She only wished she knew what to expect next.
FIVE
Geoff sat in the crowded waiting room, watching the inner door for Shona to come out and the outer door for the first news crews to arrive.
Shona was unreachable right now, in conference with the police. Ordinarily, the hospital personnel wouldn’t have told him even that much, except Shona had left word for him. At least she had relented somewhat.
He still wasn’t sure what his reception would be when he and Shona met. They had parted on a note of anger last year, and nothing that had passed between them in eleven months had given Geoff any reason to think she had had a change of heart. He, on the other hand, had endured plenty of second thoughts. Why had he been so demanding?
And yet, he still meant what he’d said. For several years, Shona had been evolving into her father’s puppet, scrambling to do whatever it took to keep Kemper MacDonald content. She had overlooked more and more of Kemper’s unethical behavior, even when he lied, manipulated and ingratiated himself to win votes to assure the completion of his own agenda. Until a couple of weeks ago, that agenda had been the advancement of his own career—and Shona’s.
It was at that time, during a private, late-night visit from his father-in-law, that Geoff had discovered a thread of hope that all was not lost.
Geoff checked again with the receptionist at the ER desk and was told that Kemper was still in critical condition. At least he was alive.
An older lady stood behind Geoff when he turned around. “Mr. Tremaine?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She held her checkbook out with one hand, an ink pen with the other. “Could I get your autograph? This is all I could find to write on.”
He hesitated. He had never been able to fathom why anyone would be interested in his autograph, but Wendy insisted it was good PR. With a smile, he relented and did as he was asked. He signed with a flourish he had practiced, the writing as much unlike his normal writing style as he could make it in order to protect himself from identity theft—good advice from an attorney who had visited the station.
“Do you have someone in the ER tonight?” he asked the lady as he handed her the signed book.
She nodded. “My mother. She has congestive heart failure. I just saw you over here and—”
“I’m sorry to hear about that.”
“Oh, she’ll recover as soon as they pull off the fluid. They’ve done it before.”
“I hope she’ll be okay.”
The lady gazed up at him. “Thank you, Mr. Tremaine,” she said on a sigh. “You know, I never miss the Channel 6 news now that you’re there.”
He smiled, refusing to take the woman’s admiration seriously.
As the lady returned to her seat, Geoff realized he and Shona had always been two of a kind. They lived in the public eye, and though they didn’t particularly enjoy the attention their jobs brought them, they had learned to cope with the fish-bowl syndrome years ago.
At least, most of the time.
To his relief, Shona stepped through the door from the ER. She spotted him immediately and started toward him, looking very tense. He knew that look well.
Though his wife had always been beautiful, the years had graced her, giving her a polish that didn’t fully emerge until her midthirties. She now had silver-blond highlights in her short, thick dark hair, and her eyes, which had always been large, no longer made her appear ingenuous but astute. Amazing what a few years of seasoning could do for a woman. She was more beautiful than ever.
Unfortunately for him, she was also less easy to read.
He was stepping forward to meet her when the entry door opened, admitting Sally Newton and a cameraman from the station.
Sally, spotting Shona, wove her way through the crowded room. “Mrs. Tremaine, can you tell us how the senator is doing?”
All eyes in the waiting room suddenly focused on Shona.
Sally was in her midtwenties, and she had not yet learned many lessons in diplomacy. She advanced on Shona with a microphone in her hand, gesturing for the cameraman to follow her.
Shona raised a hand of entreaty toward Geoff. “Please, not now,” she said softly. “I can’t talk right—”
“Sal,” Geoff said, smoothly stepping in front of Shona to shield her from the camera, “the senator’s family will have a statement for the press as soon as possible. At this moment we don’t have sufficient information to relay, only that Senator MacDonald is in critical condition.”
The pretty blonde blinked at him. “But Wendy told me—”
Shona took Geoff’s arm.
“We’ll contact you as soon as we have a statement,” he told the reporter. “You must understand our concerns. Shona needs to focus all her attention on her father at this time.”
“Can you at least tell us what happened? Was this a murder attempt?” Sally asked.
Geoff heard Shona catch her breath at the question. He lowered his voice. “I just told you, Sally, that there will be a statement later. There’s nothing here for you to see.” Without staying to argue, he ushered Shona back through the doors into the bustling ER.
“That young woman needs to learn some manners,” Shona snapped.
“As Wendy would say, she’s simply doing her job.”
“I’m sure that’s exactly what Wendy would say. I’m just glad you decided there was something more important at the…moment….” Shona stopped, gazing toward the trauma room where a team of hospital personnel surrounded someone—Kemper? Her hand tightened on Geoff’s arm.
“We don’t need to be here right now,” he said. “Is there a private room where we can wait?”
She led him along a corridor to a conference room with a table and chairs, love seat and recliner.
She released his arm at last, and sank onto the love seat. He resisted the urge to assure her that everything would be okay. He’d learned long ago not to make assurances he couldn’t keep, especially to Shona Tremaine, who would not hesitate to call him on it.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
She grimaced. “I discovered I don’t handle medical emergencies well. Karah Lee would be ashamed of me. I held together until I tried to watch them work on Dad in the trauma room.” She wiggled her fingers in front of her stomach, giving him a good idea about what had happened.
“I called her,” Geoff said. “She’s on her way.”
Those large, dark gray eyes narrowed. “I asked you not to do that.”
“She’s his daughter, too, and she’s coming. Give her some credit.”
Shona’s grimace told him she was irritated but not really angry. He hadn’t pushed it too far…yet.
“Only because you called,” she said. “Karah Lee likes you better than she does me.”
“You know that isn’t true.”
“Of course, it is.” She glanced up at him, then quickly looked away. “She even told me that once.”
“You two are always pulling each other’s chains.” Shona retained her privacy with dignity in the public eye, but, despite their separation, she seemed to be as candid as always with him. The key word was seemed. He no longer knew if he could take her at her word, especially since he knew she felt she must be on guard with him.
“How did it go with the