«Thank you, young man.»
«You’re a regular maître d’, Sam,» said Phyllis.
«It’s all those parties on Embassy Row.» Trevayne laughed, taking a glass. «Will you join us, Sam?»
«Thank you, sir, but I’d better stay with communications.»
«He’s got a girl in the kitchen,» mocked Phyllis in a stage whisper.
«From the French embassy,» added Andrew.
The three of them laughed while Baldwin looked on with amusement. Sam bowed slightly to the old man.
«Nice to see you again, Mr. Baldwin.» He left as Baldwin inclined his head.
«I see what they mean. Or I think I do,» said the banker.
«What’s that?» asked Phyllis.
«About the atmosphere around the White House these days. The easy relationships; even when things aren’t easy. The pundits give you a lot of credit for that, Mr. President.»
«Oh, Sam? He became my right arm, and sometimes my left as well, three years ago. He came with the subcommittee.»
Phyllis couldn’t help herself. She wouldn’t let Andy continuously sidestep the compliments he deserved. «I agree with you and the pundits, Mr. Baldwin. Andrew’s made considerable progress in deformalizing the privy chambers. If the word’s still in use.»
«My wife, the doctor,» interrupted Trevayne with a chuckle. «Which word?»
«‘Deformalizing.’ It’s rarely used, but it should be. I haven’t heard it recently.»
«I thought you meant ‘privy chamber.’ Whenever I come across the term in history books, I think of a bathroom.»
«That’s historically sacrilegious, isn’t it, Mr. Baldwin?»
«I’m not sure, my dear…»
«Just don’t tell the pundits I’m turning the White House rest rooms into playgrounds.»
The small laughter that followed warmed Phyllis. Old Baldwin was being amused, taking his mind off the sadness of the day. His sadness.
And then she realized the humorous byplay was only a momentary deflection. Baldwin’s memories wouldn’t be lightened. He spoke.
«Billy Hill and I honestly believed that the subcommittee was our well-conceived gift to the country. We never dreamed that our gift, in reality, would be the next President of the United States. When we finally understood that, it frightened us.»
«I would have given anything in the world to have had it otherwise.»
«Of course you would. A man has to possess extraordinary drives to want to be president, in the ordinary process. He has to be out of his mind to want the office under the conditions …» Baldwin stopped, aware of his indiscretion.
«Go on, Frank. It’s all right.»
«I apologize, Mr. President. That was unwarranted and not meant …»
«You don’t have to explain. I think I was as surprised as you. And the Ambassador. Certainly as frightened.»
«Then may I presume to ask you why?»
Phyllis watched her husband closely. For in spite of the fact that the question had been raised a thousand times publicly, ten times that privately, the answer—answers—had never really satisfied her. She wasn’t sure there was an answer beyond the best instincts of a brilliant, anguished man who measured his own abilities against that which he had seen, observed closely, and was horrified by. If such a man could hold the seat of power and deliver—as Andy had said to her in very private moments—even his second best, it had to be better than what he’d witnessed. If there were any answers beyond this simple truth, her husband wasn’t capable of verbalizing them.
Not to her satisfaction.
«In all honesty, what I provided was unlimited funds for both campaigns. The preconvention and the election; beyond whatever the party could raise. Under a dozen different labels, of course. I’m not proud of it, but that’s what I did.»
«That’s the ‘how,’ Mr. President. Not the ‘why.’ As I understand you.»
Phyllis now watched the old banker. Baldwin wanted his answer; his eyes pleaded.
And Baldwin was right, of course. The how was relatively inconsequential. But God, it has been insane, thought Phyllis. Limousines arriving at all hours of the day and night, extra phones installed, endless conferences—Barnegat, Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Houston; Andrew had plunged into the eye of a hurricane. Eating, sleeping, resting: they were forgotten.
She forgotten. The children forgotten.
«You’ve read all that, Frank.» Her husband was smiling his shy smile, which Phyllis had come to suspect. «I meant what I said in all those speeches. I felt I was qualified to weld together a great many conflicting voices; that’s not a good metaphor. I guess one doesn’t weld voices. Perhaps ‘orchestrate’ is better; reduce the dissonance. If the level of shouting was lowered, we could get at the root causes. Get to work.»
«I can’t fault that, Mr. President. You’ve succeeded. You’re a popular man. Undoubtedly the most popular man the White House has had in years.»
«I’m grateful for that, but more important, I think it’s all working.»
«Why were you and Ambassador Hill frightened?» Phyllis found herself asking the question without thinking. Andy looked at her, and she knew he would have preferred her not to pursue the subject.
«I’m not sure, my dear. I find that the older I get, the less sure I am about anything. Billy and I agreed on that less than a week ago. And you must remember, we’ve always been so positive… Oh, why were we frightened.» A statement. «I imagine it was the responsibility. We proposed a subcommittee chairman and found we’d unearthed a viable candidate for president. Quite a jump.»
«But viable,» said Phyllis, now concerned by the sound of old Baldwin’s voice.
«Yes.» The banker looked at Andrew. «What frightened us was the sudden, inexplicable determination you displayed … Mr. President. If you think back, perhaps you’ll understand.»
«It wasn’t my question, Frank. It was Phyl’s.»
«Oh, yes, of course. It’s been a difficult day; Billy and I won’t have our lengthy debates anymore. No one ever won, you understand. He often told me, Andrew, that you thought as I did.» Baldwin’s glass, at his lips, was nearly empty, and he looked at the rim; he had used the President’s first name and obviously was sorry that he had.
«That’s a superb compliment, Frank.»
«Only history will confirm that, Mr. President. If it’s true.»
«Regardless, I’m flattered.»
«But you do understand?»
«What?»
«Our concerns. According to Billy’s reports, Bobby Kennedy’s machine was a Boy Scout troop compared to yours. His words, incidentally.»
«I can bear them,» said Andrew with a half-smile on his lips. «You were offended?»
«We couldn’t understand.»
«There was a political vacuum.»
«You weren’t a politician …»
«I’d seen enough politicians. The vacuum had to be filled quickly. I understood that. Either I was going to fill it or someone else was. I looked around and decided I was better equipped. If anyone else had come along to alter that judgment, I would have bowed out.»
«Was anyone else given the chance, Mr. President?»
«They—he—never appeared.»
«I think,» said Phyllis Trevayne somewhat defensively, «my husband would’ve been very happy to have gone scot-free. As you say, he’s not basically a politician.»
«You’re wrong, my dear. He’s the new politics, in all its pristine glory. The remarkable thing is that it works! Utterly and completely. It is a far greater reformation than any revolutionist could conceive of—right, left, or up the middle. But he knew he could do it. What Billy and I could never understand was why he knew he could.»
There was silence, and Phyllis realized, once again, that only her husband could reply. She looked at him and saw that he would not respond. His thoughts were not for display, even for his old friend, this wonderful old man who had given him so much. Perhaps not even for her.