Chapter Two
Olivia looked up at the knock on her door, welcoming the distraction.
"I come bearing gifts." Harrison announced. He stood in the doorway holding a narrow glossy white box. It was tied with a gilt bow and a spray of dark red, fragrant roses.
Olivia gestured for him enter, getting up from her desk to to take the package from him. They both moved to the area of her office that served as the casual seating, Olivia taking the small sofa that defined the space while Harrison took the closest chair.
"Grateful client?" Harrison asked.
She smiled. "Probably, considering we just accepted another case from one of our favorite clients -"
"-our favorite repeat clients -" Harrison interrupted with an unrepentant grin.
" - which is why the Caldwells remain one of our favorite clients -" Olivia replied without skipping a beat. She untied the bow that held the roses. They were a deep luxurious red and she took a moment to bring them up to her face, close enough to inhale their rich scent before laying them aside. She opened the box and they saw a bottle of wine laid against a bed of silk.
"Apparently Congressman Caldwell is trying to make an impression." Harrison said.
"I think he succeeded. The last time a wine from this vineyard came up, it was on auction at Christie's." Olivia studied the label. "A Chambertin-Clos de Bèze grand cru, no less."
She laughed at Harrison and the face he made, showing that he had no idea what she meant.
"Something like this is - special." Olivia explained. "Very special."
Harrison shook his head. "I know, one of these days, we'll have to attend some wine tasting classes and you can re-acquaint me with the subtle mysteries of good wine. But there's something I do know - that is not a typical, 'I brought some wine to the card party.' So put it away for some really special occasion, while I find us something a little more plebeian in taste."
Harrison put action to words, walking to the small wine cabinet that was tucked away on the far side of her office. He opened the doors and studied the choices.
"There's a nice burgundy that's already open." Olivia informed him as she turned her attention back to her gift. As she lifted the bottle from its box, a wineglass-charm looped around the neck chimed softly at the same time that it caught her eye. A silvery delicate chain held a small star sapphire gemstone set in a cabochon setting at one end.
Her birthstone, she realized with a smile. The Caldwells had done their due diligence very well.
Harrison had turned at the sound of the charm hitting the bottle. "Is that silver?"
Olivia looked closer. "Platinum, I think."
"Now I'm even more sure it's meant to be something special." Harrison said. "Which Caldwell do you think sent it, the married one or the soon to be married one?"
"Doesn't matter." Olivia shook her head and spoke without thinking. "I'm a one-woman man."
Her face warmed as Harrison made a sound of approval. "Glad to hear it."
Olivia watched him as he came back to his seat with a bottle and two glasses. He uncorked the wine, then poured them both a glass.
Harrison smiled at her with a warm gaze that showed that he was genuinely happy for her. "So it's really happening?"
Olivia hesitated for just a moment, then let the smile that came to her face answer for her. She lifted her glass towards Harrison; he leaned forward and touched his glass to hers. They both smiled at one another as the sound of crystal shimmered into the air between them.
"Yes, it's really happening." Olivia said. She paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.
Harrison's gaze was understanding. Olivia had always believed that he'd been the first to guess at the relationship between she and Fitz. It was after she'd been hurt during their last case and Fitz had brought her into the White House under his direct protection that Harrison had told her that why she was there was none of his business, but that had been enough between the two of them. At this point, Olivia believed that her relationship was an open secret at OPA, but Harrison had been the first to acknowledge that he knew.
That fact made it a little easier for Olivia to share her thoughts.
"It's going to take some time; the country is going to have to get used to the idea of a newly single president first, let alone one that is dating, after all - there's no real precedent for this in modern ages - and we have to be especially careful, considering - Fitz -" it still felt a little strange, using his first name in front of other people instead of Mr. President even in private like she was now - but it was a good kind of strange, she realized even as she said his name again, "Fitz - will be preparing to announce his re-election very soon.
"And then there's the matter of his children, of course." She continued. "He and Mellie have sat Karen and Gerry down and talked this out with them once the arrangements for the legal separation began. I think - I hope - that Karen and Gerry will come to some kind of understanding, but Teddy is really too young to know what's happening."
Olivia took a swallow of her wine. "I don't know how they'll react in the long run, but I do know that they all need time to adjust to their parents' separation and divorce, let alone a new woman in their father's life."
"You were great with them on the campaign the first time around." Harrison reminded her.
"Maybe, but that was different." Olivia hesitated. "I don't - we don't - want them to think that I came in and broke up their marriage."
"I get it." Harrison said. "And if you two are seen together too soon, that's exactly what the media will say."
"We've fought that fight too many times for too many clients for me to have any illusions on that score." Olivia agreed with him.
She went on to say something she hadn't told anyone else. Cyrus was the only other person who had known. "The truth is, their marriage was dead long before Fitz began his campaign for president. It's the reason I was brought in to begin with."
"So, of course you have a plan." Harrison raised his glass to her. He'd seen the Grant's in action over the course of the campaign as well, so when he thought about what Olivia had admitted, he realized that he shouldn't have been surprised.
"Of course." That this was a feeling that was easier said than done, she kept to herself. "And once they do learn about us, I don't want them to think that I'm trying to be their mother - I'd rather take this time and try to become their friend first."
Even if it had been mostly on a peripheral basis, Olivia had seen what damage could be done when children where caught in the cross-hairs of their parents' missteps. The results were anger, grief, rebellion. She could relate. And because she could, Olivia would never allow herself be the cause of such heartache.
"Moving on." It seemed that Harrison could read her thoughts, because he changed the subject. "Started the wedding invitation lists, yet?" he asked lightly.
Olivia accepted his attempt to lighten the mood with a grateful smile.
"Not yet - I'm in no particular rush." She said. "Besides, it's not like I have this big family to fill up my side of the church -"
"So, we're having a church wedding?" Harrison lifted an eyebrow at her. The smile was still on her face, but somehow it didn't seem to be reaching her eyes. Part of him suddenly just wanted her smile to be real. "You've been planning this in your head, haven't you?"
Olivia took a deep swallow of wine. As hard as she had tried not to, knowing that Fitz was taking the first steps towards being free, a part of her had done exactly that.
One unexpected memory in particular kept coming back to mind - she and her mother sitting at their kitchen counter, her with her nose in a book as usual, and her mother popping fresh popcorn over the stove. Her mother daydreaming aloud of the wedding she thought her daughter might one day have. Every time it happened, it brought a surge of unexpected emotion to the surface. Being a normal pre-teen, all Olivia had felt at the time was a sort of affectionate annoyance, but as those long ago memories rose up in her, she was surprised to feel an unfamiliar prickle of tears sting her eyes. She hadn't allowed herself to think about her mother in forever but it didn't surprise her to find herself remembering her mother's dreams for her -
"Not exactly planning." Suddenly, they were just a little too real and then a little too much, and force of habit pushed those thoughts aside. Olivia reached down inside herself and allowed herself a laugh in an attempt to minimize and wish away what she was really feeling.
She looked down at her wineglass, easier to talk that way. "More like day-dreaming. You see these these things, articles and pictures and movies, and you can't help but wonder what it must be like to have some great big fat wedding, with aunts and uncles and dozens and dozens of cousins, wreaking joyous havoc …" It was a foolish, she knew it, but she just couldn't help herself.
She looked up to see Harrison nodding in agreement, his eyes filled with understanding. "The dream of every only child and every orphan."
He hadn't had much of a family either, not until he'd met Olivia, not until he'd become a part of OPA.
Olivia watched the look on Harrison's face and guessed the direction of his thoughts. They were alike in the lack of family, she thought.
Mostly.