Jeffrey Archer - Sons of Fortune

‘And so was I,’ said Fletcher, ‘but you’re going to have to let her know before it becomes obvious to everyone.’

‘Not if I were to have an abortion.’

Again Fletcher remained silent for some time, before saying, ‘Is that what you really want?’

‘Yes, Dad, but please don’t tell Mom, because she wouldn’t understand.’

‘I’m not sure I do myself,’ said Fletcher.

‘Are you pro-women’s choice for everyone except your daughter?’ asked Lucy.

‘It won’t last,’ said Nat, staring at the headline in the Hartford Courant.

‘What won’t?’ said Su Ling as she poured him another coffee.

‘My seven-point lead in the polls. In a few weeks’ time the electorate won’t even remember which one of us was on trial.’

‘I guess she’ll still remember,’ said Su Ling quietly as she glanced over her husband’s shoulder at a photograph of Rebecca Elliot walking down the courtroom steps, every hair no longer in place. ‘Why did she ever marry him?’ she said almost to herself.

‘I’m just thankful it wasn’t me who married Rebecca,’ said Nat. ‘Let’s face it, if Elliot hadn’t copied my thesis and prevented me going to Yale we would never have met, to start with,’ said Nat, taking his wife’s hand.

‘I just wish I’d been able to have more children,’ said Su Ling, her voice still subdued. ‘I miss Luke so much.’

‘I know,’ said Nat, ‘but I’ll never regret running up that particular hill, at that particular time, on that particular day.’

‘And I’m glad I took the wrong path,’ said Su Ling, ‘because I couldn’t love you any more. But I’d have willingly given up my life if it would have meant saving Luke’s.’

‘I suspect that would be true of most parents,’ said Nat, looking at his wife, ‘and you could certainly include your mother, who sacrificed everything for you, and doesn’t deserve to have been treated so cruelly.’

‘Don’t worry about my mother,’ said Su Ling, snapping out of her maudlin mood. ‘I went round to see her yesterday only to find the shop packed with dirty old men bringing in their even dirtier laundry, secretly hoping that she’s running a massage parlour upstairs.’

Nat burst out laughing. ‘And to think we kept it secret for all those years. I would certainly never have believed that the day would come when I would be able to laugh about it.’

‘She says if you become governor, she’s going to open a string of shops right across the state. Her advertising slogan will be “we wash your dirty linen in public”.’

‘I always knew that there was some overriding reason I still needed to be governor,’ said Nat as he rose from the table.

‘And who has the privilege of your company today?’ asked Su Ling.

‘The good folk of New Canaan,’ said Nat.

‘So when will you be home?’

‘Just after midnight would be my guess.’

‘Wake me,’ she said.

‘Hi, Lucy,’ said Jimmy as he strolled into her father’s office. ‘Is the great man free?’

‘Yes, he is,’ said Lucy as she rose from her chair.

Jimmy glanced back as she slipped out of the room. Was it his imagination or had she been crying? Fletcher didn’t speak until she’d closed the door. ‘Good morning, Jimmy,’ he said as he pushed the paper to one side, leaving the photograph of Rebecca staring up at him.

‘Do you think they’ll arrest her?’ asked Jimmy.

Fletcher glanced back down at the photograph of Rebecca. ‘I don’t think they’ve been left with much choice, but if I were sitting on a jury I would acquit, because I found her story totally credible.’

‘Yes, but then you know what Elliot was capable of. A jury doesn’t.’

‘But I can hear him saying, If you won’t do it, then I’ll have to kill you, and don’t think I wouldn’t.’

‘I wonder if you would have remained at Alexander Dupont and Bell if Elliot hadn’t joined the firm.’

‘One of those twists of fate,’ said Fletcher, as if his mind was on something else. ‘So what have you got lined up for me?’

‘We’re going to spend the day in Madison.’

‘Is Madison worth a whole day?’ asked Fletcher, ‘when it’s such a solid Republican district?’

‘Which is precisely why I’m getting it out of the way while there’s still a few weeks to go,’ said Jimmy, ‘though ironically their votes have never influenced the outcome of the election.’

‘A vote’s a vote,’ said Fletcher.

‘Not in this particular case,’ said Jimmy, ‘because while the rest of the state now votes electronically, Madison remains the single exception. They are among the last districts in the country who still prefer to mark their ballots with a pencil.’

‘But that doesn’t stop their votes being valid,’ insisted Fletcher.

‘True, but in the past those votes have proved irrelevant, because they don’t begin the count until the morning after the election, when the overall result has already been declared. It’s a bit of a farce, but one of those traditions that the good burghers of Madison are unwilling to sacrifice on the altar of modern technology.’

‘And you still want me to spend a whole day there?’

‘Yes, because if the majority were less than five thousand, suddenly Madison would become the most important town in the state.’

‘Do you think it could be that close while Bush still has a record lead in the polls?’

‘Still is the operative word, because Clinton’s chipping away at that lead every day, so who knows who’ll end up in the White House, or in the governor’s mansion for that matter?’

Fletcher didn’t comment.

‘You seem a little preoccupied this morning,’ said Jimmy. ‘Anything else on your mind that you want to discuss with me?’

‘It looks as if Nat’s going to win by a mile,’ said Julia from behind the morning paper.

‘A British prime minister once said that “a week’s a long time in politics”, and we’ve still got several more of them left before the first vote is cast,’ Tom reminded his wife.

‘If Nat becomes governor, you’ll miss all the excitement. After all you two have been through, returning to Fairchild’s may turn out to be something of an anti-climax.’

‘The truth is that I lost any interest in banking the day Russell’s was taken over.’

‘But you’re about to become chairman of the biggest bank in the state.’

‘Not if Nat wins the election, I won’t,’ said Tom.

Julia pushed the paper aside. ‘I’m not sure I understand.’

‘Nat has asked me to be his chief of staff if he becomes governor.’

‘Then who will take over as chairman of the bank?’

‘You, of course,’ said Tom. ‘Everyone knows you’d be the best person for the job.’

‘But Fairchild’s would never appoint a woman as chairman, they’re far too traditional.’

‘We’re living in the last decade of the twentieth century Julia, and thanks to you, nearly half our customers are women. And as for the board, not to mention the staff, in my absence most of them think you already are the chairman.’

‘But if Nat were to lose, he’ll quite rightly expect to return to Fairchild’s as chairman, with you as his deputy, in which case the question becomes somewhat academic’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that,’ said Tom, ‘don’t forget that Jimmy Overman, Connecticut’s senior senator, has already announced that he’ll not be running for reelection next year, in which case Nat would be the obvious choice to replace him. Whichever one of them becomes governor, I feel sure the other will be going to Washington as the state’s senator.’ He paused. ‘I suspect it will only be a matter of time before Nat and Fletcher run against each other for president.’