The Gentlewoman (27 page)

“Oh my God, Jackson, what did he say?”

“He was pretty surprised. But he was okay, and happy for
me.” He smiled. “He saw the
ET
footage. He said you were really hot.”

“But, Jackson, it’s not real… I hate to put him through
this.”

Jackson’s smile faded. “It’s okay. Besides, maybe it will be
real before he ever needs to know the difference. I’ll need to tell the rest of
my family too. You should tell your cousin and friends.”

“Jackson…” Rory trailed off as the waitress approached with
their food. Jackson returned to his side of the booth and they were served
burgers the size of her head.

When the waitress was gone, she looked into his eyes again.
“Jackson…”

He cut her off. “Rory, don’t. Please. I asked you to marry
me because I’m in love with you. I know we’re announcing it to try to flush out
this bastard.” He leaned forward and grabbed both her knees under the table,
holding her tightly. “But I want to marry you more than anything I’ve ever
wanted in my life. I want you to be my wife. I’m serious about it, and I want
you to think seriously about saying yes.”

Tears sprang into her eyes again. Rather than break down,
though, she steeled herself. “I love you, Jackson,” she breathed and smiled at
him.

Rory thought about their situation as they drove to Nicole’s
house the following afternoon. She could tell Jackson was considering their
impending announcement real. Maybe he was hoping she would be convinced. The
thought of it would have normally pissed her off and panicked her at the loss
of control. But it didn’t. It did worry her. She didn’t want to break his
heart. She didn’t know if she could say yes even though she didn’t want to be
without him again. She was confused.

They had stayed in the rest of the day after their lunch at
Milo’s. Rory had needed a nap and had slept until dinner time. Her lack of
sleep since their breakup and nightmares had caught up with her. She had slept
hard and woken with her head on Jackson’s chest, her favorite place. She had
immediately turned over and thanked him properly for being her pillow.

They had gone over some of the details of the announcement.
They needed to involve Nicole in the planning, which only made her more nervous
about Sunday dinner. She didn’t need Landon making her crazy over this, and he
was liable to go ape-shit when he was told she was announcing an engagement to
the “other team”.

They pulled into the driveway and Jackson came around to
open her door. She looked around for anyone who seemed out of place before she
took his hand.

“You won’t be smiling after spending the evening with
Landon. He’s not as nice as the rest of us.”

Jackson smirked. “As nice as who?”

She laughed as she took his arm. She noticed him looking off
in the direction of the street as well. They were both spooked.

They stomped the snow off inside the breezeway and Nicole
took their coats. Rory was wearing a charcoal wrap dress with black hosiery and
high-heeled black leather boots. Jackson was looking handsome in his gray dress
slacks and cream polo sweater. She loved the way the sweater hugged his build.

They all greeted each other happily. Jim was mixing drinks
and he and Jackson immediately huddled around the bar while Nicole whispered to
Rory.

“So how’s it going?” She looked apprehensive and Rory
remembered that the last time she saw Nicole, she and Jackson had still been at
odds.

She smiled at her. “I guess you were right. First time for
everything.”

“You’re back together?”

“Yes, you were right. He does love me.”

“And you love him,” Nicole insisted, peering at her.

“Yes I do.”

Nicole threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly.
“I’m so happy for you, Ror!”

“Thank you. If only we didn’t have to deal with this other
bullshit.”

Landon made his way into the kitchen and over to Rory.
“There’s my girl, give us a hug.” He squeezed her hard, with a worried look on
his face. He tucked her under his arm and put his hand out to Jackson.

“Congressman, I’m Landon McCollum, Rory’s uncle. It’s nice
to finally meet you.” Rory could tell he was trying to be on his best behavior
and it touched her.

“Director McCollum, it’s an honor to meet you, sir.” Jackson
shook his hand.

“Please call me Landon. So you’ve been looking after our
Rory? Damned crazy situation. I’ve been worried sick for her.” Landon squeezed
her shoulders. Rory thought he sounded a little guilty, maybe for the silent
treatment.

“Yes sir. I’ve been keeping a close eye on her.”

“Can we all sit?” Rory asked. “Where are the kids, Nicole?”

They followed Nicole into the living room.

“The baby is still napping and the others went to Delia’s. I
thought we could use some adult time to discuss what can be done about things.”

“Yes, we do need to discuss things.” Rory looked at Jackson
apprehensively.

He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “You want me to
rip off the Band-Aid?”

“Maybe,” she said tentatively, raising her eyebrows in
horror. She shook her head. She had to handle this. Now was the time to show no
fear. Funny how much easier that was when it involved strangers.

Landon was impatient. “Tell us what the authorities are
saying, Rory.”

She steeled her spine. “Well, we were briefed this morning.
There was some activity. It seems Jackson and I were followed home and then to
a restaurant on Friday night.”

Nicole gasped and looked horrified while Landon looked
angry. “And what are they doing about that?” he asked.

“Well, unfortunately there’s not much they can do yet. There
hasn’t been any illegal activity, so they can’t arrest anybody. They don’t even
know who it was.”

“That’s idiocy. They know you’re being followed. Can’t they
pick them up for stalking?”

“No, But we’ve kind of come up with a plan, of sorts,” Rory
said, trying not to sound meek. “Apparently the only way they’ll be able to
apprehend him is if he actually takes a shot at me. And right now, he’s
watching and waiting, biding his time until he feels like he has a clear path.
But that could take forever, so we want to help him along.”

“Meaning?” Landon asked.

“Meaning we need to get him to throw caution to the wind and
go for it.”

“How exactly are you going to do that? Wear a sign that says
come and get me?”

“Well, metaphorically maybe. It seems that Roan believes
that I’m living the good life with Jackson and wants to put an end to that. So
in order to hasten things, we thought we’d make him angrier by really
advertising our happiness.”

There was a moment of silence while this was considered.
Nicole was the one who broke first. “So what exactly are you going to do, more
press?”

“Yes, more press, and another thing. We’re going to announce
that we’re engaged to be married.”

Nicole gasped, Landon balked, and then not even crickets
were heard.

“Oh my God, you’re getting married?” Nicole was half excited
and half shocked, her mouth hanging open.

This was going to be tricky. How could she navigate this
without hurting Jackson’s feelings in light of his real proposal?

“Well, that’s what we’re announcing.”

“What does that mean? Are you or aren’t you getting married?
Or is this just to lure in the criminal?” Landon demanded.

Rory cringed and looked at Jackson, who was listening
intently. She didn’t want to hurt him by discounting the truth. “Jackson has
asked me to marry him and I am considering his proposal. Meanwhile, we’re going
to announce this to try to make something happen from Roan. That’s what’s going
on, and we’ll figure the rest out later.” She sat back and hoped that would
satisfy everyone. She felt better when Jackson smiled at her and took her hand
in his.

“Wow, Rory, I’m happy for you.” Nicole leaned over the
coffee table and kissed her cheek. “Jackson,” she said and touched his
shoulder. Jim shook his hand and nodded awkwardly at Rory. Nobody really knew
what to say; it wasn’t as if congratulations were actually in order. Landon was
quiet.

“I’m sorry you’re so at risk again, darling. It’s a terrible
thing,” he stated.

“Thank you, Uncle Landon.”

“Well why don’t we move into the dining room and we’ll get
started on dinner,” Nicole suggested. “Then we can make some tactical plans.”

Rory helped Nicole serve dinner and they made small talk
through most of their meal. To Rory’s surprise, Landon seemed to enjoy joining
in conversation with Jim and Jackson. Much discussion was made of the upcoming
basketball season and Rory rolled her eyes, secretly happy with the normalcy of
it. There was some talk of politics, but it was mostly benign until Landon
decided to ask about elephant number two.

“So, Jackson, tell me about this legislation that created
all the rage to get Rory on Homeland.” He made a show of draining his drink and
cheerfully asking Jim for a refill.

Rory was surprised when her hackles rose and her first
instinct was to defend Jackson. Then she caught herself and looked at him,
anxious to hear the answer.

Jackson cleared his throat and lowered his fork to his
plate, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “Well, mostly there are just some
additional funding requests for existing programs. Some real priorities for law
enforcement…” He trailed off, obviously not wanting to delve into detail.

“Well, there must be more than that if Rory was so critical
to its success.” Landon’s smile was deceivingly genuine.

“Yes, it is a bill of considerable size. Most of it is
bipartisan at its base. I don’t believe either party has too much argument with
the bulk of it.”

“With the bulk of it, I see. Does that mean there are parts
with which Rory might have argument?”

Jackson leaned back and placed his arm on the back of Rory’s
chair. “It’ll be delivered tomorrow. I’d rather discuss it with Rory in private
first, sir. My priority at this point is to make sure that Rory is comfortable
and I’ll be making sure of that with Larry Page myself. Rory won’t be made to
do something against her will again.” Jackson held Landon’s stare.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Landon offered after a
moment. They all resumed eating. “I’m not really worried about Rory with the
legislation at this point anyway.”

“Yes, this other business is much more concerning,” Jackson
agreed.

“Yes, that’s very true.” Landon nodded. “But also, I’ve seen
what Rory can do to legislation. If she’s giving in on anything, she’ll be sure
to get tenfold.” He took a swig of his drink and looked directly at Rory. “I
can’t wait to see how you twist this, sweetheart.”

“My heart is in my throat thinking of you being followed like
that,” Nicole said despairingly. “You must be going crazy.”

Rory really didn’t want to talk about it. “Yes, and annoyed
at the number of agents surrounding us all the time. Homeland agents followed
us here tonight and are waiting out there to follow us home.” Talking about how
scared she was didn’t help.

Rory picked at her dessert. It was so easy to concentrate on
how her space and life were being inconvenienced. Talking about the danger
would drive her over the edge again.

“So we need to plan an engagement announcement,” Nicole
mused.

“You and Jackson’s people can work together, if you don’t
mind.”

“I don’t mind. We’ll make it nice.” She smiled and looked
between Jackson and Rory. “As a matter of fact, Sabrina called yesterday. She
got several offers for interviews after the
ET
footage of you two aired.
We could go that way.”

Rory looked at her. “You know I hate doing interviews, who
with?” Nicole rattled off the reporters’ names. Two of them were with very
impressive news shows and even Rory’s eyebrows raised. “Let’s just release a
statement for now.”

Nicole left the table to get little Danny, who they could
hear making noises on the monitor. Jim led Jackson back to the living room to
watch ESPN while Landon and Rory sat at the table together.

“Again, I’m sorry I didn’t call you after our lunch. I was
stubborn, dear.” Landon seemed contrite.

“It’s okay. We’re cut from the same cloth.”

“That we are.” He raised his drink to her. “That’s why I’m
not worried about this Homeland thing. I know you’ll make lemonade from it.”

“If there’s anything I can get, I’ll certainly try.” They
were silent for a moment while they both sipped their drinks.

“I’m worried about this Sullivan thing.”

“Me too,” she admitted quietly.

Nicole came back and handed the baby to Rory.

“How’s my Danny?” She kissed him and bounced him on her lap.

Nicole took the opportunity while Jackson and Jim weren’t in
the room. “Rory, I’m so surprised that Jackson has proposed marriage. You’ve
only known each other for like six weeks.”

“Actually four,” Rory answered over the baby’s head.

“And you’re considering it?” Landon asked gently.

Rory took a deep breath and shrugged. “We’ll see. I’m sorry
he’s a conservative, Uncle Landon.” She was only half kidding.

“Rory, don’t be like that. I’m not sorry. Jackson seems to
really care for you. We want you to be loved, dear. Your parents wanted that
for you. I just want you to be sure this is what’s right for you.”

Rory looked into the living room at Jackson.

“Nicole, do you remember that night we were out with the
alumni group last fall and I left early, even though we were at Nanno’s?”

“Yeah, your favorite place. But you always leave early.”

“Since Aidan…leaving early has been the only way to deal
with the pain of enduring other people’s happiness.”

Nicole blanched and Rory continued. “I know that sounds bad.
It’s not that I don’t want others to be happy; that’s not it at all. It’s hard
to explain.” She looked at Jackson for another moment. He was animated about
some sporting event with Jim.

“Since Aidan, what makes others happy, and used to make me
happy, just doesn’t work. Everything falls short of the mark. I’d be out and
everybody would be having a great time, but I’d have to fake it. It felt like
there was someplace else I was supposed to be, some other plane of existence.
For three years I have never been able to satisfy that feeling that I should be
somewhere else, doing something else that would make it stop hurting or make
the anxiety stop. I couldn’t find that place.” She looked back at Jackson again
as she bounced the baby. “I found it when Jackson came along. When I’m with
him, I’m not searching anymore. I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

Tears fell from Nicole’s eyes. “Welcome home,” she said.

“So they didn’t try to talk sense into you?” It surprised her
that Jackson had been nervous.

“Well, they did bring up the age difference, but I told them
your stamina more than made up for it.”

He laughed and squeezed her knee. “I’ll show you some
stamina when we get home. baby.”

They parked the car in the usual spot, and Rory tried not to
look in the direction of the agents she knew were following them. She frowned
as Jackson opened the back door. As they neared his condo door, she looked at
her own.