You got some reaction out of her last chapter... Here is where we really get to feel how deeply she is hurt. Mac shows the strenght of character that makes her the president that she is. A normal woman would probaby have set fire to his bed. and say it was an accident and get away with it because she is the President of the United states.

Or just turn a total blind eye to it, and pretend that she saw absolutely nothing.

Becca also gets to see how vulnerable her mother can be, and something in her changes.

Enjoy the chapter,

S.K.

Strength of Character

Mac lay in bed until mid morning. That was when Becca barged in. Her grandmother had warned her that her mother's state of mind was not receptive. But she didn't care; she wanted an explanation.

Mac was not asleep; she was lying there staring at the right side of the bed. She couldn't sleep without him there. It wasn't that she was no longer angry with him, but she was only human. She hadn't shed a tear since she was in the hot tub.

"Mom!" Becca shouted from the foot on the bed staring at her nearly catatonic mother. "I can't believe you kicked dad out of your room. I mean it's his room too. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's only got to do with you not having any time for any of us." Mac had not moved an inch.

"I mean I gotta be sorry for the guy." She looked at her mother and started to worry; her words weren't penetrating. It was as if she wasn't there, and as much as she fought with her mother, however busy her mother was, Mac always listened. She dropped to her knees next to her mother. "Mom?" Rebecca stopped and looked at her, really looked at her.

Mac slowly began to focus on whom it was that was raging at her. She saw how scared Becca looked, then looked around and saw that Amy and Horace had followed her into the room. "Hey!" She looked at the time. "What are you going on about Becca?"

"Mom," Becca began as Mac sat up in bed, "Why is dad on the other side of the wing?" She was gentler with her mother this time.

Mac stood up and walked stiffly to the hook that held her robe. "Guys, I'm so sorry you're going through this." Mac said, "It's just for a little while, we had a little fight is all, We'll work it out." She apologized to her children.

"But Mom, you've never..." Horace began.

"There is a first time for everything." Mac said taking the robe from Becca, whom had taken pity on her sore mother and taken the robe off the hook for her. "Thanks," Mac said and headed to the bathroom.

"What happened to you Mommy?" Amy asked, "You can't even move."

"You gave me a workout yesterday Amy. That was a great match." Mac answered bringing a smile on to her daughter's face.

"Mom," Becca said leaning against the doorframe at her mother's bathroom, "What happened?"

"It's nothing Becca," Mac said annoyed, "please drop it."

"Okay," Becca said a little hurt. She had never seen her mother so hurt before, and she was determined to find out what it was that had sent her father to a guest room in his own home.

The three young Calloways walked out of the president's bedroom a little hurt and confused. "Do you buy any of that?" Becca asked Horace, once Amy had found that Kate had lunch ready for her in the kitchen.

"No," He answered, "You think Dad will tell?"

"Only one way to find out." Becca said walking out of the residence, her twin brother following close behind her.

Inside the presidential bedroom, Mac sat upon the lid of the commode. She was dazed, she hated lying to her children, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to besmirch the image they had of their father, even if they were bound to find out about the affair eventually. It was only a matter of time until that little bitch talked to the press.

She looked around the room, lost in thought. "Fuck you Rod." She said grabbing the soap dish and throwing it at the ground shattering it into a million pieces. She grabbed the hand soap pump and did the same. It made her feel good to destroy anything she could get her hands on. Finally she collapsed on to the floor racked with sobs from the betrayal she was attempting to heal from by Monday morning.

Kate had heard the noise as she passed by her daughter's bedroom while walking down the hall, and came inside the room. She found Mac sobbing on the floor and kneeled down next to her. She wrapped her arms around her daughter and rocked her.

Mac felt better to have the only person that had never betrayed her wrap her arms around her. She sunk into her mother's embrace and cried. "How could he do this to me," Mac sobbed.

"Go on," Kate said stroking her daughter's hair. She had been waiting for this since the night before. She knew how Mac handled things. She held together for as long as she could, then she would break with a big explosion. This time she exploded all over the bathroom, "Let it all out."

"But I love him, why would he do this to me?" Mac said.

"That's it," Kate continued to soothe Mac tracing soft circles on her back.

"I want to die," Mac whimpered into her mother's arms, "It hurts so much."

"I know," Kate said kissing the top of her daughter's head. "Come let's go to the bed, If I know you well, you haven't slept at all."

"It smells like him." Mac said rising off the floor as her mother brushed the glass off of her robe.

"Your sheets are changed every day." Kate said incredulously.

"The pillows," Mac said sitting on the couch on one side of her bedroom suite, "they smell like him."

Kate walked over, and took all of the pillows off of the bed and took them out of the room. She asked a maid to get her some new ones and by the time she had returned with the new set of pillows, Mac had already cried herself to sleep on the couch. She gently placed a pillow under the president's head and covered her with a blanket.

"You'll get over this, Just like I did." Kate whispered softly, and kissed the top of her daughter's head, then walking off to check on Amy's whereabouts.