me he didn't agonize much. As he put it, he was willing to lie, steal and even kill to keep you in his clutches. He would do anything to prevent losing you. How I wish George had been like your husband!"

To make sure there was no chance for Elizabeth to become the A-One, Michelle had been hired to replace her. Ronald was confident that once Elizabeth was impressed by her abilities, she would champion her to Stan and Paula. Michelle would join the inner circle, and when Stan realized she had no hesitation about getting closer to Andy, Elizabeth would go on the back burner.

"The agreement with Catherine was that I had free rein, except for a few restrictions. All of my clothes had to be on at all times. Hands were permitted but only on arms and back with an occasional fanny pat. Nothing anywhere near the genitals. Kisses on the cheek were okay, with maybe an occasional light kiss on the lips.

"I didn't have any problems once I realized that I was acting three roles at the same time. In front of the campaign team and the world at large, I ignored Andy completely. Stan congratulated me on how well I did that.

"The second role was acting the slut for Stan and Paula. During the meetings with Andy, Stan, and Paula, I clung to Andy and sometimes gave him a back rub. Whenever Stan cooked up a way for me to be alone with Andy, I eagerly went along.

"Once I was alone with Andy, I turned into a coach. I worked with him on his weaknesses for an hour or two. Whenever we took a break and the talk got personal, I would talk about his kids and Catherine.

"Catherine kept me up to date on what was happening at home. Before I left, I would give him a big hug in the open doorway in case anyone was watching."

Elizabeth was on her second martini and seemed to be recovering.

"Andy never came on to you?" she asked.

"Never. I'm not saying that I couldn't have seduced him. But I would have had to work at it. He's not a pussy hound like my husband. It was easy to stop anything that could have caused trouble."

"What about Washington?"

"I don't understand."

"I heard you're running his office in Washington."

"Who told you that? Oh! That might explain something. When I told Stan yesterday that I was finished with politics, he seemed a little surprised. Maybe he was going to mention Washington to me. But he never did.

"It doesn't matter anyway, because Catherine's going to Washington."

"She is? What about their children?"

"They're staying here. Ronald and I had to beat up on Catherine for a while, but she finally understood the best thing she could do for her kids was stand by her man. She spent a month interviewing nannies and found a great one who will move in whenever she and Andy have to be out of town. She'll spend plenty of time on the phone and computer with the children and won't worry about them."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to bother the kids for a few weeks and monopolize every minute they aren't in school. Then I'll get back to selling homes part-time."

"Is that the business that Ronald thinks I might get in with you? I'm really not interested."

"Business with you? What was he thinking?"

Michelle thought a moment and then gave out one of her hearty laughs.

"Wait a second. I remember. It came up last night when Ronald was worried about how you'd react when I explained what he had done to keep you away from Andy. I told him not to worry and that you wouldn't be angry about him becoming a Machiavelli.

"Then I said that if you no longer wanted him, I would be glad to take him off your hands. It was just a joke, but it gave him the idea for you and I to work together.

"He was sure that you would be just as motivated as I am to find me a handsome, energetic, successful, loving, and sexy man who loves children and believes in honoring marriage vows. Then Catherine chimed in and said she had a lot of contacts and wanted to be part of the matchmaking business because the sooner the two of you married me off, the more relaxed you both would be. Speaking of the devil, here's Catherine now. Let's give her a big hug!"

For background on the stories of edrider73, see "Author Interview: edrider73" by Literoticauthor. Tag: "author interview."