Affairs of State(47)

Ariella’s father—it didn’t feel crazy to call him that now, which didn’t really make any sense, but then none of this did—stared straight at her. “I had no idea you existed.” His voice was breathless, as if he was talking just to her, not to Barbara Carey, or the cameras, or the viewers.

“I know,” she managed. She’d known he existed, of course, but not who he was.

“Your parents have obviously done a wonderful job of raising you. I’ve learned of all your accomplishments, and how well you’ve handled the avalanche of events these last few months.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

“I should have met with you before now but I was foolish enough to take the advice of strategists who wanted to wait until we knew the truth from the DNA testing.” His eyes softened. “I was a fool. I only have to look at you to know you’re my daughter. And you have your mother’s eyes.”

Those same eyes filled with tears again, and she reached for one of the tissues from a box that had miraculously appeared on a small coffee table in front of them. Suddenly she could see herself in the jut of his cheekbone and the funny way he wrinkled his nose. They’d been living their lives often only a few buildings apart here in D.C. but might have never met.

“I suppose we have to be grateful for the nosey journalists who uncovered the truth.” She said it to him, then turned to Barbara Carey. “Or we might have lived the rest of our lives without ever meeting.”

“We have a lot of lost time to make up for.” Ted Morrow leaned forward. “I’d like very much to get to know you.”

“I’d like that, too.” Her heart swelled until she thought it might burst. “I’ve been longing to meet you since I first learned you were my father. It’s not easy getting an appointment with the president.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been anxious to meet you, too. It’s usually a mistake to let other people tell you how to run your life, and it’s one I won’t make again. I have a strange feeling we’ll find we have a lot in common.”

She smiled. “I’ve wondered about that. And I’d like to learn more about your life in Montana.”

Something flickered across Ted Morrow’s face. Maybe he was thinking back to his high school days, where he’d become involved with Eleanor. She wondered how he felt about being deceived for all these years. Would he forgive Eleanor for keeping her secret?

“I had a wonderful childhood in Montana. And I was very much in love with your mother.” He spoke with force, eyes still shining with emotion. “It’s been a strange journey since then, for sure. Who knows how different it would have been if she’d told me she was pregnant with you?”

“You might not be sitting here as president of the United States,” suggested Barbara. “Your life might have taken a different course.”

“I might have accepted the assistant manager position I was offered at Willey’s Tool and Die.” He chuckled. “They paid time and a half for weekends.”

“But you had bigger dreams.” Barbara tilted her head. “You’d just accepted a scholarship to attend Cornell University.”

“I wanted to get out of my small pond and see if I could swim in a larger one.” Then his eyes fixed on hers again. “I never intended to abandon Ellie.”

Barbara Carey leaned toward him. “Ellie is Eleanor Albert, your high school sweetheart?”

“Yes. I wrote her letters and we’d made plans to spend the summer together.” He frowned. “Then one day she stopped responding to my letters. She didn’t answer the phone. Her mother hung up on me.” He shook his head. “I guessed that she’d met someone else. I had no idea she’d been bundled out of town to hide a pregnancy.”

“And you never saw her again.” Barbara’s famous voice added drama to the pronouncement.

He looked right at her. “Never. I’ve certainly thought about her over the years. Wondered where she was and hoped she was happy.”

“But you never married anyone else.”

“I guess I just never met anyone I loved as much as Ellie.”

His usually granite-hard features were softened with emotion. Ariella’s heart ached at the thought that Eleanor—Ellie—was out there and deathly afraid of him. Thinking he’d be angry and would hate her for her choice to keep her secret. She vowed that once she got to know him she’d convince Eleanor to meet him in person.