“Well, I don’t. I need all of you at my side and I need your eyes, your ears and your ideas. Sadly, Valerie was a casualty of this thing but I don’t need anyone else to fall on their sword for me or the public. I picked all of you after Amos’ appointees left and I chose you because of your experience and expertise. None of that has changed and I’ll need all the help you can give so, no one is running out on me. Is that clear?” Looks were exchanged all around the table and even a few grins broke out.
“Yes, Madam President,” Marty said smiling.
After signing the treaty and getting it passed in the Senate, Ellen went to Congress with Gwendolyn Ramzeyer’s name for vice-President. There was opposition but the President would not back down and in the end the Senate confirmed Governor Ramzeyer as vice-President of the United States.
Trent Wilson recovered from his wounds but lost some mobility in his arm so he had to resign from the secret service. Ellen had him in her office that very day and made him a domestic advisor.
Johnny Rodriguez recovered fully and was assigned as the head of Presidential security.
Val Wheaton became head of vice-Presidential security.
Carmen Hernandez moved on and Bonnie became appointments secretary and still was an assistant to the President.
Ellen wrote a letter to the mayor and city council of Clarise’s home town. Now, there’s a Clarise Wallace Boulevard in Springfield, Illinois. Ellen went there a month later and dedicated the street and visited Clarise’s parents. When Jozette met with Ellen they were discussing and refining the outline of legislation that Clarise had put forward.
“How is the work coming along, Warren?” Dave asked as they sat around Justin and Belinda’s backyard patio.
“The usual; I’m losing too much voltage.”
“I thought you were hooking onto a laser?”
“I am but there’s still leakage.”
“Any possible solutions?”
“None so far and Westinghouse is getting impatient.”
“Are they going to drop their sponsorship?”
“Maybe but I’m not crushed by that. IU has offered me a tenured position to study whatever I want.”
“How’d that happen?”
“I wrote a paper last fall and it was a big hit with the string theory people.”
“String theory, kind of nebulous isn’t it?” Dave asked.
“It’s darn near non-existent but I guess they want to stay even with Purdue and MIT.”
“Can you?”
“Stay even with those two places? I doubt it but I can give it a good try. I like experimental work but theory is nice too.”
“And he’ll be at home where he belongs,” Ariel said.
“Yes, and I like that. Since I was shot, I haven’t returned to the desert.”
“Any regrets?”
“No, being with Ariel is my favorite thing in the world and I mean that.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Dave said. As it turned out even though Warren was in demand for a professor’s spot at many universities, an anonymous gift to Indiana University of three million dollars to upgrade their physics lab may have played into the job offer for Warren. Where did the money come from? Well, that’s not important.
“Well, Little Wolf, what have you decided about the President’s offer?” Will asked.
“I’m still mulling it over.”
“He shouldn’t be mulling it at all. It’ll be a great boon to his career and he’s crazy if he turns her down,” Julieta stated clearly standing with hands on hips.
“Well, I guess we know where your wife stands,” Lexi said.
“Yes, she’s all for me taking it but I hate to desert Lionel.”
“I saw him last week and he said if you don’t take it, he may fire you,” Justin said.
“He said that?” Little Wolf asked.
“Not exactly but he wants you to take the job, Little Wolf. We all do but there’s only one opinion that counts,” Justin replied.
“I know and I’m leaning that way.”
“Good,” Julieta said then sat next to her husband and kissed his cheek.
“Jo, how did the meeting go with the President?” Lexi asked.
“Very well; we had a great time. The Whitehouse is always buzzing so we went to Camp David. Bonnie came along and we discussed ideas for legislation to help women. It was a good feeling.”
“Did she offer you a job in her administration?” Will asked.
“Well, as a matter of fact, she did.”
“What? You didn’t say anything about that,” Justin said.
“I don’t tell you everything, Justin.”
“You’re probably better off that way.”
“Yeah, because he’d just tell everyone,” Belinda said.
“Says the Queen of Blab,” Justin posed.
“I don’t blab.”
“Honey, I love you but you can’t keep a secret from the kitchen to the living room,” Lexi said. There was laughter and even Belinda grinned.
“Well, maybe I do blab sometimes.”
“We’ll accept that and move on from there,” Lexi said.
“Tatiana, has your arm healed?” Will asked.
“Yes, perfectly. The bullet missed the bone and was almost all the way through. The doctor said it didn’t do much tumbling. I was lucky.”
“Are the girls ready for college?” Lexi asked.
“That’s all they talk about.”
“Are they staying on campus?” Will asked.
“Yes, it’s a long drive and I don’t want them out on the road. Dave wasn’t happy. He wants his baby girls next to him on the couch every night.”
“Those days are gone, I guess,” Lexi said.
“They are and I’m not quite the basket case that Tatiana thinks I am. Though I probably will be when we drop them off on that horrible weekend?” Tatiana looked at Jozette and smiled.
“It’ll be like kindergarten all over again,” Tatiana quipped.
“I love my girls is that so bad?”
“It’s not bad at all and the girls are lucky to have you and Tatiana,” Lexi said.
“I’ll miss them too. The house will be quiet and kind of lonely for a while.”
“Now, the girls going here to IU are staying at home, aren’t they?” Dave asked.
“They are; Darcy, Jessica and Dixie had a triple reserved but then they said they wanted to stay at home and we didn’t complain,” Lexi said with a smile.
“Will they drive?” Dave asked.
“No, there’s a bus two blocks from here that goes to campus,” Jozette said. “They all three have a night class together but either Andy, Justin, Lexi or myself will drop them off and pick them up.”
“What did they think of that?”
“Not much at first but we weren’t going to budge and actually in time they realized it’d be nice having a ride just outside the door to the building,” Will answered.
“Hey, Dixie come here for a minute,” Tatiana said.
“Yes.”
“Sit on my lap.” They all liked Tatiana; she was kind of a second mother. “I here you’re taking a night class but you have a ride there and back home.”
“Yes, our parents will take us and pick us up.”
“What do you think of that?”
“Well, Jess wanted to be free and go on the bus but it’s at night and I wasn’t too anxious to do that. Besides, if Daddy picks us up, I can always get him to take us to the ice cream store. He can’t tell me no.” She whispered the last part in Tatiana’s ear.
“I see, well, have fun with that and good luck this fall to Jessica, Darcy and Paulita too,” she said and they nodded. Dixie got up and she, Jessica, Dixie, Paulita and Zara went somewhere away from the adults. Actually, all of them were adults except Zara but the parents were the “old” adults.