Chapter Twenty-Six
Dear Diary,
Included is the article Meg wrote:
A Fireside Chat With Our New Favorite Couple
Wednesday February 1st, 2017
By Meg Barnes
When you come upon a modest two story corner townhouse on the Northeast side of Washington DC, besides the new CIA team surveying the area (which is not so obvious to see), there is no out of the ordinary tales to give away that Vice President Erik Underwood lives within it. You could easily say the same thing when one sees him sitting beside his new fiancé, Christine Gallagher. While the house appears to have relatively new furniture within it, when I sit across from the couple, I feel very much at home with old friends. Unlike other millionaires that would rank in Underwood's status, he appears to have taken to having few items of great worth within his home rather than wanting to show off his wealth to the world. The same can be said for his relationship with Christine.
It is well known to locals that those of highest status in Washington tend to keep to their Northwest corners, mingling in places like Georgetown, Bethesda, and kept away in well hidden houses looking over their yachts on the Potomac. Occasionally, you will find the up and coming congressman or woman residing in Capitol Hill or even Eastern Market, but to find one so far to the east is exceptional. This is where Underwood finds comfort - among the middle class, many of which are of immigrant or minority status of the capitol. He says it feels far more normal to him than having to keep up with his own class of people and has no intention of moving so long as he can help it. Christine, while not only coming from a humble background, has worked very hard to have a middle class life in the same neighborhood of Washington (little did they realize that!). However, despite her smaller percentage of wealth next to his, all the wealth that could be possessed can be seen in the light of Underwood's eyes when he looks at her.
Known for his shrewd politics and ability to play poker with congress, it's amazing to imagine that both men could be one in the same within Erik Underwood. When he is within his home, he is courteous and relaxed and I felt myself a welcome guest rather than someone sharing a room with one of the most powerful people in the nation. Christine must feel the same as she easily made her way in and out of the room to make us tea as the interview progressed.
When asked how they met, Christine immidately shakes her head only to have Underwood chuckle. While I won't bring up just what embarrassment had brought them together, Erik sees it all as a kind of blessing to have happened.
"Christine makes the evening sound as if it were so terrible," Underwood comments having seen his fiancé wince at the memory, "but without it having happened the way it had, I never would have reached out to her. I saw something within her that I wanted to see again, more importantly, that I wanted her to see again, so I followed her….Do not let her fool her. She knows what I see in her. She simply doesn't believe it."
Upon further questioning, just what he saw within her was "Perfection." Her reaction? A charming blush that the country has already become accustomed to after seeing it during the inauguration ball when asked to dance.
Their relationship, having only been in the spotlight since the announcement of his Vice Presidency, has not gone without scrutiny. Even the Speaker of the House said in a side comment that Underwood wouldn't have made the cut as an "ugly old single man." Other people have criticized them for their age difference and income inequality. When I brought such topics up to the couple Underwood laughed saying, "No one would ever care if I had stayed in the House! With scandals happenings with other workers keeping woman on the side while their away from their wives in Washington, I'm happy to report that Christine was the only woman I've ever been interested in!"
When I asked Christine the same question she shrugged saying, "It's hard to know if you've found the right person or not, especially under thirty….Maybe that's just me. I don't know. I didn't expect to be engaged before then, but people can say what they want. I try to only listen to things that really matter. What I mean is, I'm not very interested in gossip. I have nothing against people who get married early, but I guess you could say I'm glad Erik didn't."
When asked what their main commonality is, both of them answered immediately: Music. Little known to the public, Underwood is a composer and musician and is also a main benefactor to The National Symphony Orchestra. Christine, having grown up in a musical family, was quick to relate to him on that front from the beginning. As a joke, during the night of their engagement, Underwood told her that if she would agree that he would give her the orchestra as a gift. That, along with a Van Gogh painting that is still in exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. She said that she has decided that the best thing to do with both gifts is to keep sharing them with the public. "I couldn't fit the orchestra in my apartment anyway."
Christine hasn't made too many plans for the wedding yet. She said she wasn't expected things to be happening so soon with their relationship. They both expressed contentment with the way things were prior to engagement, but once things had been set for Underwood's new position, he said he couldn't see himself making it for the next four years without her by his side. Unlike many modern couples, they are choosing to wait until legally married to live with one another. Underwood says that she should always have an escape from his world if she needs it and Christine seemed adamant to keep her current apartment for this exact case.
"Many things are going to change," Underwood commented as he sipped his tea, "But I will not force her to change her life. Only she can do that. I have chosen her as my life companion and she makes the continuous choice to let me be hers."
I guess it was one photo in particular that accompanied the article that shocked me the most. Erik and I sat on the couch together, my hand between both of his. My face…I was laughing. And I actually looked happy, like really happy. He was smiling too. When he looked at me, his mask was almost completely hidden. We looked…normal. It's not like he looks ancient next to me and I'm not so much of a child when I have some makeup on to help. There we were looking like an actual couple. It was stunning. As in, I'm stunned looking at it. Maybe we're better at fooling people than I thought…but that would make Erik and Meg right. God forbid I ever let them know that.
Sometime later after a very stressful coffee outing with Etsy, I went for a walk. She insisted we meet at a Starbucks only a few blocks away from Capitol. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Starbucks, but if I'm going to spend so much money on a coffee, I'd much rather go to one of the small local coffee shops. That's one thing about Washington that I really love. Outside of Chinatown, there aren't too many chains everywhere and far more snug original places to find around town. I digress….
Very unfortunate for me, Meg is in New York covering another story this week so I had to handle Etsy all on my own. I hate all of her stupid ideas. I hate her never ending chatter about love and happily ever afters. And so much pink. God, why so much pink? It practically blinds me. Three excruciating hours went by and I don't even know if anything had even gotten done. We talked about locations and dresses. She said she would have to call Erik's security team to discuss different places. All of the dress catalogs she brought made me want to gag. None of them looked tasteful.
When I left I decided to take a walk towards the museums. It's the perfect time to visit my own town when most tourists would never come. The museums are actually quiet and I can read and look at things for however long I want to without screaming children running by or being bumped by careless onlookers. I crossed the street early and walked by the Library of Congress and a thought came to me, Do people get married in there? I've always loved that building more than any others I had seen in Washington and I knew Erik liked it or he wouldn't have brought me there for the engagement party. I thought to text Etsy but decided against it because I didn't want to listen to her talk for one more second.
Sighing, I crossed the street and wound up in front of the Capitol. A couple, hardly mid twenties passed quickly in front of me hugging their coats to them. A second after they passed, the woman turned and yelped, pointing at me. I looked behind me only to hear, "Oh my god it's her! That's Christine Gallagher! Look honey, it's Christine!"
The couple turned to me with big smiles on their faces. I tried to return their excitement as best I could as the woman asked for a photo. I obliged and smiled as kindly as I could. The girl then told me that Erik and I were the reason they decided to get engaged and I nearly let a gust of wind knock me right into the street behind us. I asked her to explain.
"We've been dating for long time, but when I thought about what Underwood said about not wanting to waste time and how he knew that he had to be with you. Oh my god, I just, I told my honey here that he was right. That we shouldn't waste time either and well, here's my ring!"
I looked down as she took her glove off to show me her diamond ring. She nearly made a move to pull my hand out from my pocket to see mine, but I decided against it, not wanting to draw any more attention to myself, especially as I know that even in the cold pick pockets will stick to tourist areas. I awkwardly wished her a good day and that she had a good time with in Washington. She nodded and skipped away. I swore I heard her tell her fiancé that I was just as humble in person as she read I was on Buzzfeed.
On my way past the capitol where the guards stand at vehicle gates, I noticed black SUVs exiting from near the House of Representatives building. I checked the time and noted that they must have let out early for that day. An SUV stopped before leaving the gate and I heard my name. Looking towards the car skeptically, I made my approach. The back window lowered and I made out the outline of the man inside.
"Ms. Gallagher, right?"
I gulped, "Mr. Speaker,"
He stuck his hand out of the window and I shook it. The gasp was limp and almost slimy, "A pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry we did not get formal introductions during inauguration day."
My mind flipped towards that day when Erik told me to stay away from this man as he had a tendency to "destroy smiles with his idiocy and ears too big to serve their purpose."
"It was a busy day," I commented as evenly as I could.
He laughed and the sound was sour, "I see why Underwood likes you. You're the sweet pretty side he never had. Always wanting what he can't have, that one. Tell me what did he have to toss you through to get you to say yes? It's a bit strange that someone as fine as you would really love him enough to marry a monster."
I stepped back from the car, horrified at The Speaker's boldness. Footsteps were heard behind me and I turned to see Erik making his way towards me, a trail of frustrated body guards behind him.
"Mr. Speaker," he spoke coldly as he nudged his way between myself and the car.
"Mr. Vice President," he said through his teeth.
"I hardly see it necessary for you to take out your failure today on my fiancé. Develop some decorum and stop holding up the line. I'd much rather catch a picture of you trying to pick up young ladies in the Southeast side of town. Christine," he held his elbow out to me and I took it without thought as he lead me to his vehicle a few cars behind. Before us, I noticed Nadir move to the front seat so that Erik and I could take the back.
"I was walking to the American Indian Museum when he stopped me," I muttered once inside.
"Excellent idea. Khan, Darius, how about we have an early dinner at the restaurant there? I'd love to get the low lying tastes of that imbecile Speaker out of my mouth."
I later found out that the dispute was over a bill in favor of expanding mental health programs for veterans. Erik had managed to collect enough Democrat, Republican, and GOP votes to pass it even though he was no longer the party whip. Erik had smiled as he said this and stated that he always new he was far more useful to Walker in the cabinet than elsewhere.
Dear Diary,
In February, Erik was very explicit in telling me not to expect anything for Valentine's Day. I wasn't going to anyway. He was the one to bring it up. Well, no, Meg was the first one to bring it up. I wonder if she had started to nag him about it. Really, I wasn't expecting anything and hadn't gotten him anything either. Valentine's Day always seemed really dumb to me, just another way for consumerism to get the best of people. However, with Erik's sudden rise in status and over a third of America now following my lame Twitter account, Valentine's Day suddenly became quite a thing.
I can't believe people - people I don't even know - started to ask me what Erik had planned! Meg was quick to come over to my apartment to tell me this and was glued to her phone most of the time she was with me. She kept asking me for a statement which ended up being something like, "Whatever is going to happen, it's going to be a surprise to me!"
The rest of the day lagged on and people started to respond that they were excited for me. Is that what being famous is like? Strangers wishing me well only because they're nosey? I knew Erik was having a busy day yelling at the House Speaker about…something. The night before the fourteenth, Erik was in the worst mood when I showed up for my lesson. He outright snapped at me when I told him I hadn't gotten any further with planning the wedding.
"I'm trying to keep the top one percent of the top one percent in the world from turning this country into an office oligarchy and you can't event figure out how to pick a dress!" He spat at me from across the Study.
In response I turned cold and told him I'd be happy to help him with his problems in exchange for him planning the wedding that he wanted. I'm sure I heard him whisper, "How I wish you could." The rest of the lesson was relatively uneventful. He's moved me onto singing simple ballads and musical numbers at the piano in the den. Every now and then I catch him smile when I follow through with singing correctly. I'd be lying if I said that his genuine smiling didn't have a positive affect on me.
For this evening, just as I was about to walk out of my door to drive to Erik's house, I was stopped by his chauffeur and security head Darius. Darius has always been a quiet man, but he enjoys making silly jokes when given the chance. He is on the tall side, lean, and despite his pale complexion had jet black hair and thick eye brows. I followed him to the SUV and accepted his opening and closing the door for me as I climbed in.
It didn't take long for us to reach the Washington Monument. I stepped out of the car on my own and stared up at the tallest structure in D.C.. Erik was up there. And he wanted me up there with him during the time that would usually be devoted to his lesson. After a quiet elevator ride to the top, I found him in the same place I had the last time we were both up here. I took my place next to him as we both stared out onto the city lights and into Virginia.
He told me he had brought me up there to apologize for his trite behavior, how he refused to back down to the G.O.P. and the Speaker on many things, and how he didn't like that seeping into the time we shared. I had noticed out lessons being a clipped one exact hour for a few weeks, but I never said anything about it. I just figured that he did have a lot of things going on and so long as he didn't take them out on me, I could live. My needs are met and all I need to do is sing for them. Not many people can say that. I'm not sure if I'm as happy as I've ever been, but I do know I'm less worried than I have been in the past.
A long box was pulled out of his pocket and he handed it to me. I opened it to find a string of baby pink pearls with matching earrings. Naturally, I was ready to tell him I couldn't accept it considering everything else he was giving me, but I was met with a hand. "For one night," he said, "I would like to stand and watch the stars I relate to in quiet without having to be alone. You will not sing tonight, but my gift is for standing with me. Happy Valentine's Day."
And so we stood in silence, mere inches away from each other, staring out tiny rectangular windows and over looking the city we were never ready to return to.
In March, Erik told me that he would be leaving in three weeks to tour the countries of North Africa followed by a few smaller counties in the Middle East. He told me that he would be gone until June and that our lessons would need to continue via video chat. The times I would be called would change according to his schedule and the time zone, but it's not like I have so much to do anyway. He told me to have the wedding planned by the time he returned and that he would be checking in with Meg to be sure I was holding up what was now to be my job.
I expected that he would have to leave to do things that the President could not. I also figured that it wouldn't look appropriate to other conservative countries for me to go with him. He had mentioned me traveling with him before, but that was to happen after we were legally married. What was unexpected was when he asked me to reside in his home while he was away! Before I could retort, he explained himself. He pointed out that his house has laundry facilities, a spare bedroom, books, a generator, a fireplace, and that the cats would need to be taken care of, especially as Simba was a bit young to be hunting outside on his own.
Okay, when he put it that way, I painfully admitted that staying at his place sounded a lot more appealing than my cold basement. Besides, he never said I would have to stay once he got back or that I would have to give up my lease. He just asked me to stay while he was away. I mean, I always liked his house (except for the fact that he's in it). I told him I would think on it, but he didn't seem to like that answer at all. Before I left, he pressed a warm brass key into the palm of my hand and asked me not to "think so much."
The morning Erik left for Morocco. Those three weeks had definitely had their ups and downs as far as Erik and I were concerned. For one thing, he started asking me over to dinner about a week and a half prior to his leave. He doesn't cook himself as he doesn't have time to, but he always managed to get spectacular catering from different places around the city. I tried to turn him down after three straight nights of dinner and he looked insulted, but then, he looked so very sad. I didn't really know what to say….but I did reconsider.
During dinner he'd ask me light questions about my life growing up. Sometimes it was actually nice to be able to talk about Dad. I still get emails and messages from different people in the orchestra and it's been a nice way to warm up to thinking about him again. A few times I asked Erik how things were on the Hill, but his answers were always short, telling me to read Politico if I wanted to know and that he didn't come home to work on "filth." He later told me that it was the President's idea to send him abroad, that he was stirring up too much mayhem with the G.O.P. Politico had already published an article calling Erik "too loud for the democrats, but not loud enough for republicans." Erik often referred to republicans as deaf. It might as well have been a motto.
Over the month he supplied me with tickets to events at the surrounding theatres. Some were plays and musicals, but most were concerts. While he was away I had at least one show to attend a week, many times I have three. He wanted to hear all about them within a day of my seeing them. To be honest, I was actually kind of excited. All of the big Equity house theatre's were on the list, of course the National Orchestra and Opera were represented, some traveling musicians at the Kennedy Center and National Theatre, plus a few smaller shows from theatre's I had never heard of. What was even better is that I had two tickets to each event so Meg could come and keep me company.
After the lesson had ended on the night before he left, he packed up his violin and whispered just loud enough for me to hear, "You have been doing much better, Christine." I watched him as he packed up his violin. Strange as it seemed to me, he had been using the violin to accompany me as we moved on to simple folk songs and lullabies. He said that it is his instrument of choice to begin with and that the more I could become accustomed to the sound of a live violin, the better it would be for me mentally. What's worse was…I think he was right. Most people are not as deeply affected by an instrument as I can be.
Midway through packing up he looked up at me and asked, "I suppose three months is a long time for us when taking apart when considering that we have only been speaking about four at this point."
I nodded and slowly readied myself to leave. It was still cold and I had to bundle up before leaving. He casually asked me how the heat was at my apartment. I told him it was fine. I knew he was trying to convince me to stay at his house. At that point, I had agreed pet sit, but I told him that staying the night continually would feel odd.
"Do you remember?" he started then cleared his throat, "Do you remember how you once asked how I could be kinder to you at night than during the day?" I nodded and he continued, "You can be kinder too. I know you don't really like me, believe me, no one really likes me, but you can be kind. That's more than what others have offered me."
His words were strange, they even sounded strange and completely unlike him. I waited for him to tell me what he meant by all of it. He told me he was preparing his political "battle armor" for the next three months, that he was being sent to do the job that the Secretary Of State couldn't buck up to do herself. Not to mention Erik not making the transition of power easy in congress as he wasn't one to back down on anything when many members weren't working to compromise in the first place…
He spoke again, "Will you offer me another evening of kindness, Christine? I understand that it is unfit for me to ask, but it would mean a great deal to me before I go into diplomacy Hell for three months straight."
I smiled sympathetically. It wasn't as if I had so much to do the following day. In response, I asked him he had had white wine instead of red. He nodded quickly and returned with the wine even faster. I was very happy with his selection. That is to say that I stayed and I was once again surprised at how hours could pass so quickly when the two of us took our old positions sitting opposite of the fire place. Sometimes it can be so easy to speak with him about things. He always has another question following another and he is keen to ask me about stories that I never thought I'd be happy about recounting after Dad died. We laugh together sometimes. He has a nice sounding laugh.
The sun wasn't yet peeking over the tops of the buildings when Erik's phone rang. It was Darius saying he'd be there to pick him up in half an hour. We both rose from the floor, the quilt he had offered me still wrapped around my shoulders. He said he had to pull his luggage from down stairs and I waited by the window. Once everything was ready at the door, he crossed back over to me and stood only inches behind me. The last time we stood like this without a camera there to capture it was the night the power was out and we were looking up at stars.
"Will you still marry me?" he asked quietly.
The question surprised me a little and a half-heartedly laughed. He kept silent and I realized he was expecting an honest answer. I mumbled back, "I guess so. It's not like I have so much else going on."
"But you could if you wanted to. I am certain…but will you share that life with me when it comes?" I looked back at him and noticed how serious - if not a little fearful - looking he was. His belief in me seemed endless and I felt heat rising in my cheeks at the thought. He took my left hand in both of his, rubbing the engagement ring softly, "You could have a very different life if you really wanted. You do not seem keen on making any serious plans for our wedding. Can I still expect you to follow through?"
The sound of a car pulling up to the curb and stopping was heard. We both looked back to see Darius getting out of the SUV. Erik tugged my hand a little harder, "Christine, please, don't let me go without-"
"Yes," I said, a smile tugging on my lips, "I'll be here when you get back. And yes, I'll still marry you."
Do you ever wonder what would happen if you had only a few seconds more in time? What I mean is…I can't help but wonder what Erik would have done if the door bell hadn't rung exactly when it did. I wonder what Erik's real emotion was behind his eyes when I answered his question. I especially wonder what his intention was when moving his head closer to mine. There was… something there. I think there was. But…but I can't say anything to be sure.
With a squeeze of my hand and a faint smile, he left for Morocco.
A little late this week. Saturday snuck up on me and the weekend was so packed that today's turned out to be my first day to sit down. Thanks for those reviewers/favorites out there. You make me smile :)
