The Senator and the Student

Love, Rebecca

"I stand before you all, ladies and gentleman, to apologize for such an ugly trick," Rebecca said, waving down reassurances from the crowd that no apology was necessary. "Never did I imagine my oldest and dearest friend, regardless of our political differences, would take my letter to the press without confronting me first. I imagined wrong, and it may well have cost me my true love. But it needn't cost us gender equality!" At this she was interrupted with loud and hearty applause.

"I know it's Christmas and no one wants to talk politics just now," she went on. "But to let that defeat us is to give into Premiere Wynnton and her friends and their attacks."

More applause.

"Attacks not just on me and on Chester, but on any woman with a public profile whose only crime has been falling in love. Do we want that to rule our elections?"

"Nooooooooo!" howled the crowd.

"Then let's get out there and get the word out and let's win this thing!"

The applause was still ringing out when Rebecca took the first question, from a young woman she didn't recognize. "Barbara Teague from the Capital Clarion," she identified herself. "Are you going to reconcile with Mr. Croft?"

"That's up to him," Rebecca said. "I'd say I hope the media will stay out of it, but I think we both know they won't, now don't we?"

Ms. Teague had the decency to look a bit rebuffed, and the other journalists took the hint and asked only about her campaign.

She and Martha returned to Warkon on Saturday, to accept an invitation to speak on the town square. This time the reception was much more positive, with some constituents even apologizing for the cold shoulder they'd given her a few days before. "That Croft lady ought to be ashamed of herself, and so am I," said one woman. "Really, it was no one's business but yours and his in the first place."

Others were less reticent. "I'm voting for you, but please tell me you'll be taking that poor boy back!"

"Thank you, and that's up to him." Rebecca didn't think it was right to say "Me too," but she thought it time and again.

Rebecca was optimistic when Martha finally got her onto the train back to Laucester in the late afternoon. "Looks like we just might have a merry Christmas after all," she said as they settled themselves in coach class, where Rebecca always travelled so any constituent could approach her.

"Speaking of which, Senator, I've been meaning to bring up an uncomfortable matter," Martha said.

"What's that?"

"I wonder where Chester might go for the holidays," Martha said. "You'll have heard his mother has disowned him. And I cannot imagine she'll change her mind now that you've dropped the other shoe."

"Indeed," Rebecca said. "He will of course be more than welcome at my home if he can forgive me. But I've heard nothing in reply to my letter as of yet."

"Have you heard from his mother?"

"She's on the hustings with Lady Rollins," Rebecca said. "Jessica told me all about it. I'm afraid they're still getting a good response from the usual pearl-clutchers out in the suburbs and the farms. But I think we can offset them."

"I wouldn't bet on that, Rebecca," Martha said.

"It's your job to feel that way."

"Exactly." A lengthy silence followed, but Martha finally gave in to a curiosity that had been eating at her for days. "Rebecca, in that note you said you knew how Winnifred got that journal entry, but you didn't say how you knew."

Rebecca chuckled. "All will be revealed. I just haven't quite decided how to handle it yet."

Arriving home an hour or so later, Rebecca got a wonderful surprise and an answer to that quandary all in one. Opening the front door, she heard Sarah chattering more happily than she had heard in days. When she stepped into the foyer and peered into the parlour, she saw why: Sarah was cuddling with Chester on the couch.

When he saw Rebecca, he jumped up. "Hello! I, uh..."

"Oh, my!" Rebecca shrugged off her coat, which Alice appeared just in time to save from the floor, and leapt into Chester's arms. "My darling, I'm so sorry!" she said.

"As am I!" he said. "I never should have jumped to conclusions!"

"You had good reason to," Rebecca said. "But never mind that." She hugged him silently for a few blissful moments while Martha and Sarah retreated into the parlour. Then a thought occurred to her. "How did you get here?"

"Took the train to Laucester, and walked in from the station," Chester said. "There was no way I was going to call...you know."

"I know, all right," Rebecca said. Taking Chester's hand, she asked, "Fancy doling out a bit of justice?"

"And how!"

"Martha, here's the answer to your question from the train," she said. "Alice, would you please take Sarah to the nursery and then call for Guy?"

Sarah was carted off with only a bit of whining about missing all the interesting stuff, and Rebecca took Chester's hand and guided him into the parlour, where they stood triumphantly arm in arm when Guy arrived a few minutes later. "Senator?" he asked.

"Guy, I'm going to ask you once and once only, and I still have just enough faith in you to trust that you will answer truthfully. Was it you who gave that note to Winnifred?"

"If the boy's here, you already know it was, Senator."

"Guess again, Guy," Chester said. "Mother told me nothing of the sort."

Guy turned a deep shade of red, and shuffled his feet as if hoping to fly away.

"We didn't need to ask Winnifred in any event," Rebecca said. "I asked you to tidy my desk the night I wrote that letter, and I already knew someone in this house had leaked that journal entry to her."

"You left all sorts of private correspondence at her house!" Guy protested. "She told me as much."

"I imagine she might," Rebecca said. "But I never would have left such a private pontification on her own son behind." She glared at him for a long moment. "Why, Guy? Why would you betray my trust and destroy everything I care about like that?"

"Senator," Guy grunted. "I am but a man, with all the privileges and limitations that has always brought. All I have ever wanted is to live the simple life enjoyed by my father and his father and his father, and here you come in with your silly talk of gender equality and voting rights and forcing us into a realm where only women belong. It's sick! And if it costs me my job, then so be it!"

"I'm glad you feel that way," Rebecca said. "Because it has cost you your job. I'll have Alice cut you a cheque for your service this month to date, and I'll ask that you be out of your quarters within the hour."

"Tonight?" Guy said. "But where can I go tonight?"

"I trust you've got enough coin for a hotel for the night," Rebecca said. "Beyond that, I don't care."

"Senator..."

"Dismissed!"

Rebecca feared Chester most likely shared his gender's common revulsion to period sex; but once again he surprised her in the sweetest way. "Dare I ask, if we might just throw down a towel?" he asked as soon as they were alone together in her bedroom.

"Oh, Chester!" Rebecca threw herself at him and began all but tearing his clothes away. "I was so sure you'd insist we wait to make up completely!"

"Why wait?" he asked, and she felt him untying the ribbon of her dress. Whether it was the wine from dinner talking or that Chester was as desperate to consummate their reunion as she was or that he simply didn't care about the mess, Rebecca neither knew nor cared.

She did find out, though, just as he was easing her back gently on the towel they had indeed thrown down. "Is it true that this is a good way to get rid of cramps?"

"So I've heard," Rebecca said. "But I don't know for sure. Melvin would never even touch me while I was bleeding."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You're not Melvin!"

Chester promptly showed her just how right she was about that. She couldn't very well blame him for keeping his foreplay above the waist this time, but she welcomed his gentle caresses on her breasts and his nuzzling of her neck and shoulders and the wonderfully vulnerable look in his eyes as she guided him inside her.

Just as he was all the way in, she saw tears in his eyes and felt them in her own. "To think we might never have had this again!" he whispered, not moving for the moment.

"Never mind that!" She brushed his tears carefully away with her thumbs. "It's over!"

He made love to her slowly, tenderly, as if he never wanted it to end. Neither did she, as his slow thrusts and his skin rubbing ever so slowly against hers were utterly divine. "So beautiful," Rebecca murmured, gazing up at Chester's face in the firelight.

"Yes, you are!" Chester leaned down to kiss and nibble her neck again. As he did, he picked up the pace down below and Rebecca felt herself on the verge. She let out a long guttural moan of anticipation, which grew into a joyous screech as she plunged into the most intense orgasm she could ever recall having.

Chester paused to admire her face. "Don't stop!" she ordered, smacking his hip, and he once again set in to pushing her ever deeper into the ever-higher reaches of joy. Rebecca was sure the fire behind them was burning in every colour of the rainbow for that long, beautiful moment.

As she finally began to return to earth, Rebecca was aware of Chester's breathing becoming shorter and huskier. It wasn't long before he drew to an abrupt stop, buried all the way inside her, and closed his eyes and opened his mouth for a long sigh.

"Oh, that's beautiful," Rebecca whispered, and she wrapped her arms tightly around him as he collapsed upon her.

"We'd better clean up," he said after a moment's joyful silence.

"Always the sensible one!" she teased. "And yes we had better, but not just yet!" She closed her legs to make it clear he wasn't going anywhere yet. "And by the way, you're right. I do feel a lot better."

"Guess I'll be your first defence every month from now on," Chester quipped.

"Don't offer a promise like that if you're not sure you'll keep it," Rebecca said.

"I'll keep it if you'll let me."

"if I'll let you!" Rebecca laughed and squeezed him tighter in her arms. "Do you really think after last week I'd ever let you go again? We've got a campaign to win, haven't we? And win or lose, we mustn't lose this ever again."

"Ever?" Chester propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at her. "Are you saying..."

"Give us a moment to clean up like you said, and then I will say it."

The towel had done its job well enough that the bed didn't need cleaning; only Chester and Rebecca did. Fifteen minutes or so later, washed and settled in their nightclothes, Rebecca took Chester's hand and led him to the edge of the carpet by the hearth. "Pardon me for not getting closer to the fire, but those stones can be hard on the knees!" she joked.

"Rebecca, you're not really..."

But she did. She hiked up her nightgown and got down on one knee, and took Chester's hand in both of her own. "Chester Croft, will you marry me?"

The world didn't need to hear the news, they both agreed before they even got back in bed. It broke Rebecca's heart to keep the news even from Sarah. But she deemed it absolutely necessary, for Lady Rollins had challenged her to a debate at Laucester Coliseum on Wednesday. Rebecca preferred to keep her private life private, and resolved that she would do so if possible.

But she had learned her lesson about being too rigid with such things.

Word of their reconciliation, at least, had gotten out in the countryside. As a result, Rebecca and Martha had three great days of visits in the villages and farms. Even one Rollins supporter said, "I don't believe men should have the vote, but I'm delighted for you and your young man." Far more offered their vote along with their congratulations.

So it was that Rebecca was feeling confident and optimistic when she and Martha arrived at the coliseum on Wednesday evening. "I do wish Chester could be here," Rebecca said. "And so does he!"

"It's just as well he doesn't attend," Martha said. "He would probably draw more attention than you and Lady Rollins. Besides, hasn't he got exams?"

"Exactly," Rebecca said, examining herself in the dressing room mirror. "He's got his last one on Friday, and it's nose to the grindstone until then. I do hope Lady Rollins leaves him out of it tonight."

"You are not that naïve, Senator."

Rebecca sighed. "I know."

Regrettably, both women were correct. The first few questions were about dry topics like wheat prices (Rebecca knew the going rate, Lady Rollins was off by several crowns) and improved transportation from the outlying areas to Laucester (Rebecca drew jeers for pointing out that higher taxes would be necessary, Lady Rollins got a marginally less-negative reaction for proposing a private railway service), but both candidates knew the matter of male suffrage was on the horizon -- undoubtedly the organizers just wanted to save the best for last.

Rebecca wasn't surprised when it was Freda Kurie of the very pro-Supremist Laucester Times who poked the sleeping giant. "Senator Wharton, your signature cause has been to upend centuries of tradition by bestowing the responsibility of the vote on men as well as women. Some would say this is extremely irresponsible as men do not have the emotional or intellectual range we have, and they are prone to hot-headedness that does not belong in the realm of public debate and policy. That is not even to mention that you have forced the premier's hand in calling an election just before Christmas! How do you respond?"

Rebecca laughed. She knew Martha would have some choice words for that response, but she couldn't help it. Once the ice was broken, many of her supporters in the audience joined in, and Rebecca's confidence was restored as she began her reply. "Freda, I see a fundamental difference in our perspectives, and it's probably not what you think. To make a long story short, I trust men."

She was interrupted by thunderous applause from her side of the audience, which she acknowledged with a smile and a nod. Then she continued. "We send men to fight our wars, to fish our seas, we have them work in our factories and on our farms. Yes, they think and feel differently than we do, but for all the manual labour they do, they deserve a voice in our democracy!" More applause, but Rebecca wasn't slowing down now. "Not to mention that we now allow men in our universities, and they are performing quite well there."

"You would know, Senator," Lady Rollins interrupted, drawing howls and applause from her supporters.

Rebecca ignored the barb. "As for the unfortunate timing of the election, that was nothing but a final attempt by Premiere Wynnton to defeat male suffrage by stirring up resentment at having politics intrude on our holiday season. Ladies, I too would much rather be spending this evening at home with my daughter and, yes, with Chester. I do not apologize for that. I do apologize for the timing, but as you all know, it was not my decision and I was no happier about it than you are. But that is why I must ask you to shoulder the minor unpleasantness in order to make this a very merry Christmas for our husbands, fathers, sons and brothers!"

The applause hadn't quite died down yet when Lady Rollins began her rebuttal. "Ladies, my worthy opponent talks about a merry Christmas for all, but her behaviour of late speaks for itself. Senator, honestly, have you no shame? No one needs to tell the voters about your young friend, but what about your former servant, Guy?"

Rebecca was almost relieved - that was the best she could do? "What about Guy, Lady Rollins?"

"Are you going to tell the voters, or am I?" Lady Rollins had an evil twinkle in her eye as she said it, and it remained as she turned back to face the audience. "Just this past weekend -- a matter of days before Christmas! -- Senator Wharton fired a loyal member of her staff with no notice and no reference! She sent him out into the dark like an abandoned puppy! And you have the nerve to speak of Christmas tidings, Senator?"

Rebecca was horrified at the thunderous response that ensued. She saw some of her own supporters shouting across the aisle, but most looked like the news had given them pause as well. She did not need to look off to the side to know Martha was cringing and likely panicking in the wings. Rebecca felt like that abandoned puppy just now, and she had little doubt she looked like it as well.

Her one saving grace, Rebecca knew, was that the next question was from a young reporter from the Gentlemen's Rights Journal. A young woman -- undoubtedly the result of a compromise, that a men's paper would be allowed to participate but an actual man would not -- whom Rebecca didn't know, but at least she would be on Rebecca's side on this matter. Probably.

When at last the applause and hoots and boos had died down, the young woman asked, "Senator, would you like to address the matter of your former servant?"

"Why, yes I would!" Rebecca said with the folksy tone that had served her so well in gaining crossover support from the farmers and younger women; she knew she would need every bit of that support now. She was gratified at the titter this produced across the audience, and ploughed ahead. "Overlooking the fact that this was a private matter and certainly none of Lady Rollins' business, and overlooking the fact that I ensured his final paycheque would cover a hotel room for the night, ladies, here is what she failed to mention." Darting her eyes at her challenger, she added, "Of course, I am sure it was an honest oversight on her part."

That produced a louder laugh, and Rebecca stood just a bit taller as she continued. "By now, every last one of you, whether you plan to vote for me or not, knows about the scandalous letter to Chester that nearly destroyed our love. I shan't dignify that matter by repeating any of it here. What you do not know -- and I really did hope to keep this private matter private, but Lady Rollins would have it otherwise -- is that the former servant she mentioned was the one who leaked the letter to my former friend and Lady Rollins' current booster, Chester's mother, Winnifred Croft." This brought the uproarious applause she had hoped for, and she forged ahead while the moment was still hers. "Guy did not believe it appropriate for his gender to have the vote, and although I strongly disagreed, I respected his point of view. Guy did not return that respect, and he also violated my privacy and Chester's, and nearly destroyed our love for one another as a result. That is why I fired him, and I defy any one of you ladies out there to deny that you'd have done the same!"

Rebecca took a deep breath and exulted in the deafening applause from her side of the aisle. The lead moderator banged her gavel on the table and called for order, but in vain. Finally she called for Lady Rollins to begin her rebuttal and the audience quieted down to listen.

"In other words, Senator, a gentleman of traditional values alerted one of the most admired women in Laucester society of your living in sin with her son, and you punished him for it!" Lady Rollins hissed.

"That's right," Rebecca said, bringing on further applause. She wouldn't have won the vote of any woman who agreed with that last comment anyway, she reminded herself.

"You don't even deny it, then!" Lady Rollins shot back.

"I don't deny that Chester Croft and I love one another!" Rebecca said. She had a split-second to read the audience, and decided it was best to reveal the news. "As a matter of fact, the very same evening last weekend that Guy faced the consequences of his actions, I asked Chester to make an honest woman of me, and he said yes."

A standing ovation ensued from her side of the aisle, while even some of Lady Rollins' supporters offered respectful applause for the happy news.