Mounting Fears

9

WILL SAT WITH MARTIN STANTON AS THEY FINISHED THEIR DRINKS. KATE HAD GONE to bed.

"Will," Stanton said, "there's something I have to tell you. I know I should have spoken about this sooner, but I couldn't until I had talked to Betty, and what with the events of today, the situation was resolved only earlier this evening."

"What is it, Marty?"

"Betty and I are divorcing."

Will sat and stared at the man, saying nothing.

"We had talked about this before but hadn't come to any conclusions. The vice-presidential nomination was the final straw-she doesn't want to come to Washington. It's amicable, I assure you. There's only the settlement to be worked out, and we're both reasonable people. I want her to be happy with it."

"You're right, Marty. You should have told me sooner, but I don't think it would have eliminated you as a candidate. Of course, we'll never know about that."

"I'm sorry."

That's enough punishment for the man, Will thought. "I'll get together with my staff, and we'll figure out when to make the announcement."

"I'll need to know that, so that I can inform Betty beforehand."

"Of course. It's not a time to make her angry." Will paused and took a sip of his drink. "Now there's the other question."

"The answer is no," Stanton said. "There's no other woman."

"I'm glad to hear it," Will said. "Does Betty have another man?" Stanton looked surprised at the question. "Of course not. Betty's not given to that sort of thing."

"Are you sure about that, Marty? How much time have you and Betty spent together lately?"

"More than you might think, in the circumstances. We still sleep in the same bed, or at least we did until now."

"Then I'll take your word for it, Marty. But I don't want any more surprises. If there's anything else you want to tell me, now is the time."

Stanton shook his head vigorously. "No. There's nothing else."

Will polished off his drink and stood up. "Good, then I'm off to bed."

"I, too," Stanton said.

The two men shook hands and went to their respective bedrooms.

Will found Kate in bed reading a novel. He sat down on the bed and shucked off his shoes. "All these years, and I don't know how you do that," he said.

"Do what?"

"Go from a nuclear crisis to a novel in a heartbeat."

"It keeps me sane to be able to live in a book for an hour." She turned the page.

"And you can read while talking to me," Will said.

"In my novel, you're not the president."

"Maybe I won't be on January twentieth, either," he said.

"Fat chance," she replied, turning another page.