They both stirred when they heard the ring tone from Abbey's cell phone. "Oh no!" she groaned, lifting herself off him. "I forgot to turn it off."

"Leave it," Jed said lazily.

"Jed, I can't. It's one of the girls – I've blocked all other calls, and they wouldn't call unless it was important."

Abbey stood up and rummaged in her purse for her phone. She clicked it, said 'Hello?' and then looked across at him. "It won't connect properly in here, the walls are too thick – I need to go outside."

Jed raised himself up on one elbow. "Not in the nude, sweetheart! It's a little chilly out there – and anyway you'd distract the agents."

The ringing stopped.

"Damn!" Abbey said and clicked the phone a few times again, eventually finding the caller ID. "It's Liz," she told him.

Jed nodded. "Okay, you'd better call her back."

As Abbey grabbed her clothes from the floor and dressed quickly, Jed lay there watching her and hoping that Liz wasn't going to be reporting some major crisis. After she'd gone outside to make the call, he eventually forced himself to stand up and headed for the shower. He was just towelling himself down when Abbey came into the bathroom.

"Well?"

Abbey hesitated. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

Jed wrapped the towel round his waist. "Okay, hit me with it. What's the bad news?"

"Liz and Doug have split."

He stood there for a moment, then raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Thanks, God," he said with heavy irony. "All I asked for was no more gut wrenching revelations – and You throw this at us?" He lowered his eyes and looked at Abbey anxiously. "How is she?"

"She's fine–" then as she saw doubt flicker across his face, "–yes, honestly, Jed, she's fine. She's known for the last two months that it was going to happen – but she told Doug that he couldn't leave until after you finished, so that it wouldn't hit the press while you were still President."

Jed felt a sudden wave of tenderness for his daughter. "She did that?"

"Yeah." Abbey looked at him for a moment, then hesitated before she went on, "Doug found himself a new playmate."

"Damn him!" Jed struck the bathroom wall so hard with his fist that the window rattled. "God damn him!" he yelled again, then rubbed his bruised fist against his other palm. "I should've had him castrated when I found out about the nanny! So who is it this time?"

"His campaign secretary."

Jed seemed about to explode again, but then he heaved a deep sigh and nodded resignedly, "Okay – okay – so let's just forget him. How is Liz dealing with it?"

"She's all right – in fact she's relieved. Jed, their marriage has been on the rocks for a long time."

"Yeah, I know." Jed struggled anew with the thought that anyone could treat one of his daughters so badly. "We should go home," he said. "She needs us."

"No," Abbey said, "I asked her that and she said no, she's okay. Zoey's with her and the kids are fine about it all. Annie's in college and Gus is ten, they're not babies, Jed."

Jed inclined his head in acknowledgement. "True."

"Jed, she's not unhappy – she's almost on a high now that it's actually happened."

"Okay." He looked across at her. "Is that the good news then?"

Abbey smiled. "No, it's better than that. Ellie's pregnant again – it was confirmed this morning."

Jed's eyes lit up. "Now that is good news! Is everything okay?" he added, recalling the sadness of Ellie's miscarriage the previous year.

"A bit of morning sickness but apart from that, yes."

"We really should go home, Abbey."

Abbey shook her head. "No, they're fine. Jed, they're not your little girls any more, they're adults. They can survive without us for a few days."

And besides, she added in her mind, there's unfinished business here first.

She handed him the cell-phone. "Get yourself dressed and go outside and call Liz – and then call Ellie – because I know that's the only thing that will put your mind at rest." She patted the damp hairs on his chest. "Now go away and let me use that shower."

By the time Jed came back into the cottage, Abbey had showered and dressed again, and was in the kitchen mixing a salad. "Okay?"

"Yeah – Liz said she would never speak to me again if I brought you home early from this trip, and Ellie asked me if I intended to hold her hand for the whole of the next seven months! So yeah, I guess they're OK. But when we get home we're gonna make damn sure that that – that cretin – gets totally screwed on alimony!"

"I'm sure that Liz is quite capable of doing that for herself," Abbey said dryly. "Here, take this through to the table, would you?"

"You know that Ellie's intending to carry on working till a couple of weeks before the baby's due?" he called back to her as he took the salad bowl to the table.

"Yeah – I did that when I was having her too," Abbey replied.

"And that only seems like yesterday," Jed commented ruefully.

As they talked first about Liz and Doug and then started to reminisce about the girls over supper and into the evening, Abbey didn't know whether to be glad or sorry that Liz's phone call had taken Jed's mind off the other events of the day. On the one hand he needed time – and this was giving him a breathing space; on the other she was half afraid that he was going to push it all to the back of his mind and refuse to think about it all.

She soon had her answer. At ten o'clock she yawned and stood up. "I think I'll go get ready for bed." He didn't follow her and after she'd undressed and slipped into her bathrobe, she went to the door of the sitting room. Jed was sitting on the couch, leaning forward and staring into distance. He was miles away.

"Jed–?" she said softly, and when he glanced quickly round at her, continued, "You coming to bed?"

"Not yet," he said. "I just want to sit here for a while."

"Do you want me to sit with you?"

Slowly he shook his head. "I think I'd rather be on my own." He raised apologetic eyes to hers. "I'm sorry, honey–"

"It's okay." She took the few steps to him and kissed his forehead gently. "I understand, Jed. You know I'm here when you're ready."

He caught hold of her hand and squeezed it, looking up at her and managing a small smile. "Yeah, I know. I love you, Abbey."

"I love you too."

They held each other's eyes for a few moments and then Abbey went back towards the bedroom. As she reached the door, she glanced round at him. He had leant back against the couch, his hands behind his head, his eyes closed – and her heart ached for him. There was a lump in her throat as she closed the door and went to bed.

TBC